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. 2018 Nov 14;133(1 Suppl):54S–64S. doi: 10.1177/0033354918799344

Table 2.

Examples of school-, family-, community-, and employer-based programs for the prevention of youth disconnectiona

Program Name Target Audience Program Description Outcomes
School-based programs

 Good Behavior Game Early elementary grades Classroom-centered universal prevention program delivered by teachers in classrooms. Shown to have short- and long-term positive effects on problem behaviors, conduct disorder, educational outcomes, substance use, and violence.29-32
 Life Skills Training Students in kindergarten through 12th grade, students in transition, and parents Substance abuse prevention program that builds knowledge about the dangers of drug use and promotes healthy alternatives through personal self-management skills, general social skills, and drug and violence resistance skills. Reduced tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use and reduced verbal and physical aggression and delinquency for intervention participants relative to controls.33
Produced $50 benefit for every $1 invested in terms of reduced corrections costs, welfare and social services burden, drug and mental health treatment, and increased employment and tax revenue.34
Family-centered programs
 Strengthening Families High-risk families with children in preschool through age 17 14-session evidence-based program that provides parent, child, and family with life skills training.
Parents and children participate in groups together and separately.		 Various randomized controlled trials evaluating the program reported positive results in reducing substance use and delinquency by improving family relationships.35,36
 Triple P: Positive Parenting Program Parents of children up to age 17, specialized programs for parents of children with disabilities, family issues (separation/divorce), minority populations Parenting program designed to address behavioral and emotional problems in children and teens.
Based on social learning, cognitive behavioral theory, and developmental theory.		 Shown to reduce rates of child abuse, reduce foster care placements, and decrease hospitalizations from child abuse injuries.37
Reduced problems in children and improved parental well-being and parenting skills.38
Community-based programs
 Communities That Care (CTC) Young people in grades 5 through 12 in participating communities
 CTC is a coalition-based prevention approach in which researchers consult with community stakeholders to identify relevant risk and protective factors and implement evidence-based school, family, and community preventive interventions to promote positive youth development. Multiple large-scale impact evaluations have found that CTC reduces short- and long-term substance use and delinquent behaviors.39-41
CTC was also found to increase youth-reported protective factors42 and to be a cost-beneficial intervention with a return of $5.30 per $1 invested under conservative assumptions.43
 PROSPER (PROmoting School-Community Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Young people through 12th grade PROSPER is a community-university partnership that delivers evidence-based school-, family-, and community-based preventive interventions with the primary goal of preventing substance misuse. Lower substance misuse was seen in intervention youth (relative reduction rates up to approximately 31%)44 as well as reduced conduct problems45 through 6.5 years after baseline. Long-term effects, beyond high school, were observed on reducing substance misuse.40

aDisconnected (or opportunity) youth are teenagers and young adults aged 16-24 who are neither in school nor employed.2