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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Substance Use: Family-based Intervention to Prevent Substance Use among Youth

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: The Guide to Community Preventive Services

Last Reviewed: June 2023

Workgroups: Substance Use Workgroup

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends family-based interventions to prevent substance use among youth. Evidence from the systematic review came from interventions delivered primarily to families of youth ages 10 to 14 years and showed reductions in both initiation and use of:

  • Cannabis
  • Alcohol
  • Tobacco
  • Illicit drugs
  • Prescription drug (misuse)

Studies also reported reductions in sexual risk behaviors among youth and improvements in mental health symptoms and school-related outcomes.

CPSTF found that the economic benefits exceed the cost of family-based interventions to prevent substance use among youth.

CPSTF pointed out that further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for families of:

  • American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian youth
  • Youth who identify as a sexual or gender minority
  • Youth ages 15 years and older

Further research is also needed to study the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the development of substance use disorders.

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Objectives related to this resource (4)

Reduce the proportion of adolescents who drank alcohol in the past month — SU‑04
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of adolescents who used drugs in the past month — SU‑05
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of adolescents who used marijuana in the past month — SU‑06
Getting worse
Reduce the proportion of people who misused a prescription pain reliever in the past year — SU‑19
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

Guide to Community Preventive Services. (2023). Substance Use: Family-based Intervention to Prevent Substance Use among Youth. Retrieved from https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/substance-use-family-based-interventions-to-prevent-substance-use-among-youth.html.