The Science of Prevention

This text describes a variety of methodological advances that increase the integrity of research results in the area of prevention. Although the focus of this volume is on alcohol and substance abuse, most of the methods described can be applied to the full range of areas in prevention research, including smoking, risky sex, health problems, poor school performance, criminal behaviour and a variety of other areas in which research occurs in field settings. The editors have brought together a array of researchers who describe and analyze new directions and provide direct examples of methodological problems and solutions from their own specific research. The book is divided into three sections to illustrate different classes of issues facing researchers. Part 1, "Alternative Models of Alcohol Abuse", focuses on prospective longitudinal research and the measurement of risk and protective factors for alcohol misuse over time; this section offers illustrations of developmental trajectories and sequence of substance abuse.
Part 2, "Prevention Intervention Research", highlights the design and analysis of interventions that seek to change alcohol and other substance abuse with particular emphasis on the identification of effective components of interventions and the investigation of how these may interact with multiple levels of individual and environmental factors. Part 3, "Improving Methodological Quality", offers analyses on the comparability of measurement across groups, options for handling missing values, statistical power analysis and quality criteria in metaanalytic studies.