Fewer high school students across the U.S. started drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, committing crimes and engaging in violence before graduation when their towns used the Communities That Care prevention system during the teens’ middle school years.
Communities That Care was developed by researchers in the UW’s Social Development Research Group. The prevention system is led by a coalition of diverse stakeholders in each community who use surveys of young people to identify risk factors that are widespread in their town and protective factors that need strengthening.
A paper describing the long-term results of Communities That Care was published on Dec. 9, 2013 in JAMA Pediatrics.
