Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities

This report is the result of a two-year study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism highlighting key advances in prevention research over the last 15 years and defining a policy and research agenda for the future. The report calls for the establishment of new national priorities that emphasize the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and promotion of mental health as a national priority; the infusion of evidence-based interventions in a range of family, school, and community settings; and the expansion of the existing research base. It also examines definitions of prevention; the developmental, epidemiologic, and ecological bases for developing and testing preventive interventions; and progress made from rigorous experiments across the life span and different social settings.