Activity Description
The National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has formed an ad hoc committee to organize two workshops to review the science of adolescence within a life course perspective and highlight the implications of this research for preventing risk behavior.
This effort will include two public workshops and a set of commissioned papers to highlight strengths and gaps in the research literature. The workshops will produce a summary report that will review the commissioned papers and workshop presentations and highlight key observations.
The intent of this effort is to summarize the current state of knowledge, highlight lessons learned from providers and practitioners working in this area, and identify the knowledge, research opportunities, and emerging fields of science that offer promise for the design, implementation, and evaluation of prevention programs for adolescents, as well as in fostering positive assets and relationships that can promote healthy development. The committee will evaluate the science base on adolescent development and risk behavior and consider how research on changes in biological, psychological, social contextual (e.g. family and peer) processes that occur during adolescence may inform the design of prevention, health promotion, and treatment interventions that address problem behaviors that emerge during adolescence, especially in areas that involve sexual conduct (such as teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections) and substance abuse.
Funding for this study is provided to The National Academies by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
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