Prevention
While there's no single root cause of addiction, experts know that a combination of factors raises someone's risk. These include access to addictive substances/behaviors, a family history of addiction, stressful or traumatic life events and psychological makeup, such as low self-esteem and personality traits like aggressiveness and impulsivity. The Prevention catalog will offer content to identify who is at most risk for addiction and how to implement age-appropriate strategies to prevent the onset of the disease.
Resource Guide
Principles of Substance Abuse Prevention for Early Childhood
Resource Guide for Parents from NIDA
"Substance abuse and addiction are preventable disorders that interfere with normal healthy functioning, contributing to physical and behavioral health problems, injuries, lost income and productivity, and family dysfunction. While substance use generally begins during the adolescent years, there are known biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors that contribute to the risk that begin accumulating as early as the prenatal period. This creates opportunities to intervene very early in an individual's life and thereby prevent substance use disorders-and, along with them, a range of other related behavioral problems-long before they would normally manifest themselves."
