Risk Factors for Adolescent Drug Use in the United States and Colombia

描述（申请人提供）：在过去十年中，哥伦比亚共和国经历了巨大的转变，从一个传统的毒品出口国转变为一个日益增长的毒品消费国。最近的研究表明，哥伦比亚青少年的药物使用率不断上升，女性和城市青年的使用率明显增加（P <$rez G <$mez和Scoppetta，2009年）。哥伦比亚青年现在是所有南美洲国家中酗酒和吸毒流行率最高的国家之一（国家教育局，2009年），哥伦比亚青少年酗酒和吸毒流行率接近或超过欧洲和美国青少年（P <$rez-G <$mez和Scoppetta，2009年）。哥伦比亚最近的少年犯罪率、少年犯罪率和帮派成员率与青少年吸毒率的上升密切相关（《国家警察年度报告》，2009年）。这些发现促使人们呼吁紧急制定和实施预防方案、政策和提供系统，以解决哥伦比亚青年日益严重的社会和健康问题。作为这一呼吁的一部分，哥伦比亚社会保障和公共卫生部目前正在制定一项国家药物滥用预防战略，该战略采取科学的、基于证据的方法来制定、调整和实施哥伦比亚制定的预防方案和战略。2002年）作为预防服务提供系统，协调哥伦比亚社区的预防举措。以科学为基础的预防方法，如CTC，是基于对风险和保护因素的有效流行病学评估，这些因素是具体预防干预和规划的目标。此外，如果要使预防工作有效、可持续和符合社区的具体需要，就必须向当地利益攸关方传播关于社区风险和保护的信息，这一点同样重要。该项目通过结合哥伦比亚和美国现有的独立的大规模青少年吸毒研究的数据，调查风险和保护因素可比措施的有效性和传播情况，并评估两国之间这些措施的心理测量等效性。在某种程度上，青少年吸毒的风险和保护因素的作用类似， 在两国之间，针对美国和哥伦比亚青年人口中这些风险和保护因素的预防计划和政策的适用性得到加强。我们还采取了一种基于社区的参与性方法，通过与社区领导人和主要利益相关者以“用户友好”的格式分享数据，评估哥伦比亚风险和保护因素数据的可解释性、实用性、有效性和可持续性，并获得有关如何改进这些数据的结构和传播的反馈，以改善当地预防措施的决策。该项目利用了一个及时的机会，合作开发和分享科学知识，以预防哥伦比亚和美国青少年吸毒。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Within the past decade, the Republic of Colombia has undergone a dramatic transformation from a traditionally drug-exporting country to an increasingly drug-consuming country. Recent research has demonstrated escalating rates of substance use by Colombian adolescents, with marked increases among female and urban youth (P¿rez G¿mez & Scoppetta, 2009). Colombian youth now have among the highest prevalence rates of alcohol and drug use of all South American countries (DNE, 2009), with prevalence rates of alcohol and drug use among Colombian adolescents approaching or exceeding those of European and U.S. adolescents (P¿rez-G¿mez & Scoppetta, 2009). Recent rates of juvenile crime, delinquency, and gang membership in Colombia have followed closely the escalation of adolescent drug use (National Police Annual Report, 2009). These findings have prompted a call for the urgent development and implementation of prevention programs, policies, and delivery systems to combat these growing social and health related problems for Colombian youth. As part of this call, the Colombian Ministry for Social Protection and Public Health is currently developing a National Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy, which is taking a scientific, evidence-based approach to developing, adapting, and implementing prevention programs and strategies developed in Colombia the U.S. The Ministry has identified Communities That Care (CTC; Hawkins et al., 2002) as the prevention service delivery system to coordinate prevention initiatives in Colombian communities. A science-based approach to prevention, such as with CTC, is predicated on valid epidemiologic assessment of risk and protective factors that serve as targets for specific preventive interventions and programming. Moreover, the need to disseminate information on community risk and protection to local stakeholders is equally as important if prevention efforts are to be effective, sustainable, and relevant to the specific needs of the community. This project investigates the validity and dissemination of comparable measures of risk and protective factors by combining data from existing, independent, large-scale research studies of adolescent drug use in Colombia and the U.S., and assessing the psychometric equivalency of these measures between the two countries. To the extent that risk and protective factors for adolescent drug use operate similarly between the two countries, the applicability of prevention programs and policies that target these risk and protective factors in U.S. and Colombian youth populations is strengthened. We additionally take a community-based participatory approach in assessing the interpretability, utility, validity, and sustainability of risk and protective factor data in Colombia by sharing thee data in a "user-friendly" format with community leaders and key stakeholders, and obtaining feedback on how to improve the structure and dissemination of these data for improved local decision making of prevention initiatives. This project takes advantage of a timely opportunity to collaboratively develop and share scientific knowledge for the prevention of adolescent drug use in both Colombian and U.S. youth populations.