Promoting the Behavioral Health of Children and Adolescents

At no time in U.S. history have young people been confronted by such an array of positive and negative influences and opportunities. The recent coronavirus pandemic, in particular, has adversely impacted the behavioral health of young people by disrupting normal school, family, interpersonal, and social norms. In this text, the authors respond to recent calls from practitioners, policymakers, and the public to increase the use of effective prevention approaches for child and adolescent behavioral health challenges.

This book reviews evidence and identifies practice and policy issues pertaining to the prevention of common child and adolescent behavioral health problems: 1) substance use/misuse; 2) delinquent conduct; 3) violence, including the perpetration and victimization of bullying, sexual violence, and dating violence; and 4) school dropout. The authors identify effective prevention approaches and discuss the challenges associated with developing, implementing, and testing prevention strategies. The applied nature of the book offers readers detailed program and intervention examples.

All eight chapters in this new edition have been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest scholarship and thinking in the field. A key highlight of the book is the accompanying Active Learning resources for students.

This is a must-have text for clinical and community practice, social policy, and youth and human development courses in social work, family studies, public health, psychology, and other human services programs.