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  Free To Grow
  Mailman School
  of Public Health
  Columbia University
  722 West 168th Street,
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  New York, NY 10032











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NOTE: as of April 17, 2007, the Free to Grow program has closed.
Research & Policy

Preschoolers and substance abuse: Strategies for prevention and intervention
Pedro J. Lecca and Thomas D. Watts

This book describes how ATOD use affects preschool children and their families and demonstrates how the personal use of drugs relates to larger social problems. Looking at both the societal influences on ATOD abuse, and its social context, the authors describe how alcohol and drug use in the family can lead to violence, sexual abuse, and prenatal exposure to drugs. They note that childhood is a key time to strengthen resiliency and resistance. By early childhood, attitudes regarding drugs are already forming, and young children of addicted parents especially need strategies to promote self-esteem. Parental, family, school, and community participation in prevention is a cornerstone of substance abuse-free communities.

The authors confirm the effectiveness of community-based outreach services, call for making substance abuse prevention a public health priority, and cite the need for other activities - substance abuse training for child care workers, appropriate approaches to reach poor and ethnic populations, and more research studies on the impact of drugs on the family. They cite model prevention programs around the country.

The Haworth Press
10 Alice Street
Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
(800) 342-9678
Fax: (800) 895-0582
(1993, 116 pp.; $24.95 cloth, $19.95 paper + $3 p/h)





 

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Free To Grow is a national program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with direction and technical assistance provided by the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University.