CPSTF Recommends Community Interventions Involving Coalitions or Partnerships to Prevent Substance Use Among Youth

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The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends community interventions involving coalitions or partnerships to prevent substance use among youth. Evidence from the systematic review shows interventions reduce both initiation and use of:

  • Cannabis
  • Tobacco
  • Alcohol, including binge drinking
  • Illegal substances

Most studies were conducted in rural or suburban communities. Interventions also reduced self-reported antisocial behaviors related to delinquency, violence, or alcohol use.

How can Community Interventions Prevent Substance Use?

Community interventions involving coalitions or partnerships focus on preventing substance use among adolescents (ages 10-17 years) or young adults (ages 18-24 years). Interventions may focus on a specific substance of importance to the community or address risk and protective factors related to substance use in general.

Why is this important?

Youth substance use is associated with increased risk behavioral and academic problems; teen pregnancy; sexually transmitted infections; being involved in or experiencing violence; injuries; and mental health symptoms (such as anxiety and depression), among others (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016).

Preventing or delaying substance use initiation among youth (defined in this review as including adolescents ages 10-17 years and young adults ages 18-24 years) reduces later risk for substance use, substance use disorders, and overdose (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016).

Recent trends in substance use among youth indicate stabilization or decreases for all substance categories; however, some youth continue to experience high rates of substance use (e.g., LGBTQ+ students) (CDC 2024).

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2013–2023. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2024.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Surgeon General, Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Washington, DC: HHS, November 2016.