Project Overview
Use of substances (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and “hard drugs” such as cocaine, inhalants, etc.) has serious implications for adolescent health and well-being, and numerous family-based prevention programs have been developed to reduce adolescent substance use by addressing the underlying issues within the family. We used meta-analytic techniques to evaluate family-based programs for adolescent substance use to determine which program components are most strongly linked to success in reducing substance use and/or improving parenting. We also evaluated whether components of family-based programs exhibit additive or synergistic effects, and whether various sample and study factors moderate the link between components and study outcomes. Meta-analysis provides results less affected by researcher and study biases, and our results will enable researchers to optimize program design for specific populations and circumstances.
Year Project Began: 2012Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Principal Investigator
Mark Van Ryzin, Ph.D.
Oregon Social Learning Center
Active Research Projects
Primary Research and Clinical Interests
Mark J. Van Ryzin was awarded a PhD in Educational Psychology by the University of Minnesota in 2008. His primary research interests are social, motivational, and developmental processes in adolescence, particularly in the educational context. He is especially interested in non-traditional school environments and their potential to address the diverse range of student needs and interests that are found among today’s youth. His work is influenced by ideas from developmental psychology, positive youth development, mentoring, and attachment theory. Before coming to the OSLC, he served as a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Child Development (ICD) at the University of Minnesota for both the Human Developmental Psychobiology Lab (Megan R. Gunnar) and the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (Byron Egeland, W. A. Collins, & L. Alan Sroufe).