Promoting competent young people in competence-enhancing environments: a systems-based perspective on primary prevention.

Recent studies indicate that 15-22% of American children and adolescents suffer from diagnosable mental disorders. Researchers estimate that 25-50% engage in risk behaviors for negative health and behavior outcomes, such as drug abuse, unwanted pregnancy, AIDS, delinquency, and school dropout. The prevalence of problem behaviors, as well as current social trends, demands that effective primary prevention programs be developed and disseminated. This article reviews successful family-, school-, and community-based prevention efforts aimed at reducing the incidence and severity of children's psychosocial problems. High-quality, comprehensive, competence-promotion programs that focus on both children and their socializing environments represent the state of the art in prevention. Establishing enduring, effective preventive interventions requires increased attention to program design, implementation, and institutionalization.