Is Current Drug Abuse Prevention Programming Generalizable Across Ethnic Groups?

Abstract

Considerable progress has been made over the past two decades in identifying effective drug abuse prevention strategies. In particular, much support has been obtained for the effectiveness of a comprehensive social influences approach to drug abuse prevention. Given the inclusion of fundamental social psychological principles in comprehensive programs, it is possible that currently developed drug abuse prevention programming is generalizable to different ethnic groups. However, the empirical and theoretical evidence is equivocal regarding the extent to which this is true. In this article, the authors present arguments for and against the need to develop drug abuse prevention programs specifically for minority ethnic groups.