A School-Based Program Identifying Personality Traits That Put Teens at Risk for Substance Use, with Dr. Patricia Conrod

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Dr. Patricia Conrod and her team at PreVenture have identified 4 personality traits that make teens at higher risk for substance use later in life, and have developed a school-based program that helps these at-risk kids learn how to turn their personality challenges into strengths. 

Parents will want to learn about the traits and this program which has some astounding, evidence-based results* like:

• an average of 50% reduction in alcohol consumption and drug usage
• 50% reduction in odds of binge-drinking
• delayed initiation of alcohol use and binge drinking
• significantly reduced conduct problems
• delayed initiation and reduced frequency of cannabis use
• benefits for kids who did NOT participate in the program

Dr. Conrod also talks about important topics such as:

• What she learned from studying children of alcoholics
• The common thing she sees young people from all over the world struggling with today
• Why a personality-based approach is so important for teens
• How traits like impulsivity put kids at risk for substance use
• Why parenting interventions are often started too late
• How kids as young as 11 are able to reliably identify their personality traits and challenges
• The myth of “the addictive personality”
• Why 85% of kids sign up for the PreVenture program when it’s offered in their school
• The "switch" that goes off in teens around age 14
• Why it’s unacceptable for schools to not be offering skills-based, evidence-based prevention programs
• and so much more - it was a fascinating conversation

The PreVenture program has been recognized as an evidence-based program by:

• UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• UNESCO
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• NREPP
• US Surgeon General

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• PreVenture (program website)
• Personality-targeted interventions delay the growth of adolescent drinking and binge drinking (PubMed)
• The impact of youth internalising and externalising symptom severity on the effectiveness of brief personality-targeted interventions for substance misuse: A cluster randomised trial (PubMed)
• Brief, personality-targeted coping skills interventions and survival as a non-drug user over a 2-year period during adolescence (PubMed)
• Universal cannabis outcomes from the Climate and Preventure (CAP) study: a cluster randomised controlled trial (PubMed)
• Effectiveness of a selective, personality-targeted prevention program for adolescent alcohol use and misuse: a cluster randomized controlled trial 

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