IBS Speaker Series: Prevention of Youth Problem Behaviors: Developmental Context, Risk & Protective Factors, and Implications for Intervention

Light lunch provided.

Abstract: Youth problem behaviors (e.g., aggression, conduct problems, depression, substance abuse, academic failure) are costly for individuals, families, and communities, yet many of these problems are preventable. In this talk, I will first give a summary of my research background as a developmental psychologist and prevention scientist, including both my basic and applied intervention work to prevent or reduce externalizing behaviors and substance use. Second, I will describe some of my current, collaborative research at the Institute of Behavioral Science. For example, I will provide an empirical illustration of how we can use family risk and protective factors for adolescent daily smoking to inform the timing of preventive interventions. Additionally, I will describe some current work with the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development project team, which focuses on methodological design and analysis recommendations for preventive interventions. Lastly, I will conclude with my future research directions, including current grant proposals under review and in development. These proposals are focused on cannabis measurement improvement, mechanisms accounting for health disparities in tobacco use from adolescence to adulthood, testing a parenting intervention for parents who use marijuana, and a large-scale efficacy trial of LifeSkills Training for prevention of substance use among Colorado high school students.

Bio: Christine Steeger, Ph.D., is a Research Associate in the Problem Behavior and Positive Youth Development Program at the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder. In 2013, she received her doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She then completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Prevention and Community Research. Prior to joining the Institute of Behavioral Science, Christine was a Research Scientist with the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington. Her training and expertise are in prevention science, developmental psychopathology, parenting, etiology of youth problem behaviors, and individual- and family-based interventions. Her methodological expertise includes longitudinal data analysis and designing, implementing, and evaluating preventive interventions. She has experience conducting a randomized controlled trial of a combined cognitive and parent training intervention for adolescents with ADHD and their mothers, which is published in Child Neuropsychology. Christine currently works on the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development preventive intervention registry project team. Her other current research interests include cannabis potency and measurement. She is an active member of the Society for Prevention Research and joined the Early Career Preventionist Network Steering Committee in 2018.

Monday, September 9, 2019 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Institute of Behavioral Science, 155
1440 15th Street, Boulder, CO 80309

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