Frameworks for Promoting Well-Being and Preventing Multiple Problems

There is a growing consensus among multiple disciplines about the importance of nurturing positive development as a framework for reaching healthy outcomes for children and youth (e.g., Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012: Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins, 2004; Institute of Medicine, 2009; Lou, Anthony, Stone, Vu, & Austin, 2008).  However, most preventive interventions have their origins in efforts to prevent one or a few specific problems and the integration of these orientations with a well-being framework is only beginning. This roundtable will attempt to advance the development of a comprehensive framework that could contribute to more efficient prevention of psychological and behavioral problems at the same time that it expands the impact of prevention and intervention science to the development of positive, prosocial values and behaviors that are essential to a successful and well-ordered society.

The roundtable will consist of five presentations that focus on various well-being frameworks. The roundtable will begin with an overview of the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report, Preventing Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities and its implications for advancing well-being and prevention of multiple problems among children and youth.  The second presentation will continue with a synthesis of the IOM findings that argue effective family and school preventive interventions have four features: (a) the minimize toxic biological and social conditions, (b) they teach, promote, and richly reinforce prosocial behavior, (c) monitor and set limits on opportunities for problem behavior, and (d) the promote psychological flexibility.  The presenter will then discuss the implications of this and related analyses of positive youth development as they relate to the efforts of nine states to fully develop their prevention systems. The third presentation will describe the context for and creation of the well-being framework developed by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), which is intended to promote social and emotional well-being for youth and families receiving child welfare services. The fourth presentation will review specific conceptual frameworks and focus on the evidence from two reviews of the impact of positive youth development (PYD) programs delivered prior to age 21 that have the common aim of encouraging PYD. The fifth presentation will describe the framework developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for using PYD to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Finally, the Chair will discuss the implications of the presentations for advancing population well-being.