Substance Use: Family-based Interventions to Prevent Substance Use among Youth, Updated 2026

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Substance Use: Family-based Interventions to Prevent Substance Use among Youth: Community Preventive Services Task Force Finding and Rationale Statement Ratified June 2023; Updated 2026
• Corporate Authors:
  Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF)
• Description:
  Context: Youth substance use is associated with increased risk for delinquency, academic underachievement, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, perpetrating or experiencing violence, injuries, and mental health problems (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016). Preventing or delaying substance use initiation among youth (defined in this review as children and adolescents ages 10-17) reduces later risk for substance use, substance use disorders, and overdose (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016). ; In 2021, substance use was common among United States (U.S.) high school students and varied by substance. Approximately one-third of students (30%) reported current use of alcohol or marijuana, or prescription opioid misuse (Hoots et al. 2023). In 2022, more than 3 million middle and high school students reported using a commercial tobacco product (Park-Lee et al. 2022) and 11% of 8th graders reported lifetime use of marijuana (Miech et al. 2023). ; Substance use trends in the U.S. have changed in recent years. There have been increases in the availability of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, misuse of prescription drugs, and popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping products, and changes in the legal and regulatory landscape for cannabis (Hoots et al. 2023). ; Intervention research highlights parenting as a key protective factor that can be enhanced through skill-based training interventions (Ladis et al. 2019, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016). Interventions designed to strengthen preventive skills and practices among parents and caregivers such as communication, positive relationship interactions, monitoring and control have the potential to protect youth from initiation of substance use and other risk behaviors (Stockings et al. 2016, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016). ; The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) findings and recommendations for "Substance Use: Family-based Interventions to Prevent Substance Use Among Youth" are based on systematic reviews of evidence of effectiveness and economic impact. All CPSTF findings and recommendations were originally published in The Community Guide. ; The 2023 Findings and Rationale Statement was updated in July 2026. This update include the addition of these supporting document appendices: Appendix A: Analytic Framework (Effectiveness Review); Appendix B: Search Strategy (Effectiveness Review); Appendix C: Included Studies (Effectiveness Review); Appendix D: Summary Evidence Table (Effectiveness Review); Appendix E: Analytic Framework (Economic Review); Appendix F: Search Strategy (Economic Review); Appendix G: Included Studies (Economic Review); Appendix H: Summary Evidence Table (Economic Review).
• Content Notes:
  Publication date supplied by CPSTF
• Subjects:
  • Adolescent
  • Alcohol Drinking
  • Binge Drinking
  • Early Intervention, Educational
  • Family Support
  • Health Education
  • Marijuana Abuse
  • Opiate Overdose
  • Opioid-Related Disorders
  • Practice Guideline
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Substance Use
  • Tobacco
  • Alcohol
  • Substance Use Prevention
  • Family-based Interventions
• Series:
  CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement
• Subseries:
  Substance Use
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/168654
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• CIO:
  Office of Science (OS)
• Topic:
  Diseases and Conditions
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  355 pdf pages
• Citation:
  The Community Preventive Service Task Force (CPSTF). Substance Use: Family-based Interventions to Prevent Substance Use among Youth, Updated 2026. The Community Guide www.thecommunityguide.org. The Community Preventive Service Task Force, Atlanta, Georgia, 2026. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/168654
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168654/cdc_168654_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.65 MB]
• Collection(s):
  The Community Guide
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4648e32f6c59413a64f579db069f46b8bed34d672f34a9bb64ac67c371d6b8ae1d4eaabe99dd510baa65feb94f36aa3a0012d0b7e2cb2950d85be623aa0fa85f