The functional objective of this application is to obtain stable support for the development and integration of a transdisciplinary prevention research center (TPRC) within the Center of Alcohol Studies (CAS) at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The Rutgers TPRC (RTPRC) will include established investigators representing a wide range of scientific disciplines and specialties from the core, joint and visiting faculty of the CAS, noted investigators from two other established research programs (Alan Marlatt, University of Washington; and, Eugene Oetting, the Colorado State University) and prevention partners (Princeton Center for Leadership Training, Rutgers Student Health Services and Sports Medicine, Division of Intercollegiate Athletics). The broad focus and goal of RTPRC is acquisition of knowledge about the manner in which individuals, transitioning key developmental phases (including turning points in drug use staging), acquire and integrate information about substance use behavior into their behavioral repertoire and the application of that knowledge in the design of prevention interventions. RTPRC themes include: (1) Developing a knowledge base regarding basic self-regulatory and learning processes relevant to the development of substance use, and applying that knowledge base to the development of RTPRC prevention models; (2) Applying our knowledge base regarding transitional stages in drug use to the development of RTPRC prevention models; (3) Applying our knowledge base about transitional phases and processes in normative human maturational and developmental phases and processes in designing and implementing RTPRC prevention interventions; (4) Identifying potentially malleable risk and protective factors related to use behaviors in RTPRC target populations and applying them in model interventions and outcomes; (5) Developing a knowledge base of theories and methods of communication and communication dynamics and applying them in the development and implementation of RTPRC model programs; (6) Developing an ongoing interactive transdisciplinary model environment that promotes and enhances interactions between basic and applied researchers and prevention. The RTPRC is organized around two cores (Administrative and Resource) and three project areas. The Project areas are: (1) Enhanced peer-based interventions during the transition to high school; (2) Developing brief interventions for drug abuse prevention for college students; and (3) Memory processes, emotional regulation and developmental stage of drug exposure. Project Cores and Projects are multidisciplinary and span the range of drug abuse prevention research. Several mechanisms are built into RTPRC that assure strong interaction and cross-fertilization between and across Cores and Project areas. The proposed RTPRC will accomplish the objectives set forth in NIDA's National Prevention Initiative.
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