The overall aim of the Center for Prevention Research is to examine the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors as they relate to the initiation and continuation of drug use and abuse, and to develop and test intervention strategies for drug abuse prevention. The Center was founded on assumptions that drug abuse prevention is relevant across the life span, in different settings, and that it requires an interdisciplinary perspective.
The specific aims for the Center for Prevention Research are; (1) Empirically test etiologic models derived from theories of the biological, psychological, and social factors associated with drug abuse; (2) Using theoretical concepts which link different disciplines, examine, elaborate, and articulate the integral connections which exist among research studies using animal and human models to understand the etiology of drug abuse and effectiveness of interventions to prevent drug abuse; (3) Serve as a national and international scientific resource for the etiology of drug abuse and effectiveness of interventions to prevent drug abuse; (4) Establish a Center for Prevention Research within the National mental Health Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and provide the mentoring necessary to make the moscow Center a viable and independent entity; and (5) Provide administrative, statistical, and other support for all Center researchers, and recruit and train new drug abuse researchers. Four studies are proposed: Individual Differences in Drug Response; An Animal Model investigates the biological mechanism linking novelty- and drug seeking behaviors in animals, with a focus on the mesolimbic dopamine system, the role of the environment in mediating novelty- and drug seeking behavior, and the location of chromosomal loci for the novelty seeking trait on the mouse genome. Amphetamine Abuse Liability and Sensation Seeking Status investigates the behavioral effects and abuse liability of amphetamine and other drugs in high and low sensation seekers, to determine whether differences between the two groups are related to dopamine function. Drug Use Patterns of Pre-Teens Into Early Adulthood is a longitudinal study of the first DARE cohort as young adults, building on five years data collected as part of the original DARE evaluation, to examine specific etiologic questions related to drug initiation, use and continuation. Etiology of Adolescent Drug Use: Selective Prevention is a rigorous evaluation of an innovative six-week academic and social skills summer program designed for at-risk elementary school students.
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