ETIOLOGIC THEORIES AND THE PRIMARY PREVENTION OF DRUG-USE

Since the early 1980s, the social influence model has dominated the fi eld of primary prevention research. Social influence programs generall y take the form of standardized curricula, aimed at all members of bro adly defined target populations. Evaluative research has employed a fu ndamentally inductive methodology, the goal of which is to generate su ccessive ''confirming instances'' of program effectiveness among these broad populations. As a result, prevention research has largely stagn ated, and has not availed itself of recent findings from basic researc h such as those reported in this issue. This research tells us that th e relationship between peer group affiliation and drug use is reciproc al and not unidirectional as assumed in most social influence programs , that the scope of intervention efforts must be broadened because the processes involved in the initiation of drug use are far more complex than suggested by the theories on which current prevention efforts ar e based, and that programs should be targeted rather than universal as some individuals are at greater risk of developing a problem with dru gs than others.