A $6.3 million grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse has been awarded to Iowa State’s Institute for Social and Behavioral Research.

The grant was given to support the Capable Families and Youth Study, a project researchers say prevents adolescent illegal substance abuse and other problematic behaviors.

“This is a very special type of award that recognizes an exceptional researcher, and essentially gives them more money than they apply for,” said Carolyn Cutrona, professor at the institute and for the psychology department. “This is money that the agency [uses to say] your work is so excellent, we want to give you more so you can do a more in-depth or elaborate study.”

The study states, “The trend toward increasing substance use and related problems among the targeted rural youth demonstrate the need for this research.”

“This is the second phase of a 10-year study that we began with the students and their families,” said Richard Spoth, senior research scientist and project director of the institute.

Students in 36 schools began the study as seventh-graders and are now in the 11th grade. Researchers will follow through with these same students after they graduate high school, he said.

“We look at a whole range of substance abuse,” Spoth said. “When the students are younger we’re trying to delay the onset of abuse. The more you delay the onset, the less likely they are to abuse. We also look at other problem behavior, such as whether or not they improve their knowledge of substance abuse, assertiveness and resisting peer pressure — if they do they’re less likely to have early onset abuse.”

Parents of the students are also involved in the study, Cutrona said. “They have sessions for parents teaching them good parenting techniques, and sessions with kids teaching them good life skills; then for the last session they bring the parents and kids together and have joint activities, such as practicing good communication.”

The research is also intended to help build a national network of partnerships designed to advance this and other programs, Spoth said. It links different levels of people in order to work together to achieve a common goal: curbing substance abuse among teens and young adults.

The local communities, in collaboration with local schools, are linked to regional staff at the ISU Extension system; staff then serves as a link to the university, Spoth said.

The importance of the partnership is that researchers are “looking at evidence-based programs, which have already been shown to be effective in other populations,” Spoth said. “The partnerships are to implement those proven studies — this has great potential for improving public health if we can get more evidence-based programs implemented over time on a larger scale.”