Differential Sensitivity Markers in Youth Drug Abuse Prevention

This R34 pilot study proposes to conduct feasibility and exploratory intervention outcome research that will lead to the development of a personalized intervention framework for early stage adolescent drug users. The study will explore putative moderators representing two theoretically distinct frameworks and determine whether they are suitable candidates for a subsequent R01 study. One moderation framework is based on risk severity (RS) as reflected by individual differences in delay discounting (DD), a form of impulsive decision making that is positively associated with escalation to more serious levels of abuse and addiction. A second more exploratory framework is based on differential sensitivity (DS) theory. The DS framework stipulates that individuals, due to specific sensitivity factors, vary in their responsiveness to environmental influence such as the influence provided by an intervention. The study will explore DS markers associated with the reward motivational system, including dopaminergic genes, the post-auricular physiological reflex and a high sensory-processing sensitivity trait. An agency-university partnership will collaborate in providing services to 120 adolescents (ages 12-17) who were referred to a community counseling center because of a recent alcohol and/or marijuana incident. Recruitment will select mild/moderate drug users. Participants will be randomized to one of two evidence-based drug abuse interventions. The two interventions offer the same delivery dosage but differ in terms of their mechanism of therapeutic change (i.e., degree of environmental influence). The Teen Intervene program (TI; Winters & Leitten, 2007) is a youth-focused intervention that uses motivational interviewing, goal setting, and skills training to foster the internal development of responsible decision-making with the goal of choosing attitudes and behaviors that are healthier alternatives to drug use behaviors. The Everyday Parenting program (EP; Dishion et al., 2003; 2010) is a family focused-intervention that works with parents to provide environmental scaffolding necessary to help teens gradually internalize decision-making skills that reinforce and promote healthy lifestyle alternatives to drug use. The aims of this R34 are to (1) assess feasibility of recruiting, assessing, and following-up enrolled youth in an intervention trial, (2) assess the ability of staff to implement TI and EP with fidelity, and (3) obtain promising data on moderator and outcome variables that will help answer the question of "what intervention works best for which youth" in a subsequent R01 study.