ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on adolescent substance use prevention and the importance of positive parenting practices in promoting the goal of abstinence from use of harmful substances, which they view as a fundamental necessity to reaching the goal of achieving happiness, the good life. They outline the role of parents as facilitators of youth development and subjective well-being, and consider developments in adolescent substance use prevention. The authors examine implications for future prevention efforts aimed at preventing adolescent substance use initiation. For social psychologists, the prevention of destructive behaviours should play a prominent role in defining what it means to live the "good life." Combining the two-step flow model with the theory of planned behaviour results in a conceptual model in which the theories synergistically interact to create a useful model of the ways parents might be incorporated as communicators into adolescent substance use prevention campaigns.
