The Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model.

OBJECTIVES: We describe a transdisciplinary theory of change for interventions to promote trauma recovery that utilizes an eco-social approach to enhance health status and well-being following trauma exposures. This four-level theory of change could be applied to other population health problems, as well. METHODS: This theory-development process included reviewing existing literature, identifying assumptions, defining core concepts, stating propositions, depicting concepts and propositions for clarity, and illustrating with case examples grounded in our focus on trauma. RESULTS: The resulting Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model offers a framework for interventions that address the impact of trauma on the individual level through self-regulation, interpersonal level through relationships, community/organizational level through safety, and societal level through identities. Application of this model to intervention development for those affected by trauma is intended to promote resilience, recovery, posttraumatic growth, and positive adaptations to traumatic stress for populations, going beyond the current Western paradigm of treating individuals for psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: The Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model offers an adaptable transdisciplinary framework for developing and researching scalable trauma interventions for individuals, communities, and populations.

Variations in Adolescent Purpose in Life and Their Association With Lifetime Substance Use.

Purpose in life (PIL) promotes positive development and is associated with decreased substance use. However, to our knowledge, researchers have not investigated how different categories of PIL are associated with substance use behavior among youth. Therefore, we sought to explore categories of PIL and how they are related to substance use in a sample of adolescents. Ninth through 12th-grade students from a high school in a Midwest suburban community completed a paper-and-pencil survey ( n = 408, Mage = 15.36, SD = 1.21; 50% female; 72% White). Measures included lifetime substance use and categories of PIL. Exploratory factor analyses suggest that there are three categories of PIL. Alcohol and other drug (ATOD) use was inversely related with broad other-promoting PIL, while a broad self-promoting PIL was positively associated with ATOD use. These findings suggest that exploring PIL with students may reduce substance use behavior.