SDRG News and Updates

A number of SDRG members will be presenting at this year’s annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research this month. Please see our list of presentations for more information.

The Social Development Research Group (SDRG) periodically highlights our publications through a Research Brief. Our goal for this series is to share important research findings and draw attention to the outstanding work being done by SDRG researchers. The current brief highlights recent studies by SDRG scientists and affiliated researchers that provide insights into the circumstances…

SDRG Director, Dr. Margaret Kuklinski, recently lent her expertise in the prevention field to serve as co-author on a perspectives paper, The State of Healthy Parenting in Primary Care Interventions in Advancing Health Equity. The paper was released by the Collaborative on Healthy Parenting in Primary Care (HPPC), a research group affiliated with the Forum…

For the last 18 months SDRG director, Margaret Kuklinski, participated in developing NASEM’S Blueprint for a National Prevention Infrastructure for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders. Join the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Wednesday, April 9, for a public release webinar in support of the report, which identifies the actions needed to prevent…

SDRG’s Jim Leighty, Dalene Beaulieu, and Margaret Kuklinski are attending the Joint Conference on Youth Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery in Baltimore, Maryland (https://youthrecoveryanswers.org/national-conference/). They will present a symposium Increasing uptake of effective parenting programs: Lessons from implementing Guiding Good Choices focused on our Northwest Center for Family Support, Guiding Good Choices for Health, and SAR…

The Social Development Research Group (SDRG) periodically highlights our publications through a Research Brief. Our goal for this series is to share important research findings and draw attention to the outstanding work being done by SDRG researchers. This brief describes results of a study that examined the relationship between parent-supervised drinking during adolescence and alcohol…

Margaret Kuklinski, PhD, has released a report outlining recent accomplishments in our four core areas. We are grateful for your support as we continue to pursue our mission of promoting healthy behaviors and positive social development among diverse populations using rigorous principles grounded in prevention science. You can read the report here: https://depts.washington.edu/sdrg/2025-annual-letter/

Firearm injury is now the leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the United States. This has fueled research agendas that seek to inform prevention efforts addressing this devastating public health crisis. However, most existing data about adolescent use of firearms has focused only on urban youth.  SDRG researchers have found that adolescents…

On November 26, 2024, SDRG Co-Founder Dr. J. David Hawkins, PhD, joined the radio program Voice of Vashon (Vashon Island, WA) to discuss the underlying theory of all our work at SDRG: the Social Development Strategy. The discussion includes research and strategies for preventing youth behavior problems, emphasizing evidence-based approaches to fostering positive development, and…

A recent study from a project involving SDRG researchers found that adolescents living in rural Washington generally understand what constitutes acceptable firearm carrying behavior, and are typically engaging with firearms in prosocial ways like hunting, recreation, and sport. This study highlights rural adolescents’ focus on not only training but also safety when it comes to…