The 22nd Annual Research Conference

Gwen Iding Brogden Distinguished Lecturer

J. David Hawkins

J. David Hawkins, Ph.D. is the Endowed Professor of Prevention and Founding Director of the Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle. His research focuses on understanding and preventing child and adolescent health and behavior problems. He seeks to identify risk and protective factors for health and behavior problems across multiple domains; to understand how these factors interact in the development of healthy behavior and the prevention of problem behaviors. He develops and tests prevention strategies which seek to reduce risk through the enhancement of strengths and protective factors in families, schools, and communities.

He is principal investigator of the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal study of 808 Seattle elementary school students who are now 33 years old. This project began in 1981 to test strategies for promoting successful development. He is also principal investigator of the Community Youth Development Study, a randomized field experiment involving 24 communities across seven states testing the effectiveness of the Communities That Care prevention system developed by Hawkins and Richard F. Catalano. He has authored numerous articles and several books as well as prevention programs for parents and families, including Guiding Good Choices, Parents Who Care, and Supporting School Success. His prevention work is guided by the social development model, his theory of human behavior.

He is a past President of the Society for Prevention Research, has served as a member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Epidemiology, Prevention and Services Research Review Committee, the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Advisory Committee, the National Institutes of Health's Study Section for Community Prevention and Control, the Department of Education's Safe, Disciplined, Drug-Free Schools Expert Panel, and the Washington State Governor's Substance Abuse Prevention Committee. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Prevention Science. He is listed in Who's Who in Science and Engineering, was awarded the 1999 Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research, 1999 August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology, and the 2003 Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He is committed to translating research into effective practice and policy to improve adolescent health and development.