Based on research findings, risk and protective factors for substance abuse have been classified into four domains: community, family, school, and individual/peer. It is crucial to determine which risk and protective factors are operating in a child's life before deciding on an appropriate intervention. As modeled by Tarter (1990) and advocated by Hallfors and Van Dorn (2002), assessment should be a two-step process. First, a screening instrument should be used to identify specific problematic areas for each adolescent receiving prevention services. This initial screening should be followed by a more intensive evaluation of the problem areas identified. A key issue is the state of assessment tools available for prevention interventions. One method of creating an effective screening instrument would be to use the data from the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTCYS) as a secondary data source. The CTCYS assesses the levels of risk and protective factors characteristic of a community for the purpose of informing community substance abuse prevention efforts. The CTCYS items would serve as an item pool, and one item would be chosen from each of the identified risk and protective factor subscales. Grouped by domain, these items could be used to assess the general area or areas of concern for an adolescent. Following the creation of this screening instrument, four subsequent scales should be developed in order to identify which specific risk and protective factors are problematic for individual adolescents. The new scales would require clinical testing for use as an individual assessment instrument. 2 tables and 43 references