Findings concluded that risk factors from a range of domains predicted drug misuse, namely characteristics of individuals, characteristics of families and their interactions, school/classroom experiences, peer groups, and wider contextual factors (community, legal, economic, and cultural factors). Findings show that there are a number of well-documented associations between specific risk and protective factors and patterns of substance misuse. Risk factors were not uniformly distributed across the youth population; some subgroups evinced particularly complex and enduring sets of problems. Research on risk and protective factors can be used to identify a subset of membership groups which seem to be at particularly high risk of developing drug/alcohol problems. Risk factors related to such identifiable group memberships can be used to aid the targeting of services/interventions. However, highly vulnerable membership groups are not internally homogenous. Future research should use quantitative methods to more fully establish the proportions of subsets within vulnerable groups (male and female school truants, young people involved in offending who are/are not in local authority care); qualitative methodology can be used to gain a fuller understanding of the reasons behind, connections amongst, and interactions between risk factors. Data were collected from a range of studies, predominantly American work, and including longitudinal work. References