Beyond protective and risk factors: Trauma and gender in drug use prevention

Abstract

Trauma is widely recognized as a core determinant of substance use disorders, yet it is addressed almost exclusively within treatment and rehabilitation settings. This short communication argues that trauma must be integrated into drug use prevention, not as a clinical add-on but as a lens through which vulnerability, risk and protective factors are understood from the beginning. Existing prevention frameworks operate on the assumption that information and skills are sufficient to protect young people from substance use. However, for children and youth carrying unaddressed trauma, this assumption fails.