Although delinquency and drug use affect millions of youth, research has identified successful, family-based intervention strategies in childhood and adolescence that can prevent such outcomes, said Leslie Leve, associate director of the UO’s Prevention Science Institute.
Leve will explore those strategies in depth as the featured speaker at Science Knight Out, a community science talk sponsored by the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.
People are asked to RSVP for the virtual event, slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 1.
Leve’s presentation will highlight the importance of nature and nurture in promoting or disrupting well-being, drawing insights from intervention studies with families in the juvenile justice system and from parent-child adoption research.
“A nurturing environment can play a critical role in helping those predisposed to these challenges,” Leve said. “Research shows that interventions early in child development can have significant impact later in life.”
Leve, the UO Alumni Faculty Professor in the College of Education, is a Knight Campus associate faculty member. She is best known for her research on child and adolescent development, gene-environment interplay, and interventions for children and families.
To date, she has published more than 175 scientific articles and 20 book chapters, among other publications. Her research has been, and continues to be, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education.
Leve’s talk will mark the fifth installment of Science Knight Out lecture series, which dates to 2017.
Past events were headlined by Robert E. Guldberg, vice president and Robert and Leona DeArmond Executive Director of the Knight Campus; Patrick Phillips, UO provost and senior vice president; Laura Lee McIntyre, director of the Prevention Science Institute and professor in the College of Education; and David McCormick, director of the Institute of Neuroscience.
Recordings of all past lectures are available on the Science Knight Out webpage.