An overview of prevention of multiple risk behaviour in adolescence and young adulthood.
Jackson C.A., Henderson M., Frank J.W. et al. Journal of Public Health: 2012, 34(S1), p. i31–i40.

Different youth 'problem' behaviours overlap and share common causes, so it should make sense to implement programmes which affect several at once. That was the thesis of this Scottish review, which looked at studies reporting on both substance use and risky or underage sex. The literature was scarce but did give some reasons for optimism.

Summary
Substance (alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug) use and sexual risk behaviour share some common underlying determinants. This 'rapid review' sought to synthesise the international evidence on 'what works' to prevent these overlapping risk behaviours, focusing largely on the 'microenvironment' rather than broader social and legal issues, and on universal approaches addressing whole youth populations rather than selected 'high-risk' groups or individuals.

The reviewers found no previous reviews of intervention studies which had reported multiple risk-behaviour outcomes, so instead they identified reviews focused on single risk-behaviours, and also looked for individual evaluation studies which reported both substance use and sexual risk behaviour outcomes. The latter had to be based on the young people's behaviour at age 11 to 25 and the impacts of interventions implemented between the ages of about five and 25.