Hawkins received a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University in 1975. His research focuses on understanding and preventing child and adolescent health and behavior problems. He develops and tests prevention strategies that seek to reduce risk through the enhancement of strengths and protective factors in families, schools and communities. He is the principal investigator of the Community Youth Development Study, a randomized field experiment involving 24 communities across seven states testing the effectiveness of the Communities That Care prevention system, developed by Hawkins and Richard F. Catalano. He has authored numerous articles and several books as well as prevention programs for parents and families, including Guiding Good Choices, Parents WhoCare and Supporting School Success . He is listed in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and was awarded the 2009 Flynn Prize for Research from the USC School of Social Work.