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...on Adolescents
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www.ProjectCork.org
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Spring 2010
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Underage drinking among young adolescent girls: The role of family processes.
Fang L; Schinke SP; Cole KC. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 23(4): 708-714, 2009. (27 refs.)
Guided by family interaction theory, this study examined the influences of psychological, peer, and familial processes on alcohol use among young adolescent girls and assessed the contributions of familial factors. An ethnically diverse sample of 1, 187 pairs of girls (M age = 12.83 years), and their mothers completed surveys online. Questionnaires assessed girls' lifetime and recent alcohol use, as well as girls' demographic, psychological, peer, and family characteristics. Hierarchical logistic regression models showed that although girls' drinking was associated with a number of psychological and peer factors, the contributions of family domain variables to girls' drinking were above and beyond that of psychological and peer factors. The interaction analyses further highlighted that having family rules, high family involvement, and greater family communication may offset risks in psychological and peer domains. Study findings underscore the multifaceted etiology of drinking among young adolescent girls and assert the crucial roles of familial processes. Prevention programs should be integrative, target processes at multiple domains, and include work with parents. Copyright 2009, Educational Publishing Foundation.
Assessing alcohol-involved adolescents: Toward a developmentally-relevant diagnostic taxonomy.
Felgus MA; Caldwell SB; Hesselbrock V. Journal of Substance Use 14(1): 49-60, 2009. (38 refs.)
Although recent assessment and diagnostic advancements have been made to better reflect the developmental uniqueness of alcohol-involved adolescents, there remains lacking a comprehensive taxonomy to describe the diversity of this large and often at-risk population. This paper presents a taxonomy comprising five typologies of adolescent drinkers based on a continuum of use severity. Each typology is described in terms of alcohol consumption variables, salient risk factors for alcohol problems, and problem symptoms. We argue that the taxonomy provides a useful heuristic for clinicians conducting assessment or screening with alcohol-involved adolescents, and we offer conceptual improvements for making the DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder criteria more developmentally relevant to adolescents. Implications for matching typologies to service levels are discussed. Copyright 2009, Informa Healthcare.
An in-depth survey of the screening and assessment practices of highly regarded adolescent substance abuse treatment programs.
Gans J; Falco M; Schackman BR; Winters KC. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse19(1): 33-47, 2010. (25 refs.)
Aims: To examine the quality of screening and assessment practices at some of the most highly regarded adolescent substance use treatment programs in the United States. Methods: Between March and September 2005, telephone surveys were administered to directors of highly regarded programs. Several different publications and databases were then used to measure the quality of the screening and assessment instruments described by programs. Results: For the 120 programs responding, 77 distinctly named instruments developed by outside sources were used at some point in the screening and assessment process, and the majority of programs also used instruments developed in-house. Fewer than half of these instruments were mentioned in the Substance Use Screening & Assessment Instruments Database. We were able to confirm that 87% of the instruments developed by others have a published manual, and 74% have been described in an article appearing in a peer-reviewed publication. Sixty-two percent were designed to be used with adolescents or adults and adolescents, while 19% were designed for adults only. Conclusion: Although adolescent substance abuse treatment programs recognized the importance of screening and assessment, the quality of such practices varied significantly. A large number of different tools were used by some of the most highly regarded programs in the country, and many used questionnaires developed in-house that may not have had high standards of reliability and validity. Furthermore, numerous programs were using assessment instruments that were not uniquely designed for adolescents. Encouraging the adoption of standardized assessment practices would help those involved in treatment to evaluate programs and to understand the assessment process. Copyright 2010, Haworth Press.
Academic achievement and adolescent drug use: An examination of reciprocal effects and correlated growth trajectories.
Henry KL. Journal of School Health80(1): 38-43, 2010. (25 refs.)
BACKGROUND: The primary aim was to examine correlated growth trajectories and reciprocal effects between academic achievement and drug use over the course of junior high school. METHODS: One hundred and three male and 98 female students from 3 rural junior high schools were surveyed 4 times over the course of 3 years. Dual trajectory latent growth models were estimated. RESULTS: Growth trajectories of school achievement and drug use over the course of junior high were highly correlated. Students who demonstrated deteriorating achievement during the course of junior high school showed an increase in drug use during this same time frame. Cross-process regressions indicated that students who demonstrated superior academic achievement in sixth grade exhibited a shallower rate of increase in drug use (ie, their drug use escalated to a lesser extent). CONCLUSIONS: The processes of academic disengagement (as marked by deteriorating grades) and drug use during adolescence appear to be related to one another. Prevention initiatives aimed at keeping adolescents academically engaged in school may have protective benefits against escalation of drug use. Copyright 2010, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Progression through early drinking milestones in an adolescent treatment sample.
Jackson KM. Addiction 105(3): 438-449, 2010. (50 refs.)
Aims: Research using nationally representative and community samples demonstrates a robust association between early onset of drinking and increased likelihood of numerous adverse outcomes. However, little is known about the subsequent drinking that occurs early in the drinking career. The present study dissects the transition from any alcohol use to treatment entry by taking a fine-grained approach to examining the attainment and progression of drinking events in a sample of adolescents in substance use treatment. Design/Setting: Data were taken from the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study for Adolescents (DATOS-A), a multi-site, community-based study of adolescents entering treatment. Participants: Respondents included 3331 youth aged 12-18 years (mean = 15.75) admitted to treatment in 1993-95 (74% male, 52% white, 24% African American, 20% Hispanic). Measurements: Age of attainment was obtained for five drinking-related milestones, including first drink of alcohol, first time drunk, first monthly drinking, first drank five or more drinks/day on a weekly basis and first drank five or more drinks/day on a daily basis. Findings: Most milestones were attained at a very early age, and average progression through adjacent drinking events was relatively swift. Movement through early drinking milestones was accelerated in girls and white youth. Youth who reported their first drink at an early age (age 10 or younger) showed slower progression, suggesting the existence of distinct processes underlying early use and drinking transitions within an individual. Conclusions: This study provides data relevant to understanding drinking progression/natural history in a large clinical sample, especially for differences by gender and ethnicity. The findings have implications for the identification of intermediate stages that might benefit from interventions.. Copyright 2010, Society for Study of Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs.
Do changes in drinking motives mediate the relation between personality change and "maturing out" of problem drinking?
Littlefield AK; Sher KJ; Wood PK. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 119(1): 93-105, 2010. (80 refs.)
Recent research has indicated that developmental changes in the personality traits of neuroticism, and impulsivity correlate with changes in problem drinking during emerging and young adulthood. However, it remains unclear what potential mechanisms, or mediators, could account for these associations. Drinking motives, particularly drinking to regulate negative affect (drinking to cope) and to get "high" or "drunk" (drinking for enhancement), have been posited to mediate the relationship between personality and drinking problems. Recent work indicates that changes in drinking motives parallel changes in alcohol involvement from adolescence to young adulthood. The present study examined changes in drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement) as potential mediators of the relation between changes in personality (impulsivity and neuroticism) with changes in alcohol problems in emerging and young adulthood. Analyses were based on data collected from a cohort of college students (N = 489) at varying risk for alcohol use disorders from ages 18 to 35. Parallel process latent growth modeling indicated that change in coping (but not enhancement) motives specifically mediated the relation between changes in neuroticism and alcohol problems as well as the relation between changes in impulsivity and alcohol problems. Findings suggest that change in coping motives is an important mechanism in the resolution between personality change and the "maturing out" of problematic alcohol involvement. Copyright 2010, American Psychological Association.
Substance use and substance use disorders as foster youth transition to adulthood.
Narendorf SC; McMillen JC. Children and Youth Services Review 32(1): 113-119, 2010. (30 refs.)
Little research has previously examined substance use and substance use disorders as youth age out of foster care. This study examined rates of getting drunk, marijuana use, and substance use disorders over time for a cohort of 325 older youth in foster care in Missouri. Rates of past month marijuana use increased from 9% at age 17 to 20% at age 19. Rates of getting drunk in past year increased from 18% at age 18 to 31% at age 19. Compared to the general population, older foster youth had lower rates of substance use but higher rates of substance use disorders (SUD), with 15% of youth meeting criteria for a SUD at age 19. Youth who had left the custody of the state had significantly higher rates of alcohol and marijuana use at ages 18 and 19. Transitions out of residential care and into independent living situations were associated with use of substances at age 18. Different risk factors were associated with substance use at ages 18 and age 19 while risk factors for SUDs were more stable over time. Findings highlight the need to screen and provide treatment for SUDs before youth leave state custody and to consider substance abuse treatment in decisions to extend care beyond age 18. Copyright 2010, Elsevier Science.
The long arm of expectancies: Adolescent alcohol expectancies predict adult alcohol use.
Patrick ME; Wray-Lake L; Finlay AK; Maggs JL. Alcohol and Alcoholism 45(1): 17-24, 2010. (75 refs.)
Aims: Alcohol expectancies are strong concurrent predictors of alcohol use and problems, but the current study addressed their unique power to predict from adolescence to midlife. Method: Long-term longitudinal data from the national British Cohort Study 1970 (N = 2146, 59.8% female) were used to predict alcohol use and misuse in the mid-30s by alcohol expectancies reported in adolescence. Results: Cohort members with more positive alcohol expectancies at age 16 reported greater alcohol quantity concurrently, increases in alcohol quantity relative to their peers between ages 16 and 35, and a higher likelihood of lifetime and previous year alcohol misuse at age 35, independent of gender, social class in family of origin, age of alcohol use onset, adolescent delinquent behavior and age 16 exam scores. Conclusions: Alcohol expectancies were strong proximal predictors of alcohol use and predicted relative change in alcohol use and misuse across two decades into middle adulthood. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
Cracking down on youth tobacco may influence drug use.
Jason LA; Pokorny SD; Adams M; Nihs A; Kim HY; Hunt Y. Journal of Community Psychology 38(1): 1-15, 2010. (26 refs.)
This study evaluated the influence of tobacco possession-use-purchase (PUP) law enforcement and illicit drug use and offers. Twenty-four towns were randomly assigned into two conditions. Both conditions focused on reducing minors' access to commercial sources of tobacco. The communities assigned to the experimental condition also increased their PUP law enforcement, whereas among communities in the control condition, PUP law enforcement remained at low levels. A hierarchical linear modeling analytical approach was selected due to the multilevel data and nested design. The likelihood of a child currently using, drugs, ever having used drugs, or illicit drug offers was lower in the experimental versus control conditions. These outcomes suggest that police efforts to reduce specific substance use behaviors (i.e., underage tobacco use) may have a positive spillover effect and help reduce teen drug use and illicit drug offers. Copyright 2010, John Wiley & Sons.
Cannabis and crime: Findings from a longitudinal study.
Pedersen W; Skardhamar T. Addiction 105(1): 109-118, 2010. (51f refs.)
Aim: To examine the association between cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood, and subsequent criminal charges. Methods: Data were obtained from the Young in Norway Longitudinal Study. A population-based sample (n = 1353) was followed from 13 to 27 years of age. Data were gathered on cannabis use, alcohol consumption and alcohol problems, and use of other illegal substances such as amphetamines, cocaine and opiates. In addition, extensive information on socio-demographic, family and personal factors was collected. This data set was linked to individual-level information from official Norwegian crime statistics. Findings: We found robust associations between cannabis use and later registered criminal charges, both in adolescence and in young adulthood. These associations were adjusted for a range of confounding factors, such as family socio-economic background, parental support and monitoring, educational achievement and career, previous criminal charges, conduct problems and history of cohabitation and marriage. After adjustment, we still found strong associations between cannabis use and later criminal charges. However, when eliminating all types of drug-specific charges from our models, we no longer observed any significant association with cannabis use. Conclusions The study suggests that cannabis use in adolescence and early adulthood may be associated with subsequent involvement in criminal activity. However, the bulk of this involvement seems to be related to various types of drug-specific crime. Thus, the association seems to rest on the fact that use, possession and distribution of drugs such as cannabis is illegal. The study strengthens concerns about the laws relating to the use, possession and distribution of cannabis. Copyright 2010, Society for Study of Addiction..
Geographic clustering of underage drinking and the influence of community characteristics.
Reboussin BA; Preisser JS; Song EY; Wolfson M. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 106(1): 38-47, 2010. (80 refs.)
This paper examine the extent that underage drinking clusters geographically in a sample of communities, and to investigate the manner in which community-level contexts are related to this process. We used data from a randomized community trial of underage drinking to provide the first quantitative estimates of the magnitude of the geographic clustering of underage drinking based upon pairwise odds ratios (PWORs). The Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Randomized Community Trial provided data from samples of youth aged 14-20 from 68 communities surveyed in 2004, 2006, and 2007 (n = 18.730). Past 30-day drinking, binge drinking, getting drunk, experiencing non-violent consequences as a result of drinking and making a purchase attempt all significantly clustered within-communities with PWORs ranging from 1.05 to 1.21. After adjustment for individual-level characteristics, results remained relatively unchanged. However, there was evidence that the magnitude of the clustering varied as a function of neighborhood disadvantage, neighborhood disorder, and family structure. Drunkenness and experiencing non-violent consequences as a result of drinking was greatest in the least economically disadvantaged and least disordered communities with the greatest percentage of married-couple families. The clustering of making a purchase attempt, however, was greatest in more disordered communities, specifically the largest communities with a high degree of residential mobility and housing density. Clustering of underage drinking behaviors varies by community context may help identifying the communities to target for underage drinking behavioral preventive interventions. Copyright 2010, Elsevier Science.
Wastin' away in Margaritaville? New evidence on the academic effects of teenage binge drinking.
Sabia JJ. Contemporary Economic Policy 28(1): 1-22, 2010. (37 refs.)
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the relationship between teenage binge drinking and three measures of academic performance: grade point average, out-of-school suspensions, and unexcused absences from school. While ordinary least square estimates show that binge drinking is associated with diminished academic performance, individual fixed-effects estimates suggest that much of this relationship can be explained by unmeasured heterogeneity. After controlling for individual fixed effects and for changes in drug use, psychological well-being, and time preference, binge drinking has a much smaller and often statistically insignificant effect on school performance. Copyright 2010, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
A review of Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous programs for teens.
Sussman S. Evaluation & the Health Professions 33(1): 26-55, 2010. (84 refs.)
The investigation of the applicability of Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) for teens has only been a subject of empirical research investigation since the early 1990s. In the present review, the author describes teen involvement in AA/NA programming, provides an exhaustive review of the outcomes of 19 studies that used an AA/NA model as part of their formal teen substance abuse treatment programs, and provides data on the effects of AA/NA attendance on abstinence at follow-up, on which youth tend to become involved in AA/NA, and on mediation of the benefits of AA/NA participation. The author suggests the reasons for somewhat limited participation by teens in more informal, community-based 12-step meetings, and makes suggestions for maximizing participation at community meetings. He concludes that AA/NA participation is a valuable modality of teen treatment and that much can be done to increase teen participation, though more research is needed. Copyright 2010, Sage Publications.
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