Background: Epidemiological surveys are designed to collect representative trend data. School-based surveys are important to utilize so systems can effectively create prevention and intervention programs to alter youths' perceptions and behaviors related to substance use. However, there are many barriers when implementing a school-based survey.…

Identifying mediators in variable chains as part of a causal mediation analysis can shed light on issues of causation, assessment, and intervention. However, coefficients and effect sizes in a causal mediation analysis are nearly always small. This can lead those less familiar with the approach to reject the results of causal mediation analysis.…

This article examines the concept of recovery capital, which is based on a socioeconomic understanding of addiction. Substance abuse treatment programs, especially those in the criminal justice system, should recognize the important relationship between abstinence and recovery capital. A program is described which fosters recovery capital among…

Purpose: To be effective, evidence-based programs should be delivered as prescribed. This suggests that adaptations that deviate from intervention goals may limit a program's effectiveness. This study aims to examine the impact that number and quality of adaptations have on substance use outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examined…

School nurses provide an important role in the continuity of health care especially for adolescents who are at high risk for significant health concerns. The purpose of this study was to assess adolescents' health information needs and identify their preferences for accessing health information. Using an inductive qualitative research design, 11…

Using primary socialization theory and theory of planned behavior, this study examined how targeted parent-child communication against substance use and parents' references to the negative consequences of their own past substance use (from the youth's perspective) directly and indirectly relate to Latino and European American youth's external…

African American (AA) adolescent girls are at heightened risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and thus knowledge of factors related to risky sexual behavior in this population is crucial. Using Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), this paper examines pathways from female caregivers' risky sexual behavior and substance use to…

This study examines the relationship between dating violence, forced sexual intercourse (FSI), and four measures of sexual risk taking (i.e., age at first sex, number of recent (within the last three months) sex partners, alcohol/drug use at last sex, and condom use at last sex) among a sample of 1124 ethnically diverse sexually active adolescents…

The Strengthening At Risk and Homeless Young Mothers and Children Initiative, funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, aims to improve the housing, health, and development of homeless and at-risk young families. This article describes the services provided in four program sites (Pomona, CA; Antelope Valley, CA; Minneapolis, MN; and Chicago, IL)…

We examine whether teachers' communicator style relates to student engagement, teacher-student relationships, student perceptions of teacher immediacy, as well as observer ratings of delivery skills during the implementation of All Stars, a middle school-based substance use prevention program. Data from 48 teachers who taught All Stars up to 3…

From 2003 to 2008, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities of Illinois (TASC) implemented the Reducing Risk: Outreach and Pretreatment for Probationers program (RROPP) in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. The goal of RROPP was to reduce probationers' further penetration into the criminal justice system by increasing participation in substance…

The mental health of today's college students continues to be a top-level concern for institutions of higher education, whether it is viewed from the perspective of staffing mental health services on campus, responding to after-hours crises in residence halls, providing accessible treatment with limited budgets, managing behavioral threats, or…

This Chapin Hall report describes findings on the extent of system involvement among Illinois youth released from correctional facilities, tracking a population of youth under age 18 in Illinois following their release. Using administrative records, researchers develop profiles of reentry experiences across the many systems that serve youth and…

Communities That Care (CTC) is a prevention system designed to reduce adolescent substance use and delinquency through the selection of effective preventive interventions tailored to a community's specific profile of risk and protection. A community-randomized trial of CTC, the Community Youth Development Study, is currently being conducted in 24…

Research-based substance use prevention curricula typically yield small effects when implemented by school teachers under real-world conditions. Using a randomized controlled trial, the authors examined whether expert coaching improves the effectiveness of the All Stars prevention curriculum. Although a positive effect on students' cigarette use…