This study aims to assess whether students at schools implementing Project SUCCESS (PS) have different substance use and mental health outcomes than those at schools not implementing PS. Surveys were administered to 18,151 middle and high school students from 29 school districts and 50 schools. Multivariable logistic and linear regressions…

Youth are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes from substance use, and there is limited evaluated drug education targeting youth in Canada or the United States of America (US). This scoping review identified and synthesized existing literature on evaluated harm reduction substance use education programs for school-aged youth in Canada and…

Substance use in adolescence is a significant public health issue, particularly in early-to-mid adolescence, which represents a window of risk in the etiology of substance abuse and dependence. Substance use during this development period often results from affiliation with deviant peers, who model, facilitate, and reinforce use. Existing…

Lifestyle risk behaviours--physical inactivity, poor diet, poor sleep, recreational screen time, and alcohol and tobacco use--collectively known as the "Big 6" emerge during adolescence and significantly contribute to chronic disease development into adulthood. To address this issue, the Health4Life program targeted the Big 6 risk…

Objective: Engaging in healthy behaviour while studying at university is a defining factor in terms of its impact on a person's later health in life. Therefore, university students are a priority when it comes to health education interventions. This article describes the development and implementation of a web-based health programme intervention…

An earlier trial of a school-based, preventative intervention, HealthWise South Africa, demonstrated some efficacy in preventing adolescent drinking and smoking in the Western Cape, South Africa. This was followed by the current implementation trial, which examined how implementation support conditions influenced adolescent drinking and smoking…

Background: Physical exercise interacts with sleep quality, stress and life satisfaction. Purpose: The current study examined the effectiveness of regular aerobic walking on sleep quality, stress and life satisfaction and to explore the associations between lifestyle habits and sleep quality, stress and life satisfaction. Methods: A 12-week…

Background: Given its ability to exacerbate health inequities through its disproportionate impact on low-income communities, the need exists to better understand factors that influence substance use among adolescents. Moreover, given its multi-etiological nature, preventing adolescent substance use requires addressing intrapersonal, interpersonal,…

Purpose: Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs use typically increases in prevalence and frequency during middle and late adolescence. School health instruction often focusses on providing facts and rarely provides tools for addressing the psychosocial risk factors needed to prevent substance use. The purpose of this paper is to report about…

This study investigated whether the presence of school-based health centers (SBHCs) was associated with six substance use behaviors among sexual minority youth (SMY) and their heterosexual peers. Data from the 2015 Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, including 13,608 11th graders in 137 schools (26 with SBHCs) were used in the current study. Multilevel…

Background: Participation in extracurricular activities can have positive effects on youth, with greater participation associated with higher academic as well as better socioemotional and behavioral outcomes. Little research has examined differential effects of in-school and out-of-school activities. Methods: This study examines in-school and…

Background: Students without intellectual disability (ID) start experimenting with tobacco and alcohol between 12 and 15?years of age. However, data for 12- to 15-year old students with ID are unavailable. Prevention programs, like "prepared on time" (based on the attitude-social influence-efficacy model), are successful, but their…

Background: The host of costly individual and societal consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) use underscores the importance of ATOD prevention education. "It's Up 2U" is an evidence-informed, game-based, e-learning ATOD prevention program developed by Children's Health Education Center (CHEC) targeting middle school…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the Dutch "Skills for Life" programme on students' health behaviours, bullying behaviour and suicidal ideation. Design/methodology/approach: The effectiveness of the "Skills for Life" programme on health behaviour outcomes was evaluated at three points in time in…

This article discusses a qualitative evaluation of the Florida 4-H Health Rocks! program aimed at youth alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use prevention. A questionnaire was distributed to Extension professionals across Florida to gain insight into the strengths and barriers they faced with programming. Programmatic strengths included targeting a…