Longitudinal research on the links between intelligence and health behaviors among adolescents is rare. We report longitudinal data in which we assessed the relationships between intelligence as assessed in Grade 7 and consequential health outcomes in Grade 11. The mean age of respondents (N = 420; 188 males, 232 females) was 12.30 years (SD =…

Substance use among youth is a significant health concern in the rural United States, particularly among at-risk students. While evidence-based programs are available, literature suggests that an underdeveloped rural health prevention workforce often limits the adoption of such programs. Additionally, population-size restrictions of national…

Using cluster analysis, 717 students who reported that they had never smoked and the nondrinking 292 students who reported that they had never drank alcohol were classified into four profile groups based on their Pros and Cons of not using and temptation to use. Profiles were labeled Most Protected, Least Positive, Most Negative, and Most Tempted.…

This occasional paper presents national demographic subgroup data for the 1975-2014 Monitoring the Future (MTF) national survey results on 8th, 10th, and 12th graders' use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. MTF is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health under a series of investigator-initiated, competitive…

Students who attend college and reside on campus often have to contend with social problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, HIV/AIDS infection, courtship, sex and marriage, home and family and other social-psychological issues while trying to maintain academically and matriculate to graduation. Earlier research from the 1995 National College…

Few studies have examined school-based factors associated with variability in the victimization and health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Among 15,965 students in 45 Wisconsin schools, we identified differences based on Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) presence. Youth in schools with GSAs reported less truancy,…

According to research data, in today's Russia 70 percent of children are born with various health risk factors, and this leads to a rapid deterioration of their health during their school years. The health of school students is getting worse as a consequence of the effect of a whole set of social and economic and psychological factors, and the…

The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing attitudes toward sexual activity among early adolescents in Japan. A total of 1,551 students aged 12 to 14 years at 4 junior high schools were divided into either a conservative or liberal group. Results of chi-square tests showed that the liberal group had higher percentages of students…

Many children, including those with asthma, remain exposed to secondhand smoke. This manuscript evaluates the process of implementing a secondhand smoke reduction counseling intervention using motivational interviewing (MI) for caregivers of urban children with asthma, including reach, dose delivered, dose received and fidelity. Challenges,…

Lay health advisers (LHAs) are increasingly used to deliver tobacco dependence treatment, especially with low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations. More information is needed about treatment adherence to help interpret mixed evidence of LHA intervention effectiveness. This study examined adherence to behavioral counseling and nicotine patches in…

School-based tobacco prevention programs have had limited success reducing smoking rates in the long term. Media literacy programs offer an innovative vehicle for delivery of potentially more efficacious anti-tobacco education. However, these programs have been neither widely implemented nor well evaluated. We conducted a pre-post evaluation of a…

Smoking during pregnancy is a persistent public health problem that has been linked to later adverse outcomes. The neonatal period--the first month of life--carries substantial developmental change in regulatory skills and is the period when tobacco metabolites are cleared physiologically. Studies to date mostly have used cross-sectional designs…

While many adolescents and young adults experiment with substances (e.g., alcohol, cigarette smoking, marijuana), recent research suggests that rural youth and young adults may be more at risk for substance use than their urban counterparts. This study was designed to examine the longitudinal relationships between rural adolescents' prosocial…

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pre- and perinatal factors on the risk of developing attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: We investigated the medical history of 237 children (206 male; 31 female) from Malmo, Sweden born between 1986 and 1996 and in whom a diagnosis of ADHD (Diagnostic and Statistical…

Purpose: This paper seeks to assess the oral health status and behaviour of a sample of the Mauritian population visiting private dental clinics. Design/methodology/approach: Oral health status was determined using the World Health Organization (Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index indicating the prevalence of caries, and factors associated…