Reports marijuana users gave significantly higher estimates of percentage of students who use marijuana. States that there is a greater risk of using marijuana among students who held the perception that it was used by more than half the students on campus. Prevention programs need to consider that marijuana users are at risk for engagement in…

Assesses issues related to marijuana use and cessation with a group of high school students (N=842). Results show that interest in quitting marijuana use was high; several social images associated with marijuana use were positive; subjects expressed a lack of confidence in cessation programs; and subjects believed that self-help or punitive…

Examined 1979-97 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse data to investigate the probabilities of progression through a sequence of stages of substance use. Progression to marijuana and hard drugs was uncommon in people born before World War II. The stages phenomenon emerged with the baby boom and peaked among people born around 1960.…

Objective: To critically review cannabis research during the past 10 years in relation to rates of use, behavioral problems, and mental disorders in young people. Method: Studies published in English between 1994 and 2004 were identified through systematic searches of literature databases. The material was selectively reviewed focusing on child…

Objective: To describe an innovative treatment for adolescent marijuana abuse and provide initial information about its feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy. Method: Provided an intervention composed of (1) a clinic-administered, abstinence-based incentive program; (2) parent-directed contingency management targeting substance use…

Objective: To describe the risks and risk factors for substance use initiation and progression among a large sample of American Indian (AI) adolescents. Method: Data came from surveys completed by 2,356 AI adolescents aged 14 to 20 years who participated in two or more consecutive waves of a longitudinal study between 1993 and 1996 (response rate…

In this paper we report the results of research on the nature and extent of legal and illegal drug use among preteens and those factors associated with illegal drug use at this young age. The paper is based upon a survey of 2318 ten to twelve year olds in Glasgow and Newcastle. Overall around 30% of children reported having been exposed to illegal…

Two studies investigated associations between family instability (changes in parents' intimate partners, work hours, residence, children's schools) and adolescent adjustment. In Study 1 (N = 141, M age = 15.23 years), instability was associated with increased caregiver-reported externalizing and internalizing behaviors (including youth-reported…

The objective of the study was to identify and evaluate factors that are associated with differences in substance abuse between non-acculturated and acculturated Hispanic youth. We employed t-test and logistic regression to analyze self-reported survey data from 8,200 self-described Hispanic students. The outcome variable was past 30-day use of…

The present study utilizes the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey to examine the relationship between health-risk behaviors and sexual victimization among a sample of college women. A prospective design is utilized to examine the relationship between health-risk behaviors as measured at baseline and sexual victimization during a 3-month…

Research has identified risk and protective factors related to adolescent substance use using individual-level data, but it is uncertain whether or not these relationships exist when data are aggregated to a community level. Using data from adolescents in 41 communities, this article found that most community and family risk and protective…

Memory deficits produced by marijuana arise partly via interaction of the psychoactive component, [Deta][superscript 9]-tetrahydrocannabinol ([Deta][superscript 9]-THC), with cannabinoid receptors in the hippocampus. Although cannabinoids acutely reduce glutamate release and block hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a potential substrate for…

For the study reported here, the authors used growth mixture modeling to analyze changes in alcohol and marijuana use and the use of drug and alcohol treatment services for a sample of 180 adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (ages 12-14 years at the beginning of the 7-year longitudinal study). Three latent classes of substance users…

Representative data show that drug abuse, delinquency, and suicide attempts are major concerns among adolescent Hispanic females. Although comorbidity research indicates that such problems tend to be related to each other, this research largely neglects Hispanic females. Using data from presentence investigations on 141 Hispanic girls sentenced to…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…