This study examines whether program effects on mother-child relationship quality and effective discipline mediated the 6-year longitudinal effects of the New Beginnings Program (NBP) to improve mental health and competence outcomes in 218 adolescents from divorced families in a randomized experimental trial. The NBP is a theory-based and…

This article reports on the lessons learned from a five-year, evidence-based substance abuse prevention initiative conducted in three school districts. Traditional outcome measures yielded no significant program effects, despite the use of an evidence-based curriculum. The failure to find significant statistical results is discussed in terms of…

This study examined the associations between lifetime mental disorder, comorbidity, and self-reported postrunaway arrests among 428 (187 males, 241 females) homeless and runaway youth. The analysis examined the pattern of arrests across five lifetime mental disorders (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, conduct disorder, major depressive episode, and…

Because of the vast improvements in adolescent substance use assessment, it is widely recognized that adolescent substance use disorders (SUD) encompasses diverse drugs, patterns and etiologies and are characterized by extensive heterogeneity in other life domains. The next step in advancing adolescent SUD assessment is to classify adolescents…

Today's families face many stressors during the early childhood years. Particular stressors like homelessness, violence, and chemical dependence, play havoc with the family system. Urie Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological perspective offers an insightful lens for understanding and supporting families under stress. This article presents the key…

Continuing education is being provided to professionals in the addiction treatment field to help them develop skills in process improvement and better meet the needs and requests they encounter. Access and retention of individuals seeking addiction treatment have been two of the greatest challenges addiction treatment professionals face.…

Clinicians involved in family therapy are increasingly concerned with the impact of parental alcoholism on individual development and family functioning. With more than 20 million adults raised within an alcoholic family, and with widespread problems associated with parental alcoholism, clinicians providing family treatment have a potentially…

This study describes the prevalence of alcohol and drug use, abuse, and dependence among adults on the Texas-Mexico border in 2002-2003. The findings are based on survey responses from a random sample of 1,200 adults living in households in three communities: El Paso, a densely populated city in west Texas; the less dense urbanized areas of the…

Low-income urban youth of color frequently confront a wide variety of challenges and hardships that other young people do not experience. The prevalence of hardships that urban youth of color face has contributed to the notion that this group is by its very nature at risk, and promotes stereotypes depicting these youth as irresponsible,…

Contingency management (CM) interventions usually reinforce submission of drug-negative specimens, but they can also reinforce adherence with goal-related activities. This study compared the efficacy of the 2 approaches. Substance-abusing outpatients (N = 131) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 12-week treatments: standard treatment (ST), ST with CM…

To better serve people in a counseling relationship, it is useful to understand them not only culturally, but demographically as well. This paper traces historical, religious, demographic aspects and treatment of alcohol abuse in African Americans. Historically, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence have varied for African Americans. During the…

Written to provide a brief introduction of online resources and searching the Internet, this document highlights Internet sites relating to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention. Information is provided on the following topics: (1) software and hardware needed to access Internet sites; (2) the variety of online services available; and…

This booklet provides data and information to show that substance abuse prevention is working and encourages all sectors of society to become involved. Twenty percent of the document features background information about what's working to prevent substance abuse, lists of risk and protective factors, data that show the relationship between…

A participatory action research project examined vocational rehabilitation (VR) services provided in New York State to American Indians with behavioral health diagnoses, including dual diagnoses involving substance abuse. In 1991, the New York public VR system had 81 American Indians apply for VR services (only 2.8 percent of American Indians with…

This guide is designed to assist people with learning disabilities to recognize their disabilities and the connection between learning disabilities and substance abuse. It begins by defining learning disabilities and providing a self-test checklist for common signs and symptoms of learning disabilities. Difficulties with organization, memory,…