Adolescents (n=74) in schools, community, or hospital drug intervention programs received eight- to nine-week structured fitness activity class as part of programs. Subjects who improved in fitness tests also demonstrated significant increase in self-concept risk factor and significant decrease in anxiety and depression risk factors compared to…

Examined the well-being of adolescents before and after a parental divorce. Boys demonstrated ill effects after the divorce but not prior to the separation. Girls showed negative reactions before the separation, but these did not become worse after the divorce. (BC)

Summarizes recent research concerning prevalence of substance abuse-related problems among chronically mentally ill people, outlines important assessment and treatment strategies suggested to date, and highlights policy dilemmas that impede further progress in helping substance-abusing client with major mental illness. (NB)

Describes Youth-Reaching-Youth (YRY) Project, peer substance abuse prevention program of National Network of Runaway and Youth Services. Defines YRY goal as preventing and reducing substance abuse among runaway, homeless, and other youth in high-risk situations. Describes need for program, training curriculum, and evaluation. (NB)

Examined ways to create accessibility to generic chemical dependency treatment for people with learning differences. Conducted key informant survey of chemical dependency workers and developmental disabilities workers to determine needs of chemical dependency treatment programs, staff, and people with learning differences in making treatment…

Surveyed 37 child welfare workers who participated in a 2-day continuing education program on substance abuse. Found that, after they completed the program, the workers appeared to be more willing to work with their clients' addiction problems and had more confidence that they could make a difference in their clients' lives. (MDM)

Marijuana motives were studied in relationship to drinking motives among college students. Internal consistency and concurrent validity of the measure, gender, and interpersonal correlates of problem use patterns were examined. Analyses supported a five-factor marijuana motives model, prediction of use-related problems, and discriminant validity…

Examines the perceptions of sixth- through ninth-grade students (N=719) concerning evaluation of substance-abuse-prevention strategies. School-based programs were rated as significantly more effective on six prevention objectives than were television ads, testimonials by famous people, billboards, and print ads displayed on public transportation.…

Research examined Refusal Challenges, a software program that targets important social skills with effective training methods, as a way to explore drug refusal skills of eighth grade students (N=188). Results showed that a properly designed computer software program can provide an economic, efficient, and effective means of improving student…

Drug Strategies' updated guide evaluates the 50 most popular U.S. prevention programs. Project ALERT scored high in overall quality, administrative ease, and rehearsal and role plays. Key components include age appropriateness, identification of social pressures, instruction in refusal skills, interactivity, normative education, family…

Article summarizes information on the prevalence of self-destructive behaviors and includes risk and protective factors. Describes the effectiveness of existing prevention programs. Proposes a coordinated, resilience-building prevention strategy which addresses generic and domain-specific knowledge and skills. (Author/JDM)

Study identifies and examines prevention resources developed to address the problem of adolescent solvent abuse. Prevention materials were coded according to targeted age group, ethnicity, and media format. Results suggest that specific prevention messages are often used with specific age groups, cultural content, and media formats. (Contains 32…

A study of 1,207 male veterans admitted to a substance-abuse program found a history of sexual abuse was related to spiritual injury and low stability of spiritual behaviors, but not to overall rate of current religious behavior. Abuse was related to increased frequency of prayer and of spiritual experience. (Author/CR)

Using a street sample (N=553), studied gender differences associated with depression and multiple drug use (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine) among African-Americans in a high-risk community. Two-way factorial analysis of variance and follow-up tests yielded higher depression scores for women than for men among all levels of drug use, especially when…

The first of three articles that develop a framework for county-based prevention-resource-allocation algorithms based on the aggravated need for substance-abuse-prevention services estimated at the county level. Algorithm development is based on (1) statewide student drug survey, and (2) a set of social indicators routinely published by agencies…