In 1993 the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) began defining essential components of school health service programs, consistent with the public health model. The MDPH designed and funded the Enhanced School Health Service Programs to develop 4 core components of local school health services: (a) strengthening the administrative…

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between four categories of maltreatment and substance use among adolescents. Method: All 10th through 12th graders (n=2,187) at six public high schools in a rural Oregon county filled out an anonymous survey that included questions about their experience of emotional, sexual, and…

This study examined long-term effects of a school/family/community substance abuse prevention partnership intervention lead by a Midwestern school district. Previous findings suggested that the program contributed to decreased tobacco and marijuana, but not alcohol, use prior to and after implementation between 1987 and 1991. The current study…

If risk taking is in some measure a signal to others by the person taking risks, the model of "costly signaling" predicts that the more the apparent cost of the risk to others exceeds the perceived cost of the risk to the risk taker, the more attractive that risk will be as a signal. One hundred and twelve visitors to youth…

Objectives: To identify predictors of increases in smoking stage among sixth graders. Methods: At the beginning and end of sixth grade, 973 students completed surveys. Multivariate, partial proportional odds analyses were conducted. Results: Time 1 intenders were 4 times more likely than never users to smoke at Time 2. In adjusted analyses, female…

Knowledge and perceived competence regarding smoking cessation was examined among mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of anxiety disorders (n = 75). Results indicated that therapists assess smoking behavior in less than 30% of clients, perceive themselves as "definitely unprepared" to deliver smoking cessation treatment,…

The authors examined changes in college students' illicit drug use, patterns of polydrug use, and the relationship between students' ages of initiation of substance use and later use of marijuana and other illicit drugs between 1993 and 2001. Data from 119 US colleges and universities in the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study…

The current study used longitudinal data (N = 1322; 648 males, 674 females) from adolescents ages 12 to 19 years (in 1994) to investigate gender differences in and risk factors for depressive symptoms and major depressive episodes (MDEs). The sample had participated in three waves of Canada's National Population Health Survey (1994, 1996, and…

In the United States, nearly two-thirds of all deaths among young people aged 10-14 years result from only five causes: motor-vehicle crashes (23.4%), other unintentional injuries (15.7%), cancer (12.5%), suicide (7.2%), and homicide (5.2%). Across all age groups in the United States, the leading causes of illness and death are related to the…

The Education-Drug Use Connection focused primarily on a nationwide sample of adolescents, first surveyed when they were nearing the end of 8th grade in the years 1991, 1992, and 1993, and followed biennially for eight years thereafter. (Full details on samples and methods are provided in Bachman et al., 2008, and are not repeated here.) The…

When describing the determinants of economic or social outcomes, economists often have a very simplified view of skill. Failure to take into account the fact that skill is intrinsically a multidimensional object may misguide both research and the design of social policy. In this paper, the authors analyse the consequences and determinants of…

In order to identify differences in risk factors for suicide attempts throughout adolescence, this study utilized a school-based survey of ninth (n = 1,192) and eleventh graders (N = 1,055). Suicide attempts were associated with cigarette and alcohol use, family violence, and depression for ninth graders and with illicit drug use, school violence,…

As an objective toward its mission of providing HIV-AIDS education, the Higher Education Consortium for AIDS Prevention surveyed students of Florida's State University System to determine their health risk behaviors. The instrument used, the "Health Risk Behavior Survey for University Students," was adapted for college students from one…

The Centre for Alcohol and Drug Studies, Johannesburg (South Africa) commissioned a study of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among historically disadvantaged black youth aged 10 to 21 years. A national survey explored the prevalence of substance use in this age group through responses of 1,376 children and youths. An in-depth study examined…

Although many studies report on the parent/child bond and its negative correlation with substance use, few researchers have examined the interaction between the parent/child relationship and parent substance use to predict adolescent use. In this study, 763 adolescents, 11-15 years old, along with their parents and siblings, participated in a…