Students often drink alcohol at their highest levels in college. It is suggested that students with the most severe drinking problems begin drinking by or in high school, but studies on high school drinking tend to focus on students who have academic problems and are not college-bound. The purpose of this study was to examine high school drinking…

Truant youths frequently experience family problems, emotional/psychological issues, substance misuse, and delinquency. They are likely engaging in alcohol use and sexual risk behavior at a higher rate than the general youth population. Early intervention services would benefit them, their families, and society. We present interim findings from an…

This study explores substance use, psychosocial problems, and the relationships to educational status in 193 adolescents (school dropouts, 63; alternative education, 46; mainstream students, 84) who attended a substance abuse treatment facility in Dublin, Ireland, within a 42-month period. For each adolescent, data on demographics, family…

This study utilized data drawn from a study of 980 adolescents living in Tijuana, Mexico, in February 2009 to examine whether parental monitoring had a moderating impact on the influence of peer pro-drug norms on lifetime and past-30-day alcohol and cigarette use among a group of adolescents living along the United States-Mexico border. The…

Six specific hypotheses have been developed to account for why Caucasians have higher rates of drug use compared to African-Americans. This article utilizes data from a South Florida-based community study of 893 young adults (1998-2002) to test these hypotheses. Specifically, Caucasians (1) initiate drug use at younger ages than African-Americans…

Trends in sources of cigarettes among adolescents were assessed using data from a teen cohort (2000-2006). Five sources--bought from store, got from other teen, stole from others, bought from others, and got from an adult--were measured over time by age. The most common source among all ages was other teens. Fewer teens bought cigarettes from…

Using retrospective self-reporting, rates of illegal and legal performance-enhancing substance (PES) use in the past three months among more than 3,400 Italian high school adolescents were obtained and estimated. The study focused on the extent to which these sociodemographic characteristics and illegal PES use were associated with adolescents'…

Background: Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly used psychoactive substances; however, the sequencing and relationship between age of first use and continued current problematic use among college-bound emerging adults is not well understood. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of current and historical alcohol and marijuana use among…

A range of research has recognized the benefits of optimism in a variety of health-related outcomes. Pessimism has received less attention but may be a distinct concept that is uniquely related to certain health behaviors, including drug use. The present study examined relationships between optimism and pessimism and alcohol use trajectories of…

Students in a junior high school serving a large Old Order Amish settlement completed a survey of attitudes, opinions, and intentions regarding substance use. A total of 1,031 students participated across a four-year span, approximately equally divided between Amish and non-Amish youths. Amish youths maintain attitudes that suggest perceived…

Associations between trajectories of depressive symptoms and subsequent tobacco and alcohol use were examined in two samples of girls assessed at age 11.5 (T1), 12.5 (T2), and 13.5 (T3). Two samples were examined to ascertain if there was generalizability of processes across risk levels and cultures. Study 1 comprised a United States-based sample…

Variations in drug use have been found across individual-level factors and community characteristics, and by type of drug used. Relatively little research, however, has examined this variation among juvenile offenders. Based on a sample of 924 newly arrested juvenile offenders, two multilevel logistic regression models predicting marijuana test…

Problem behavior theory posits that tolerance of deviance is an antecedent to antisocial behavior and substance use. In contrast, cognitive dissonance theory implies that acceptability of a behavior may increase after experiencing the behavior. Using structural equation modeling, this investigation tested whether changes in tolerance of deviance…

This study examines relations between drinking patterns, going-out behavior, and illicit substance use among Dutch adolescents ages 15 to 24 who reported alcohol use at least once per week (N = 711). Logistic regression analyses indicated that adolescents reporting heavy drinking patterns showed higher risks of lifetime and current illicit…

Four million individuals under the age of 21 admit to consuming alcohol in any given month. This is a significant statistic considering alcohol is responsible for most health problems related to drugs among adolescents. Research has shown that the high influence of alcohol advertising may encourage adolescents to emulate the behaviors seen in…