Underage drinking continues to be a public health concern, partially due to the ease in which adolescents obtain alcohol and consume it in private locations. States and municipalities have implemented strategies to counter-act this, including adopting public policies called social host policies, despite limited evidence of effectiveness.…

Conventional wisdom suggests that inhalant use is primarily isolated to youthful experimentation; however, a growing body of evidence suggests that inhalant use (a) occurs after use of common substances of experimentation (e.g., alcohol, marijuana), (b) can persist into later life, and (c) is associated with severe consequences. The current study…

Background: Tobacco use leads to more deaths each year than any other single factor. This research examined teenagers' perceptions of anti-tobacco messages to determine which campaigns and educational approaches were most effective in preventing tobacco use among youth. Methods: Students from five rural high schools in western Pennsylvania were…

Background: Studies have consistently found that parental and peer drinking behaviors significantly influence adolescent drinking behavior and that adolescent drinking has a significant effect on their drinking-and-driving behavior. Building upon these studies, the present article assesses whether parental and peer drinking behaviors have direct…

The purpose of this study was to determine cigarette brand preference trends and differences in Marlboro smokers in smoking-related attitudes and behaviors from smokers of other brands. This study analyzed data from 25,027 adolescents represented in the 2000, 2003, and 2007 Philippine Global Youth Tobacco Surveys. Results indicated that from 2000…

The leading substance of misuse among teens after tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana is the use of pain killers. Very few longitudinal studies on prediction of pain killer use have been conducted among teens. This study examined the 1-year prediction of self-reported last 30-day pain killer use controlling for baseline 30-day painkiller use among…

Drinking, smoking, and health risk behaviors are significant problems for Thai adolescents. However, little is known about the association and magnitude among alcohol, tobacco, or co-using and health risk behaviors. Data of the National School Survey of 2007 were analyzed. The sample consisted of 50,033 high school and vocational college students.…

This study examined associations between substance use, family functioning, and self-image among four ethnic adolescent groups. Three thousand three hundred and fifteen 8th and 9th grade students were recruited from 10 schools in Los Angeles County. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey regarding their alcohol and marijuana use, along…

The current study proposed that empathy may indirectly play a protective role for adolescents in drug use behaviors and that this relationship will be mediated by self-regulatory strategies found in drug refusal efficacy. We predict that empathy will be linked to prosocial behavior and aggression, though we do not believe that they will mediate…

This study examined alcohol use development from ages 13-20 years. The sample comprised 256 youth (50.4% female; 51.2% White, 48.8% African American) assessed annually for 6 years. A cohort-sequential latent growth model was used to model categorical alcohol use (non-use vs. use). Covariates included gender, race, income, parent marital status,…

Due to concerns over Thai adolescent risky behaviors, effective prevention strategies are needed. Determining the role neighborhood context plays in program engagement and outcomes may inform these strategies. This study includes 170 mother-adolescent pairs (M = 13.44, SD = 0.52) in Bangkok, Thailand in a prevention program for adolescent…

This study aimed at examining the predictors of initiation into drug injection among street youth using social cognitive theory framework. A prospective cohort study based on semi-annual interviews was carried out. Psychosocial determinants referred to avoidance of initiation. Other potential predictors were: sociodemographic characteristics,…

This study explored the drug resistance strategies that urban American Indian adolescents consider the best and worst ways to respond to offers of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. Focus group data were collected from 11 female and 9 male American Indian adolescents attending urban middle schools in the southwest. The youth were presented with…

Alcoholic beverage consumption among high school students has shifted from beer to liquor. The current longitudinal study examined the effects of beverage-specific alcohol use on drinking behaviors among urban youth. Data included 731 adolescents who participated in Project Northland Chicago and reported consuming alcohol in 7th grade. Logistic…

The objective of this study was determine if the inclusion of Canadian-style graphic images would improve the degree to which adolescents attend to, and subsequently are able to recall, novel warning messages in tobacco magazine advertising. Specifically, our goal was to determine if the inclusion of graphic images would 1) increase visual…