Investigated incidence of anabolic steroid use among 380 competitive male and female bodybuilders in Kansas and Missouri. Results indicated more than half (54 percent) of the male bodybuilders were using steroids on a regular basis compared to 10 percent of the female competitors. Found main reason for use of steroids was desire to win. (Author/TE)

A half-time Student Assistance Program (SAP) was designed and implemented for two semesters in an urban high school in New Jersey. Findings indicated that proportion of students who used SAP increased with time, male participants outnumbered females, and alcohol and drug issues were most frequently cited as presenting problems for both males and…

Questionnaires were administered to 4,157 junior high school students to determine levels of alcohol misuse, exposure to peer use and misuse of alcohol, susceptibility to peer pressure, internal health locus of control, and self-esteem. Conceptual model of antecendents of adolescent alcohol misuse and effectiveness of a prevention effort was…

Examined effectiveness of refusal skills program implemented with seventh graders (N=235) of "Just Say No" variety. Program was not able to influence the "high-risk" attitudinal syndromes that are closely related to student drug involvement, and significantly larger proportion of students found it more difficult to say "No" at the time of posttest…

Drug attitude and use assessment of undergraduate students (N=598) revealed attitudinal differences between anticipated occupation groups and drug use patterns that paralleled prior studies using college student samples. Results are discussed as they pertain to the education of those planning to enter the teaching profession. (Author)

Eighth grade followup of Adolescent Decision-Making Program implemented in sixth grade showed intervention maintained positive effect on mean tobacco use; no differences for mean alcohol, marijuana, or hard drug use between experimentals (n=545) and controls (n=530). Attrition analyses suggest that positive effect for tobacco use was likely even…

Findings from fifth grade African-American, white, and Asian American students revealed that antisocial behavior and attitudes were stronger predictors of substance initiation for Asian Americans than for other groups. For whites, self-reported and teacher-rated behavior were significantly related to substance initiation. For African Americans,…

Surveyed 620 nonpregnant, culturally diverse women at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection concerning alcohol, marijuana, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and intravenous drug use. Found consumption levels which exceeded expectations based on general estimates of female substance use. Substance use was associated with specific…

Australian secondary school students from three grades rated danger of using alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Results showed more refined discrimination among older students, with type of drug and frequency of use being important considerations. Familiarity was major consideration for younger students. Cognitive…

Proposes developmental approach to smoking education and prevention for children and adolescents. Reviews literature concerning most appropriate agent, content, and presentation of antismoking education for different ages, concluding that best agents for young children are parents and best agents for pre/early adolescents are peers. For…

Conducted secondary analysis of data gathered under Utah State Division of Alcoholism and Drugs sponsorship in 1989. Found difference in frequency of alcohol use, source of alcohol, and age of first alcohol use among Mormons, other-religions, and no-religion subgroups; no significant difference among religious subgroups for age of first marijuana…

Reviews popular drug education textbooks and curricula. Finds most juxtapose physiologic effects of licitly manufactured drugs under headings representing illicitly prepared drugs, ignoring literature reporting that illicit drugs contain adulterants and substitutes. Concludes that one cannot extrapolate results of licitly pure drug lots…

Surveyed 523 undergraduates regarding drug use during pregnancy. Rank order of relative safety of drugs existed for respondents. Tobacco, alcohol, and aspirin were perceived as similar in their consequences to fetus. Cocaine was considered most deleterious and Accutane was considered least deleterious. Seventy-five percent would imprison pregnant…

Conducted telephone survey on state efforts to evaluate school programs funded under Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. Some states reported studies of program implementation and some reported drug- and alcohol-use surveys. Together, these two types of evaluation efforts formed foundation of approach for conducting evaluations under the act.…

Evaluated high school peer counseling (PRC) program. Found that significantly larger proportion of students in PRC group had more favorable attitude toward content of PRC program when compared to content of what they learned from regular curricula and had more favorable attitude toward PRC instructor than toward regular teachers. PRC trainee…