Evaluated ninth grade alcohol education program aimed at reducing drinking, drinking and driving, and riding with drinking driver. Results indicated significant increases in knowledge and perceived ability to resist pressures to drink among experimental students. Found no significant differences for drinking or drinking and driving practices of…

Survey of high school football players (n=1,116) found that, compared to nonusers, adolescent athletes who tried smokeless tobacco were more likely to be white; to use cigarettes, alcohol, and cigars; and to have family users. Initial use was highest before age 14. Differences were found between snuff users and users of chewing tobacco. (Author/NB)

Evaluated educational program for juveniles found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI). Of 600 juveniles convicted of DUI, 100 participated in program. Participants demonstrated increased knowledge, stronger attitudes against DUI, and less risky alcohol- and automobile-related behaviors following intervention. Class participants had…

Used sample from New York State Driver License File to mathematically extend dimension of file so that data purging procedure exerts minimum influence on calculation of drinking-driving recidivism. Examined impact of dimension of data on recidivism rate and mathematically extended file until impact of data dimension was minimum. Calculated New…

Conducted three studies to examine social effects of smoking tobacco. College students (n=135) rated target persons as dating and marriage prospects. Nonsmoking subjects showed consistent preference for nonsmokers. Thirty-five subjects who preferred nonsmokers for marriage provided 11 reasons. Findings from 62 subjects revealed that belief…

Administered Drug Use Survey to 1,013 college students to determine predictability of self-reported drug use utilizing motivations (social and personal) commonly reported by substance users. Results indicated that personal motivations subscale was stronger predictor in every model examined with exception of model that predicted alcohol use index.…

Examined substance use histories on 640 young African-American adults who had been studied from birth to age 7. Postulated that at-risk infant was outgoing, responsive, assertive/impulsive, or willful; and lived in unfavorable family environment, with mother who was negative toward infant, many small children and more fetal deaths, and poor social…

Assessed alcohol use by 1,190 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in 4 rural school districts. Found that 596 students drank, but not regularly. Reported drinking increased with grade and age; males drank more than females. Child's attitude toward drinking, family attitudes toward drinking, number of drinking friends, and self-perceived wrongdoing by…

Adolescents (n=351) who participated in High Risk Adolescent Trauma Prevention Program toured hospital shock trauma unit. Pretest-posttest findings revealed marked changes in participants' attitudes toward driving after drinking, riding with someone who had been drinking, and preventing friend from drinking and driving. Attitude changes were still…

Examined association between risk factors and alcohol use among young rural adolescents (n=463). Found family relations, family structure, marks in school, participation in academic activities, frequency of church attendance, and deviant behavior significantly associated with alcohol use two years later. No gender or age differences were found in…

Implemented program to decrease incidence of new smokers among black adolescents. Program combined school-based curriculum with comprehensive media intervention. There were two experimental conditions: one group participated in school-based intervention and was prompted to participate in multimedia intervention; other group had access to…

Examined stability of adolescent drug use into young adulthood and explored influence of personality on adolescent and adult drug use. Participants (n=640) in longitudinal study completed questionnaires assessing tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and hard drug use. General drug use factor in adolescence significantly predicted young adult drug use.…

Needle sharing by intravenous drug users has been a means of transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus. Educational efforts have been directed at reduction of needle sharing, and some cities have supplied free needles. While transmission of human immunodeficiency virus through intravenous drug use remains significant problem, there…

Explored whether drinking among high school students (n=499) was related more to factors "unchangeable" versus "changeable" by school-based intervention. Found that drinking varied with different types of "unchangeable" and "changeable" factors for male and female students. Levels of drinking among males covaried strongly with their social…

Surveyed 141 substance abusers who had 11 or more months of continuous abstinence and who first sought treatment in adolescence. Getting high for the first time at a younger age and polydrug use were significantly correlated with more relapses and less overall sobriety. There were five times more adoptees represented in the sample than would be…