Objective: This study differentiated various living arrangements (ie living with two biological parents, living with one biological parent, living with friends, living in a dorm, and other) and examined its relationship with health-related lifestyles as well as the moderating role of gender differences. Methods: This study used data from the…

Objective: Compared to nonaffiliated students, Greek students engage in higher rates of prescription drug abuse (PDA). We examined PDA among Greek students compared to non-Greek students, and whether PDA in high school predicted joining a Greek organization in college. Participants: From November to December 2014, 509 undergraduate students at a…

"LifeSkills Training" (LST) is a popular drug prevention program shown to be effective at preventing youth substance use. The Middle School Health Survey (MSHS) is a questionnaire that was created by the developers of the LST curriculum to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes about drugs and life skills among youth. Despite the…

This study presents results from a randomized experiment in the 2015-2017 National Survey of Family Growth, where a large national sample of U.S. individuals aged 15-49 was randomly assigned to one of two different versions of a survey question about sexual identity (one with three response options, including heterosexual, gay/lesbian, and…

This study examined relations between student engagement and drug use using data obtained from the statewide biennial California Healthy Kids Survey. Latent variable modeling with confirmatory factor analysis indicated four conceptually distinct and psychometrically sound factors capturing academic motivation, school connectedness, caring…

Using a case example from a mid-sized town in East Central Indiana, this article illustrates the development and implementation of a community-academic partnership (CAP), a novel approach to addressing substance misuse in local communities. A CAP can be defined as a formal, strategic partnership between the local community and university faculty,…

The meta-analysis, that included 75 studies, examined the relationship between illegal drug consumption, on the one hand, and student academic and behavioral outcomes, on the other, for the middle school to college grade levels. The meta-analysis first (research question #1) addressed whether there is a statistically significant relationship…

The PReventing Opioid Misuse In the SouthEast (PROMISE) Initiative team conducted a needs assessment to explore Mississippians' perceptions of the emerging issue of opioid misuse and to identify ways Extension professionals can assist in opioid misuse prevention. In this article, we describe the assessment process that included a series of…

The "once bitten, twice shy" (OBTS) hypothesis argues that crime victims who change their involvement in risky lifestyle behaviors reduce their likelihood of experiencing repeat victimization. Tests of this hypothesis have yielded weak to mixed results, which may be due to methodological issues. We address these methodological issues by…

Many students in rural U.S. schools are experiencing trauma and adverse childhood experiences due to circumstances relating to the opioid crisis. A moral imperative presents itself to school principals and other educational leaders to make context-specific decisions that are responsive to the trauma experienced by the students in their schools.…

Introduction: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a critical health issue in the USA. Pennsylvania has the third highest number of drug overdose deaths per year, with the COVID-19 pandemic worsening these trends. Stigmatising beliefs towards OUD are associated with negative health outcomes, and there is a need for a larger evidence base on OUD stigma…

The following study examined the association between race, ethnicity, referral source, and reasons for attrition from substance use treatment in a sample of 72,643 discharges of adolescent youth in the United States from 2014 to 2016. Black and Hispanic adolescents were more likely to be discharged due to incarceration and termination by the…

In October 2017, the President and acting U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary determined that a public health emergency exists nationwide. Opioids can help in the management of certain types of pain, but they pose serious health, financial, and social consequences when misused. Schools, school districts, and institutions…

This article explores gaming manifestations of the US-centric Mexican threat narrative in the context of the so-called drug war, by analyzing Manichean representations of characters, settings, and language (English and Spanish). It argues that videogames construct the concept of the Mexican subject in direct opposition to the US subject--in a…

The study presents data drawn from semi-structured interviews with five young people permanently excluded from schools in North East England. The research aimed to investigate the risk factors that lead to the children using illegal drugs, to determine the drivers and implications for drug misuse and the carrying of knives into school. The…