Addictive behaviors
-
Addictive behaviors · May 2012
A national study of risk and protective factors for substance use among youth in the child welfare system.
While child welfare services are intended, in part, to diminish maltreatment's negative impact on adolescents' development, there is evidence that receiving child welfare services affects adolescents' substance use adversely. The literature on the extent and correlates of this problem is still emerging. The present study aims to fill part of this gap by examining the association between baseline psychosocial risk and protective factors on engagement in substance use behavior over a period of 36 months for child welfare involved youth. ⋯ Delinquency was a risk factor associated with both social substance use (OR=1.06, p<0.01) and hard substance use (OR=1.10, p<0.001). Given the high prevalence of substance use among child welfare involved youth, prevention efforts for this population require a better understanding of biological, psychological, and social protective factors. The child welfare system is an untapped resource that has the potential to be a gateway to and a platform for substance abuse prevention services that should be incorporated into child welfare safety and permanency interventions.
-
Addictive behaviors · May 2012
Estimates and influences of reflective opposite-sex norms on alcohol use among a high-risk sample of college students: exploring Greek-affiliation and gender effects.
Reflective opposite sex norms are behavior that an individual believes the opposite sex prefers them to do. The current study extends research on this recently introduced construct by examining estimates and influences of reflective norms on drinking in a large high-risk heterosexual sample of male and female college students from two universities. Both gender and Greek-affiliation served as potential statistical moderators of the reflective norms and drinking relationship. ⋯ Among women however, there were no differences between reflective norm estimates or the degree of misperception as a function of Greek status. Most importantly, over and above perceived same-sex social norms, higher perceived reflective norms tended to account for greater variance in alcohol consumption for Greeks (vs. non-Greeks) and males (vs. females), particularly within the friend and sexual partner contexts. The findings highlight that potential benefits might arise if existing normative feedback interventions were augmented with reflective normative feedback designed to target the discrepancy between perceived and actual drinking preferences of the opposite sex.
-
Addictive behaviors · May 2012
Adolescent nonmedical users of prescription opioids: brief screening and substance use disorders.
The objectives of this study are to examine the associations among a positive score on the CRAFFT (a substance use brief screening test for adolescents) and demographic characteristics, diversion sources, routes of administration, substance use behaviors and motivations associated with the use of prescription opioids without a legal prescription. ⋯ The CRAFFT brief screening test for adolescents can be used to identify a subgroup of NMUPO at the highest risk for a substance use disorder as well as a subgroup of NMUPO who would benefit from appropriate pain management.