Contextual stimulus control over instrumental drug-seeking behavior relies on the reconsolidation of context-response-drug associative memories into long-term memory storage following retrieval-induced destabilization. According to previous studies, the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and dorsal hippocampus (DH) regulate cocaine-related memory…

Background: Truancy is a serious concern that affects most school districts in the United States; however, we do not have accurate estimates of the prevalence of truancy due to inconsistent tracking and reporting practices of schools. As a result, our best current estimates of the national state of truancy may be from self-reported data. In this…

A cognitive model of drug urges and drug use is proposed, hypothesizing that drug use in the addict is controlled by automatized-action schemata. Urges are conceptualized as responses supported by nonautomatic cognitive processes activated with drug-use action schemata. Implications for behavior assessment are discussed. (SLD)

Wild parties, late nights, and lots of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Many assume these are the things that define an American teenager's first year after high school. But the reality is really quite different. As Tim Clydesdale reports in "The First Year Out", teenagers generally manage the increased responsibilities of everyday life immediately after…

Demonstrates how the latent growth model can be applied to the evaluation of programs targeting HIV risk behavior among drug users. Multigroup piecewise latent growth models were fit to longitudinal data with three repeated response measures. Participants were 430 drug users and their sex partners. (SLD)

Periodically, Maryland's sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders are surveyed to determine the nature, extent, and trend of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use among adolescents. The "2007 Maryland Adolescent Survey (MAS)" presents the latest findings regarding ATOD use by Maryland's adolescents and compares State and local…

Determined the effectiveness of a voluntary educational program on the drinking attitudes and behaviors of college students (N=1,000). Survey results revealed that for those subjects who participated in the program, there was a significant improvement in their drinking attitudes and behaviors. (Author/RC)

This paper reports the preliminary findings of a county-wide study of alcohol and other drug (AOD) behaviors and influences among 2,229 randomly selected students in grade 8, 10, and 12. The discussion focuses on behavioral, cognitive, and environmental predictors of AOD behaviors. The paper highlights a refined study of the influence of peers,…

Project STAR (Social Thinking and Reasoning Program) is a classroom-based social skills program for students in grades 5-8. To assess the long-term effectiveness of this program, students participated in the project (N=331) were compared with control students (N=191) during 1980-83. The hypothesis that there are significant differences in current…

This brief describes multiple risk students and maps their links to settings such as the workplace, church, or the health care system. A secondary goal of the brief is to show that although high-risk students have contact with many social institutions, opportunities for interventions are being missed. Data from the 1995 National Longitudinal…