Examined the psychopathological morbidity of criminal children and teenagers from a diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative point of view. Studied the young offenders' histories, their behavior patterns and personalities at the time the actual criminal act took place, and how subjects coped with the judicial procedure during the following…

Performed secondary analysis of data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, involving 12,686 subjects, to examine patterns of alcohol and cocaine abuse. Found joint alcohol and cocaine abusers demonstrated highest levels of previous 30-day and lifetime drug use, high levels of delinquent activity, and highest rates of unemployment and marital…

Surveyed 741 college students to examine the incidence of polydrug use. Results indicated 65 percent of the males and 30 percent of the females reported drinking four or more drinks at a sitting. Widespread use of drugs in combination with alcohol was found. (JAC)

Interviewed 420 street youths in a midwestern city to analyze their sexual behaviors. Ninety-one percent were sexually active, and nearly half were engaged in sex for survival. Discusses the need to coordinate comprehensive social services to prevent an increase in the number of street youth. (SLD)

This extensive report presents the recommendations and findings of a study designed to indicate procedures and instruments for a national study of the incidence of runaway. Reported data are from an urban-suburban area and a rural area in Colorado. The report makes specific recommendations concerning the feasibility of using a national probability…

Studied the relationship of psychosocial factors to alcohol abuse among college students (N=272). The psychosocial profile of the college student alcohol abuser was that of a male underclassman, who tends to consume beer more often and in greater quantities than nonabusers. Alcohol abusers may consume alcohol to handle adjustment problems. (JAC)

Studied 15 adolescent runaways in an inpatient long-term treatment setting. Results showed that more runaways were male, and most were away only a short time. In many cases, behavior improvement resulted. Impulsive behavior and anxiety were related to the short time and distance of elopement. (Author/JAC)

Investigated rates of birth, divorce, marriage, and unemployment for subgroups in Canada and the United States and their effects on suicide rates. In Canada, domestic integration and the economy predicted youth suicide rates more accurately than they did adult rates. The United States had less variation in predictors for age groups. (RJM)

Very little of the professional literature on suicide deals with suicide in jails, and virtually no references to juvenile suicide in adult jails exist. To determine if the rate of juvenile suicide in adult jails might be higher than that in secure juvenile detention centers, suicidal conduct was used as the indicator of the harmful effects of…

This study investigated the questions of whether addicts have more negative self-attitudes than their matched controls, and if they do, whether the constructs of self theory are able to explain the differences. Subjects were selected from white middle socioeconomic status (WMSES) narcotic addicts being treated under the Narcotic Addict…

Using data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey of more than 11,600 adolescents, risks for a general-risk group, reporting behavior indirectly linked to the disease, and a high-risk group reporting more risky behaviors, are estimated. Results highlight the weaknesses of behavioral-risk studies and the questionable nature of risk groups. (SLD)

One explanation for the lack of contraception use among adolescents is that young women may feel embarrassment or rejection by their partners if they initiate the use of contraception. To explore young adults' reactions to contraceptive use, 160 college students evaluated a description of an unmarried young couple which varied the length of time…

Drug use and delinquency share many common antecedents: early antisocial behavior, difficulties in school, impaired family relationships, delinquent or drug-using peers, and rebelliousness. But these common factors could underlie a cluster of problem behaviors or lead to distinctly different behavioral manifestations. Using data from 1,363 West…

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) has shown that the rate of marijuana use among youth has more than doubled since 1992. Similar trends are noted across all subgroups studied. At the same time, the percentage of teens perceiving a "great risk" from smoking marijuana has declined. Negative effects of marijuana use are…

The current prevalence of drug use among American high school seniors, and trends in drug use since 1975, were investigated as part of the program entitled "Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles and Values of Youth," funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The basic research design involved data collection from high…