Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an ongoing research program conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse beginning in 1975. The integrated MTF study includes annual surveys of nationally-representative samples of 8th, 10th,…

Drugs of abuse cause changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated regions that impair inhibitory control over drug-seeking. Breaking the contingencies between drug-associated cues and the delivery of the reward during extinction learning reduces rates of relapse. Here we used vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to induce targeted synaptic…

A description of the socio-demographic characteristics associated with student drug use is discussed. Findings indicate that while drug usage began to increase in the seventh grade, substantial increases occurred after this grade level. For all substances, drug use peaked in the ninth or tenth grade with dramatic decreases in the twelfth grade.…

Some of the unique characteristics of the drug abuse field which distinguish it from the other varieties of substance abuse and research methodologies for studying determinants of drug self-administration behavior which have been developed in response to these characteristics were investigated. Data suggest that residential drug…

Data revealed a similar pattern of personality, environment, and behavior differences between all nonuser and user groups, suggesting a pervasive social-psychological constancy. The same variables were also predictive of the shift from nonuse to use over time among the high school students but not the college students. (JB)

Research on the effectiveness of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) in enhancing the mother-newborn relationship has had inconsistent results. A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of an NBAS intervention with a high-risk mother group. The study focused on low-income, drug-using mothers, measuring the effectiveness of the…