The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has highlighted the risk of non-users among college students using illegal prescription stimulants due to misinformation and incorrect assumptions. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perspectives of college students who do not use stimulants on perceived risks, social…

With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and…

A unique Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) prevention program called "PALS" (Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles) was implemented with middle school students with the goal of enhancing student knowledge of the harmful effects of ATOD, promoting the use of refusal skills and reducing intentions to use ATOD in the future.…

Rural adolescents are at risk for early initiation and problematic substance use, but to date few studies have examined the rural context of substance use. To better understand substance offers in the rural context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 118, 12- to 19-year-old adolescents (M = 13.68, SD = 1.37) from Appalachian, rural…

This study seeks to identify how rural adolescents make health decisions and utilize communication strategies to resist influence attempts in offers of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 113 adolescents from rural school districts to solicit information on ATOD norms, past ATOD experiences, and…

Recent meta-analyses of drug-court studies recognized the poor methodological quality of the evaluations, with only a few being randomized. This article critiques the design of the randomized studies from a statistical perspective. Learning points are identified for future drug-court studies and are applicable to evaluations both of other…

Background: A sizeable percentage of Hispanic youth are affected by alcohol use. Research is needed to identify specific factors placing Hispanic youth at elevated risk. Purpose: This study examined whether recent alcohol use (past 30 days) and frequent episodic heavy drinking among 7th - 12th grade Hispanic students (N = 946) in Greater…

This article reports on the evaluation of a two-year alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) intervention, the Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles ("PALS") program, targeting both teachers and middle-school students. Teachers are taught to recognize students' unique learning styles in the context of the ATOD curriculum and…

Context: There is growing concern about illicit rural stimulant use, especially regarding methamphetamine use and its health consequences. Purpose: The present study describes associations between aspects of stimulant use and illness experience in rural areas, with additional focus on the role of demographic characteristics in these associations.…

Focus groups were conducted with middle and high school students (N = 78) in nine urban, suburban and rural schools to examine students' perceptions regarding school-based respect. Students defined school-based respect as treating others as you would like to be treated, listening to others, honoring others' property/personal space, and refraining…

The presence of a college or university in a community can greatly enrich the lives of long-term residents, intellectually, culturally, and financially. But students who live, work, and play in nearby neighborhoods can sometimes create enormous problems, putting a strain on campus and community relations and compromising the health and safety of…

Context: Although the nonmedical use of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine is increasingly common in many rural areas of the United States, little is known about the health beliefs of people who use these drugs. Purpose: This research describes illicit stimulant drug users' views on health and health-related concepts that may…

A sample of more than 1,000 fourth- through twelfth-grade students was administered a questionnaire designed to determine smokeless tobacco usage of respondents and their friends. Results are presented. (MT)

Examined the importance of students' academic performance levels and extracurricular activities as predictors of drug involvement relative to peer influence. Data were obtained from 2,229 randomly selected students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades from school districts in northeastern Ohio. At all grade levels, involvement in extracurricular…

Presents trend analyses of data collected from three large scale surveys of eleventh grade students in Northeast Ohio using the same drug use and attitudes instrument between 1977 and 1983. Frequency of usage, reason for taking drugs, perceived harmfulness, age of first experimentation with drugs, and sex differences are analyzed. (Author/BL)