Aspects of cognitive processing were evaluated for 462 adolescents followed for 14 years. Adolescents had been exposed prenatally to a broad range of maternal drinking, mostly at "social" levels. Alcohol-related deficits on cognitive tasks were summarized by a speed-accuracy trade-off on the spatial-visual reasoning task. (SLD)

Investigates familial alcoholism effects and the comparative probability of risk that adult children of alcoholics have for alcohol dependence. Results, based on a national survey of 12,686 young adults over a five-year period, show that the risk for alcoholism is relatively greater for males than females. (MKA)

Discusses factors in developing a school-based alcohol and drug prevention program. Considers issues in collecting reliable data on drug use levels in a school district, getting support for the program, choosing a good program model, selecting and training staff, getting referrals from adults for children who need help, and measuring program…

Summarizes results of a survey concerning institutional responses to legislation that allows institutions to notify parents of students under the age of 21 who have violated institutional alcohol policies. Assesses factors triggering and inhibiting development of notification policies; notification procedures and frequencies; and effects of…

Investigates whether personality tests can differentiate between alcohol and drug users among juvenile offenders. Subjects were 108 Icelandic juvenile offenders who had been given conditional discharge, who received the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Gough Socialisation Scale (GSS). Drug and alcohol users scored significantly lower…

Examines the way alcohol use has been portrayed in films with particular emphasis on the western genre. Saloons, bar fights, and town drunks are all staple features of the genre, a genre that has contributed significantly to the prevailing image of masculinity. This paper argues that these images influence and shape contemporary attitudes about…

Investigated the attitudes and behaviors related to alcohol use of adolescent males with emotional disturbances. Results from focus group interviews highlighted four attitudes and behaviors: rationalization of their drinking, self-absorption (disregard for the feelings of others and the consequences of their actions), drinking with peers versus…

A Michigan program gives juvenile first-offenders in alcohol, drug, or tobacco crimes the option of completing a youth diversion program at a local camp as an alternative to traditional juvenile justice. Considerations for the camp included board support, compatibility with camp philosophy, and staff competence. The program has lower recidivism…

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in reported alcohol use and depressive symptomatology among a sample of 524 African-American and Caucasian adolescents. Of specific interest was determining if ethnicity, gender, and age predicted severity of scores obtained on the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS) and Adolescent…

College students' alcohol use as well documented, and published studies have indicated that athletes drink more frequently and more often to the stage of intoxication than do nonathletes. Some researchers have cited sociological factors to explain these behaviors, but neither the underlying emotional factors that drive students' alcohol use nor…

This paper uses data from the National Education Longitudinal Study to estimate the association between high school alcohol use and educational attainment measured around age 26. Initially, the effect of alcohol use on educational attainment is estimated using baseline probit models, which ignore the possibility that unmeasured determinants of…

This study examines the effectiveness of a single-session group motivational enhancement intervention with college students adjudicated for violation of alcohol policy. The intervention consisted of a timeline Followback assessment of drinking, social norms re-education, decisional balance for behavior change, relapse prevention, expectancy…

Previous research findings indicate that women suffer a variety of detrimental effects from exposure to violent pornography. This study used an experimental paradigm to examine the effects of a moderate alcohol dose and alcohol expectancies on women's acute reactions to a violent pornographic stimulus. A community sample of female social drinkers…

The problems associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) extract a significant health, social, and economic toll on American society. While the field of substance abuse prevention has made great strides during the past decade, two major challenges remain. First, the field has been disorganized and fragmented with respect to…

This paper brings together the pressing problem of alcohol abuse on college campuses on one of the most promising solution--stage-based interventions applied at multiple levels. The interventions fit the Transtheoretical Model, which construes behavior change as a process that unfolds over time and involves progress through a series of stages.…