School social workers are often responsible for developing and implementing programs to prevent school suspension, particularly for African American students, who are overrepresented among all students suspended. This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey to examine the relative roles of maternal substance and alcohol abuse,…

Juvenile crime and violent victimization continue to be significant social problems, in that adolescents, females in particular, are likely to participate in health-related risk behaviors as a result of having been victimized or exposed to a violent environment. Specifically, abuse, neglect, sexual molestation, poverty, and witnessing violence are…

Objectives: To describe prevalence of childhood experiences of adversity in rural South African youth and their associations with health outcomes. Methods: We analyzed questionnaires and blood specimens collected during a baseline survey for a cluster randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention, and also tested blood HIV and herpes…

Life continues to hold considerable risk for adolescents in the United States. In 2006, the teen death rate stood at 64 deaths per 100,000 teens (13,739 teens) (KIDS COUNT Data Center, 2009). Although it has declined by 4 percent since 2000, the rate of teen death in this country remains substantially higher than in many peer nations, based…

In 1910, the first college mental health service sought to help college students with personality development and building a healthy mind. In 1920, the meeting that founded the American College Health Association (ACHA) identified "mental hygiene" as important, although a separate Mental Health Section was not established in ACHA until 1957.…

The study considers the impact of a program for social and emotional learning in Swedish schools on use of drugs, volatile substances, alcohol and tobacco. The program was evaluated in an effectiveness study. Intervention students were compared longitudinally with non-intervention students using nonparametric latent class analysis to identify…

Objective: Heavy episodic drinking remains a significant problem on college campuses. Although most interventions for college students are behavioral, pharmacological treatments, such as naltrexone, could provide additional options. Participants: The authors evaluated receptivity to various alcohol treatment options in a general population of…

Objective: The authors aimed to replicate previous findings on social capital and harmful alcohol outcomes in the college setting and to ascertain the protective effects of additional indicators of social capital. Methods: Over 4 years (2000-2004), the authors conducted annual cross-sectional, random-sample student surveys at 32 US institutions of…

A 14-site randomized trial tested the effectiveness of social norms marketing (SNM) campaigns, which present accurate student survey data in order to correct misperceptions of subjective drinking norms and thereby drive down alcohol use. Cross-sectional student surveys were conducted by mail at baseline and at posttest 3 years later. Hierarchical…

Incapacitated/drug-alcohol facilitated sexual assault (IS/DAFS) is rapidly gaining recognition as a distinct form of assault with unique public health implications. This study reports the prevalence, case characteristics, and associated health risks of IS/DAFS using a large, nationally representative sample of 1,763 adolescent girls. Results…

Motivational Interviewing (MI; W. R. Miller & S. Rollnick, 2002) is presented as a potentially effective counseling strategy for assisting traditionally aged college students in reducing their problematic, heavy alcohol use. MI's congruence with two developmental theories--Self-Determination Theory (R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000) and…

Objective: Alcohol abuse among college students is associated with a quality of life burden. The current study replicated and extended previous research on protective behavioral strategies (PBS) by examining relationships between PBS use and negative alcohol-related consequences. Method: A national sample of 29,792 U. S. college students who…

The authors examined 3 possible explanations for the failure of a social norms campaign at a large public university. They administered an anonymous survey to 2 random samples of undergraduate classes: a baseline assessment of 616 students before the campaign's implementation and a follow-up survey of 723 students 4 academic years later. At…

Alcohol abuse and alcohol-related use problems among adolescents are highly prevalent and are a major concern worldwide. This study estimated the prevalence of drug abuse, knowledge about drug abuse and its effect on psychosocial well-being and induced behavioral problems among students of a public rural secondary school that admitted both girls…

As they progress through college, a significant number of students reduce their abusive alcohol consumption without formal interventions on the part of the university, other agencies, or counseling/mental health services. Such "natural recovery" may offer important clues as to both the etiology and reduction of alcohol abuse on campus. The author…