This symposium contains reports on: (1) a study of drug abuse among adolescents in India, by Jaya Nagaraja; and (2) a case study of factors contributing to drug addiction among Malaysian youth, by Chandraseagran Suppiah. Based on a sample of 1,000 adolescents attending metropolitan city colleges, findings of the Indian study concern psychological…

Many mental health professionals ignore chemical addiction, whereas many chemical dependency professionals see addiction as the entire problem and ignore everything else. This study investigated differences between addicts and non-addicts on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. Subjects were undergraduate and graduate students, selected from a…

Birth order as it relates to family constellation is one of the principle concepts of Adlerian theory, and has implications for the understanding of chemical addiction. Adler premised that it was the individual's interpretation of his/her birth circumstances that was more important than sequential birth order. This study examined whether…

A study was conducted of phencyclidine use by a national sample of 2,750 youthful drug abuse clients representing 97 drug abuse treatment programs. Data from this 1976-1977 client survey indicated that phencyclidine use is widespread. More than 31% of the subjects reported current or past use of phencyclidine, with males and females having similar…

Early in 1967, the Office of Economic Opportunity was authorized to formulate and carry out programs for the prevention of narcotic addiction and the rehabilitation of narcotic addicts. Such programs were required to include provisions for the detoxification, guidance, training and job placement of narcotic addicts. The programs were aimed at…

This report discusses an ego-oriented therapeutic approach developed for the fragile patient who needs to learn how to deal with the anxiety that feeds into a drug addiction problem. Through controlled thought and perception, he is helped to channel his anxiety into growth by employing the perceptual senses to redirect energy away from the need to…

Two studies of perceived and actual drug use at Simon Fraser University found students estimating greater drug use among friends than for themselves, but 31 percent reported dependence and 5 percent reported current addiction, especially to caffeine and nicotine. An approach to drug abuse focusing on familiar substances is recommended. (MSE)

Tested two hypotheses: one predicted that Hispanic American heroin addicts are better adjusted than White addicts; a second predicted that Hispanics characteristically are less open about expressing psychological symptoms. Both hypotheses were confirmed in multivariate analyses of variance and covariance with age, education, and socioeconomic…

The impact of Supported Work on former drug addicts' employment, crime, and drug use is examined. The program was found to increase the earnings of some addicts and reduce ex-addicts' crime rates, but did not affect their recidivism to drugs. (CT)

Graduate students rated their self-perception of three personal traits and evaluated the concepts of drug addict and alcoholics. The results were correlated to the semantics of drug addicts and alcoholics, and show a positive relationship between self-perception and the semantics of drug addicts and alcoholic concepts. (Author)

Methadone clients scored higher than controls on measures reflecting boredom, desire for change and attraction to physically thrilling activities. Correlations of these measures with length of most recent dependency before treatment, time on program, and time since initial dependency suggest peculiarities of methadone clients antedated involvement…

The unidimensionality of the fourth edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-IV) construct of cocaine dependence was examined among 263 black, 212 Mexican American, and 256 white men in treatment. Results generally support a unidimensional model of the cocaine dependence indicators, with one indicator…

The Drug Use Screening Inventory's (DUSI) sensitivity in detecting adolescents (N=706) who abuse drugs is demonstrated. Severity of drug involvement and psychiatric disturbance correlated with scores on the School Adjustment domain. Recommends additional research be conducted to determine the predictive validity and temporal stability of DUSI…

Finds that, among 263 Hispanic and 150 non-Hispanic White smokers, Hispanics smoked fewer cigarettes, had lower levels of perceived addiction to nicotine, and had higher perceived self-efficacy to avoid smoking, but these differences shrank with greater acculturation. Discusses implications for smoking cessation programs. Contains 27 references.…

Identified characteristics of adolescent male anabolic steroid (AS) user and addictive potential. Found AS user population different from nonuser in self-perceptions of health and strength, interest in controlling AS use, and perception of peer AS use. Found subgroups with significantly different attitudes and/or behaviors. Suggests prevention…