In many ways young people appear to be using and abusing alcohol as a ritual in their "rites of passage" to adulthood, perhaps as a symbolic means to demonstrate their "adultness." Anthropologists have documented the importance of rites of passage rituals for marking the successful passage from one position in a social…

Adolescents with alcohol or other drug problems may be referred to school psychologists for assessment and may demonstrate symptoms similar to handicapping conditions such as learning disabilities or emotional disturbances. School psychologists who work with these students need to have assessment techniques that will help them determine the…

The field of drug and alcohol abuse prevention is still in its infancy, but has come a long way since the first prevention approach was adopted in the late 1960's. Despite the weaknesses of past curricula and the problems still to be addressed, prevention curricula are becoming more effective as time goes on. There is much that has been learned…

This study addressed the hypothesis that intentions to use condoms are affected by alcohol intoxication. Recruited for this research were 54 male students, who indicated on a pretest that they were sexually active, usually used condoms, and were social drinkers. Subjects were divided into groups of two or three and then randomly assigned to the…

The CAGE instrument is a 4-item questionnaire used for routine and rapid screening of alcohol problems. The term "CAGE" is an acronym with each letter representing one of the four items that comprise the instrument. A positive endorsement of two or more items is considered to be the threshold score, indicating the possibility of a…

The majority of alcoholics and drug addicts relapse after treatment, with many substance abusers developing a chronic relapse pattern. For this study, 43 patients, who went through a 3-week inpatient relapse prevention program, answered the Situational Confidence Questionnaire (a measure of self-efficacy for alcohol-related, high-risk situations)…

An alcohol misuse prevention study (AMPS) curriculum was developed, implemented, and evaluated with over 5,000 fifth and sixth grade students. The AMPS program, emphasizing peer resistance skills, focused on the immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. Schools were randomly assigned to…

This guide, intended for college and university presidents and governing board members who are committed to the elimination of drug and alcohol abuse on their campuses, provides a description of the extent of alcohol and other drug use and abuse on campuses and recommends five intervention strategies for these institutions to use. The strategies…

This paper begins by noting that recent efforts in the United States to reduce the incidence of alcohol-impaired driving have not been very effective and suggests that for efforts to be effective, they must raise the actual risk of punishment to a level that cannot be ignored by potential offenders. It then describes an effective system of…

Values are a central concept in understanding and predicting human behavior. Value priority differences have been shown to predict important political, social, and economic attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify differences and similarities among the value hierarchies of adolescents who have never tried alcohol,…

In order to meet its goals of developing and improving the capacity of state and local education agencies and institutions of higher education to prevent and eliminate alcohol and other drug abuse in the schools, the Western Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities undertook collaboration with other groups to fight drug abuse. The staff of the…

In the recent past, research on binge drinking has focused on the incidence and reasons for drinking among college students. Students at a mid-sized suburban university answered questions regarding their alcohol consumption, their reasons for drinking, and the negative experiences that they had as a result of drinking. The results of this survey…

The greatest focus in alcoholism treatment research today is matching client to treatment. Consistent with this research direction, this paper describes a survey completed by members of Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) regarding their assessment of AA as a treatment. It looks at the self-reported behaviors of AA members and compares these actions with…

Conducted to evaluate the efficacy of teen counselors in school drug prevention programs, this study utilizes the following as evaluation criterion: (1) interviews with school faculty and teen counselors; (2) observations of teen counselor meetings and sessions with middle school students; and (3) documentation such as teen counselor training and…

If people in a normal, baseline state are asked about certain behaviors, such as drinking and driving, they are likely to report negative intentions; however, the context within which intentions are assessed may significantly affect the relationship among attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Male undergraduates who completed a questionnaire about…