Some side effects (SEs) of increasingly prescribed psychotropic medications can impact student performance in school. SE risk varies, even among drugs from the same class (e.g., antidepressants). Knowing which SEs occur significantly more often than others may enable school psychologists to enhance collaborative risk-benefit analysis, medication…

Understanding the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs used in psychopharmacology across the pediatric age spectrum from infants to adolescents represents a major challenge for clinicians. In pediatrics, treatment protocols use either standard dose reductions for these drugs for children below a certain age or use less conventional…

The authors systematically reviewed 42 quantitative studies on the relationship between media exposure and tobacco, illicit drug, and alcohol use among children and adolescents. Overall, 83% of studies reported that media was associated with increased risk of smoking initiation, use of illicit drugs, and alcohol consumption. Of 30 studies…

The majority of youth with substance use disorders (SUDs) manifest one or more co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Consequently, many of these youths are being prescribed with psychotropic medications. As prescribing rates continue to increase for early-onset psychiatric disorders, potential risk for substance of abuse-psychiatric medication…

This article provides a review of various psychotropic agents employed for children and adolescents with externalizing disorders. With the exception of the stimulants, clinical use of psychotropic medications for children with externalizing disorders far exceeds the available empirical literature. Further, there are insufficient data pertaining to…

A retrospective study was conducted in a clinic specialized in treating individuals with developmental disabilities to examine the effectiveness and tolerability of quetiapine in children and adolescents with pervasive developmental disorders. Ten consecutive outpatients (age = 12.0 [plus or minus] 5.1 years) treated with quetiapine (dose = 477…

This report offers data on juvenile drug use and crime so as to increase understanding of the dimensions of drug use among youthful offenders. The report includes information from collaborative efforts at both the Federal and the local levels. Data on male juvenile arrestees and detainees were collected in 12 Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) sites…