Background: Relationships exist between perceived peer and own use of alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco, particularly when peers and participants are sex-matched. We investigated sex influences on social norms effects for college students' non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU). Methods: N = 1986 college students reported on their perceptions of…

Previous studies and reports of drug abuse cases in China indicate that college students' perceptions and attitudes toward illegal drugs may have been greatly impacted by the changing social surroundings. However, little work has been done to assess empirically their willingness and perceptions of using drugs. This paper, therefore, focuses on…

The non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) among college students is escalating at an alarming rate. A limited number of studies have utilized a theoretical framework to influence this behavior. To utilize the reasoned-action approach theory to design and evaluate a web-based intervention to influence students' attitudes, perceived norms…

Objective: National college health data indicate that prescription stimulants are the most widely misused prescription drugs among college students, with 9% admitting to nonmedical use within the past year. Although motivations for the nonmedical use of these drugs have been explored, scant attention has been paid to justifications for nonmedical…

"I don't know that many kids that have done coke, none that have tried crack, and only a few that have dropped acid. I can't even count all of the ones who've taken Adderall" (Stice). This statement made in an interview by a freshman art history major at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2007 effectively highlights a still…

Substance abuse continues to be prevalent on college campuses. This study explored the relationships between social interest, social bonding, and hazardous drinking and marijuana use among college students. Results indicate that the social bonding elements of religious commitment, respect for authority, and acceptance of conventional beliefs,…

Using vignettes, levels of HIV stigma among university students (n = 971) were examined to identify the likelihood of judging and blaming or avoiding personal and intimate contact with an HIV-positive individual. Reactions to the vignettes showed judgment and blame and intimate avoidance were higher when HIV was contracted through unprotected sex.…

Men's body image problems may manifest as an unhealthy drive for muscularity and propensity to use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Aspects of objectification theory were integrated with literature on men's drive for muscularity and AAS use to identify correlates of these problems. The resultant model was tested with path analyses of data from…

University counseling centers are faced with the challenge of effectively treating bipolar students while also utilizing brief treatment frameworks and managing high patient volumes. Potential destabilization, particularly within the elevated mood phase, poses significant behavioral management issues for university clinicians and administrators,…

Objective: To study actual and perceived substance use in Canadian university students and to compare these rates with US peers. Participants: Students (N = 1,203) from a large Canadian university. Methods: Participants were surveyed using items from the National College Health (NCHA) Assessment of the American College Health Association…

Inaccurate stereotyping by non-users was explanatory of the prevailing lack of agreement concerning the personality characteristics of heavy marijuana smokers. (Author)

Attitude toward marijuana shifted from strongly negative to strongly positive as frequency of marijuana use increased. With frequency of use controlled, attitude toward marijuana was even more favorable when other drugs had been tried, and also among students who were religiously inactive. (Author)

In response to ongoing concern about unacceptable levels of AOD (alcohol and other drug) use on campuses, in 1998 Congress authorized the Department of Education to identify and promote effective prevention through a model grants program. In 1999, OSDFS (Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools) launched an important component of the Department's…

This is the second volume in a two-volume set, presenting findings from the Monitoring the Future study. The first volume presents findings from American secondary students in grades 8, 10, and 12. This second volume contains findings from American college students, their age peers not in college, young adult high school graduates through age 30…

With the resurgence of interest in sex differences research, it is important to use a "confidence interval" strategy in organizing and interpreting material rather than a strategy of statistical significance or non-significance. Investigators are urged to go beyond the reporting of statistical significance and to determine something…