Experiencing victimization, such as cyberbullying, discriminatory harassment, or bullying in adolescence is associated with health risk behaviours. However, inconsistent findings in the literature examining the associations between different types of victimization and binge drinking and smoking exist. This study investigated the association…

Antisocial peer behavior and low parental knowledge of adolescents' activities are key interpersonal risk factors for adolescent substance use. However, how the magnitude of associations between these risk factors and substance use may vary across adolescence remains less well understood. The present study examined the age-varying associations of…

Background: The Gateway Drug Theory suggests that licit drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, serve as a "gateway" toward the use of other, illicit drugs. However, there remains some discrepancy regarding which drug--alcohol, tobacco, or even marijuana--serves as the initial "gateway" drug subsequently leading to the use of…

The current study examined the role of heavy alcohol use in the developmental process of desistance in physical dating aggression during adolescence. Using longitudinal data spanning grades 8 through 12 we tested the hypotheses that (a) higher levels of early heavy alcohol use would be associated with decreased deceleration from dating aggression…

A substantial proportion of high school students consume alcohol, with nearly a quarter of 12th grade students reporting binge drinking in the past two weeks. Drinking alcohol in adolescence is associated with a variety of other risky behaviors, as well as with an increased likelihood of long-term problems reaching into adulthood. This "Adolescent…

Results of the 2009 "Monitoring the Future" (MTF) study document the disturbing prevalence among teens of abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The data show, for example, that seven of the substances most commonly abused by high school seniors are pharmaceuticals. Many parents believe they are powerless to influence their teens.…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

Objectives: By participating in this Stop the Tears teaching strategy, students will be able to: (1) analyze how alcohol and drug abuse could affect their lives as well as the lives of their friends and family and, (2) create a media message, such as a poster, pamphlet, poem, or song, in which alcohol and drug prevention is advocated specific to…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

Despite the success of many drug and alcohol prevention programs, drug and alcohol use by adolescents continues to be a problem. One important factor in preventing drug and alcohol use may be determining, in a non-intrusive manner, which students are most at risk for drug involvement. In the present study, the predictive relationship between…

The Monitoring the Future (MTF) study involves an ongoing series of national surveys of American adolescents and adults that has provided the nation with a vital window into the important, but largely hidden, problem behaviors of illegal drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, anabolic steroid use, and psychotherapeutic drug use. For more than a third…

Monitoring the Future (MTF), which is now in its 36th year, is a research program conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study is comprised of several ongoing series of annual surveys of nationally representative…

During the year 2004, 20% of eighth-graders and 60.3% of twelfth-graders reported that they had gotten drunk at least once over the course of just one year, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Of the 10.7 million underage youth who drink, 7.2 million or 31% of all high school students binge drink with a frequency of at least…

This study compares the prevalence of drinking behaviors and violence (fighting, weapon carrying, being threatened and feeling unsafe) among Hawaiian, other Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Caucasian students, using data collected from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Hawaii in 1997 and 1999 (N = 2,146). Native Hawaiians and…