Article discusses two adolescent peer-led interventions in New Zealand designed to offer support to young people dealing with important issues - sex, drugs, and alcohol. The relevance of the unique cultural environment of New Zealand is discussed, and a description of the two interventions is provided. Suggestions for possible future directions…

Surveys college students (N=119) to examine psychosocial predictors of interventions to prevent drunk driving. Results show that the level of comparative impairment between the intervenor and the drunk driver, the sense of moral/social obligation to intervene, and the number of people consulted about the intervention significantly predicted…

In a 1994 study, 374 resident assistants at 12 institutions identified 5,742 incidents that had victimized them and/or their students. Discusses the following: reporting rates (41% to supervisors and 14% to police); incident types; examples of "most serious" incidents; and gender, alcohol, and other related factors. (Author/FC)

Examined factors associated with research attrition in a long-term follow-up study (48 months). Researchers attempted to contact all randomized participants, not just those who completed treatment. The analyses deal primarily with refusal, the main reason for attrition. Short-term outcome did not predict refusal. The findings, if generalizable,…

Reports findings from a national assessment of drug problems and antidrug initiatives in small cities and towns (n=157) in the United States. Examines the importance of drug problems in small jurisdictions compared with other problems, the type of drug problems reported, the "most important" antidrug programs, and other issues. (JPS)

Proposes a risk/protective theoretical perspective grounded in ecological and developmental contextualist theories. Principles extrapolated from the theory are illustrated with the success of Wisconsin Youth Futures, a campus/community partnership that has built 18 community coalitions to promote positive youth development and prevent behavior…

Examines relationships between middle school/junior high student latchkey status and experimentation with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Results indicate latchkey youth who were home alone two or more days per week were four times more likely to have gotten drunk in the past month than youths who had parental supervision five or more times a week.…

Investigated health behaviors practiced by 10th graders in Bogota, Colombia. Data from a modified version of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicated that there was a high use of gateway substances (tobacco and alcohol) among respondents, but lower usage, when compared to U.S. students, of other mind-altering substances such as marijuana,…

Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that parental distress would mediate relations between parental lifetime alcohol and physical health problems and child behavior problems. Results indicated that sons of parents with alcohol and physical health problems are at elevated risk for behavior problems, partly related to…

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in college students' high-risk drinking as measured by an estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) based on gender, height, weight, self-reported number of drinks, and hours spent drinking. Using a developmental/contextual framework, high-risk drinking is conceptualized as a function…

This study focuses on (a) American 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students' access to, and use of substance abuse counseling services via schools and (b) associations between such access and student substance use prevalence. From 1999 through 2003, student data were obtained from the Monitoring the Future study; and school data were obtained through…

This study investigates the role of stress in the substance use behavior of black and white college students. We examine the issue across race and look both at measures of traumatic stress and life stress. A perusal of the research literature reveals that the relationship between traumatic stressors and substance use behavior among both black and…

Objectives: This study was designed to assess the incidence of child emotional and physical abuse, associated risk factors and psychosocial symptoms in a cross-cultural comparison between post-communist bloc countries. Method: One-thousand one-hundred forty-five children ages 10-14 from Latvia (N=297), Lithuania (N=300), Macedonia (N=302), and…

The current study of 376 college freshman adjudicated the first time for breaking university drinking rules tested the predictive power of four alcohol consumption and problem drinking indices--recent changes in drinking (the Alcohol Change Index: ACI), heavy drinking, binge drinking index, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)…

There has been little empirical research regarding the needs of family members of incarcerated male alcohol and drug offenders. This study surveyed the perceptions of eighty-five family members using FACES II, Quality of Life, and Quality of Counseling Services instruments. Statistically significant results yielded a relationship between…