A typology of St. Louis arrestees surveyed through the arrestee drug abuse monitoring (ADAM) program

Past research has demonstrated that the characteristics of substance abusers vary considerably. Often, however, addicts are considered members of a single, homogeneous group. These erroneous designations may indeed prevent the successful rehabilitation of substance abusers. In the present study, hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses are used to identify a typology of substance users from a sample of 1,580 St. Louis arrestees surveyed through the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program. Five clusters are yielded in the present analysis. The analyses illustrate not only that drug-using classifications differ between criminal and non-criminal populations, but that arrestee populations themselves vary interjurisdictionally. Given these findings, implications for local and regional drug treatment programs are assessed.     

Personality, drug preference, drug use, and drug availability

This study examined the relationship between drug preference, drug use, drug availability, and personality among individuals (n = 100) in treatment for substance abuse in an effort to replicate the results of an earlier study (Feldman, Kumar, Angelini, Pekala, & Porter, 2007) designed to test prediction derived from Eysenck's (1957, 1967) theories. Drug preference was measured by the method of paired-comparison and personality was measured with the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-50 CC. Contrary to expectations, high compared with low scorers on Sociability and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking preferred depressants. Surprisingly, low compared with high scorers on neuroticism did not differ in preference for alcohol. As in the previous study, drug preference, use, and availability were highly correlated, although ease of availability was slightly more predictive of drug use than drug preference. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Religion and drug use.

This study is a secondary analysis of data gathered under the sponsorship of the Utah State Division of Alcoholism and Drugs in 1989. The researchers concluded that there is a difference in frequency of alcohol use, source of alcohol, and age of first alcohol use among LDS, Other Religions and No Religion subgroups. There is no significant difference found among the various religious subgroups for age of first marijuana use of quantity of alcohol use. For all religions except Jews, a lower percentage of Utahns used alcohol than their national counterparts. A theoretical model for LDS Drug use is presented.     

Differences between actual and perceived student norms: an examination of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior

Researchers in the social norms area have previously focused primarily on alcohol consumption, paying comparatively less attention to drug use and sexual behavior. The major purposes of this study were to (1) compare perceptions of peer norms in the areas of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior with actual behavior and (2) determine if a relationship existed between a student's perceptions of normative behavior and a student's actual behavior. Participants were 833 college students at a large, public university in the Northeast. Study participants overestimated alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior among their peers. There was also a positive relationship between actual behavior and perceived peer norms, although the effect sizes for all behaviors were small to moderate. The authors provide further support for the tenets of social norms theory and suggest that social norms interventions are appropriate both campus-wide and to targeted high-risk groups.     

Interface of drug use

Packaging and labeling play a crucial role awhile protecting medicaments and transmitting a range of crucial information to the users. Taking into account the scarcity of specific studies in this area, it was considered great the need for a comprehensive survey about customers' satisfaction when handling these containers.     

The relationship between sexual abuse and drug use: findings from Houston's Safer Choices 2 program

Self-report drug use data were collected from 282 female alternative school students surveyed through the Safer Choices 2 study in Houston, Texas. Data collection took place between October 2000 and March 2001 via audio-enabled laptop computers equipped with headphones. Logistic regression analyses indicated that sexual abuse history was significantly associated with lifetime use (OR = 1.9, p < or = 0.05). While the relationships tested in this study are exploratory, they provide evidence for an important connection between sexual abuse and substance use among female alternative school students.     

How parental drug use and drug treatment compliance relate to family reunification

This study uses Cox regression to assess the relationships among parental drug use, drug treatment compliance, and reunification from substitute care. The study finds that drug treatment compliance is associated with faster reunification, even when accounting for ongoing drug use and three parenting measures. The findings are consistent with a conceptual framework suggesting that certain client actions, such as drug treatment compliance, may serve as markers that substantially affect client outcomes.     

The life course perspective on drug use: a conceptual framework for understanding drug use trajectories

This article discusses the life course perspective on drug use, including conceptual and analytic issues involved in developing the life course framework to explain how drug use trajectories develop during an individual's lifetime and how this knowledge can guide new research and approaches to management of drug dependence. Central concepts include trajectories marked by transitions and social capital and turning points influencing changes. The life course perspective offers an organizing framework for classifying varying drug use trajectories, identifying critical events and factors contributing to the persistence or change in drug use, analytically ordering events that occur during the life span, and determining contributory relationships.     

Empathy and drug use behaviors among African-American adolescents

The current study proposed that empathy may indirectly play a protective role for adolescents in drug use behaviors and that this relationship will be mediated by self-regulatory strategies found in drug refusal efficacy. We predict that empathy will be linked to prosocial behavior and aggression, though we do not believe that they will mediate the relationship between empathy and drug use. The sample included 498 African-American adolescents in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. The results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Empathy was significantly and positively associated with drug refusal efficacy and prosocial behavior. Empathy was negatively associated with aggression. Drug refusal efficacy was negatively related to past 30-day drug use, providing evidence for the fully mediating role of drug refusal self-efficacy on empathy and past 30-day drug use. Consistent with our predictions, aggression and prosocial behavior were not significantly associated with past 30-day drug use. These findings may be useful in the context of programming efforts for drug prevention.     

Comparing American college and noncollege young adults on e-cigarette use patterns including polysubstance use and reasons for using e-cigarettes

Abstract

Objective: Existing literature on young adults’ e-cigarette and polysubstance use focused on college students. This study examined the differences between college and noncollege groups on prevalence and patterns of e-cigarette and other substance use using data from a national survey. Participants: Adults aged 18–24 from the 2013–2014 Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (n?=?6,608). Methods: Independent sample t-tests and Chi-square tests were conducted to examine group differences. Results: Noncollege young adults had higher prevalence of cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use; college students had higher prevalence of alcohol use. Among current e-cigarette users, college students had higher prevalence of polysubstance use of alcohol and marijuana. College students used e-cigarettes for socializing purposes more. Conclusions: Differences in prevalence and patterns of e-cigarette and other substance use between college and noncollege groups exist. Future interventions should target the social context of college life and reach out to noncollege young adults in workplaces.     

Media use and political learning: Comparing Trump supporters to celebrity candidate voters

This study examines whether political media use behaviors of voters who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election align with those of “celebrity candidate voters” portrayed in the literature. The study used a national online survey (N = 1,608) conducted during the 2016 primary, and findings reveal that Trump supporters, more than other voters, are driven by entertainment motivations and follow campaign news using entertainment media: specifically, the video-sharing site YouTube. Although Trump voters are interested in the campaign, their level of political knowledge is lower than other voters, and no one media outlet made a significant contribution to their learning. A comparison group of other voters showed significant knowledge gains from news websites and Twitter. Results for Trump voters are consistent with scholars’ characterization of the celebrity candidate audience, particularly in studies suggesting that celebrity politicians may increase citizens’ engagement through entertainment gratifications rather than by a desire to become informed.     

A rapid systematic review on the association between childhood physical and sexual abuse and illicit drug use among males

This paper aims to review studies in relation to the association between childhood physical (CPA) and sexual abuse (CSA) and illicit drug use among the male clinical and general community populations using a systematic approach. Primary studies were identified using online databases which were searched comprehensively using a set of pre‐determined search criteria and terms. Other sources included expert contact and the reference list of a relevant review. Associations between exposure (CPA/CSA) and outcome (illicit drug use) were considered with regards to an array of factors. A total of 5012 references were initially identified out of which 18 studies met the necessary criteria for reviewing. The review demonstrates tentative support for factors such as earlier drug initiation, intravenous drug use and greater frequency of use among some of the samples. It also demonstrates the difficulties involved in drawing conclusions due to the complex and multifaceted nature of drug use and the variability in the quality of the research available in this area. Limitations of the current review are highlighted and recommendations offered for future research with consideration given to practical implications in clinical and forensic settings. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early childhood and maternal antecedents to drug use.

In a longitudinal study, the substance use/abuse histories were obtained on a community sample of 640, (mean age of 24.9 years) randomly selected from the 8,000 Philadelphia black subjects who had been studied comprehensively from birth to seven years of age in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP). Among other conclusions, it is postulated from some of the many significant associations found between early life variables and substance use/abuse in early adulthood, that an infant is at risk who has the following combination of characteristics and family situation: outgoing, responsive, assertive or impulsive, or willful, and who is in an unfavorable family environment, with a mother who is generally negative toward the infant, has a larger number of small children and has had more fetal deaths, in a generally poor social environment.     

Early drug use and quits and discharges among adolescent males

This paper examines the effects of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use on labor market stability. Unlike previous work, this study uses more reliable measures of labor supply-quits and discharges-as dependent variables. This study has two objectives: (a) determine whether early drug usage causes or is related to labor market instability and (b) whether it is time-intensive or goods-intensive. Significant drug coefficients reveal: adolescent males who had early usage of all three substances experience more quits and discharges in the job market implying that drug activity causes labor market instability. On the other hand, usage of alcohol only, implies lower number of quits and discharges from work. Use of alcohol and marijuana only is shown to be time-intensive. The data set from the NLSY male cohort are used.