ABSTRACT
Studies have demonstrated that the effects of two well-known predictors of adolescent substance use, family monitoring and antisocial peers, are not static but change over the course of adolescence. Moreover, these effects may differ for different groups of youth. The current study uses time-varying effect modeling to examine the changes in the association between family monitoring and antisocial peers and marijuana use from ages 11 to 19, and to compare these associations by gender and levels of behavioral disinhibition. Data are drawn from the Raising Healthy Children study, a longitudinal panel of 1,040 youth. The strength of association between family monitoring and antisocial peers and marijuana use was mostly steady over adolescence, and was greater for girls than for boys. Differences in the strength of the association were also evident by levels of behavioral disinhibition: youth with lower levels of disinhibition were more susceptible to the influence of parents and peers. Stronger influence of family monitoring on girls and less disinhibited youth was most evident in middle adolescence, whereas the stronger effect of antisocial peers was significant during middle and late adolescence. Implications for the timing and targeting of marijuana preventive interventions are discussed.
Subject(s)
Family/psychology , Marijuana Use/psychology , Peer Group , Social Environment , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Marijuana Abuse/psychology , Young AdultABSTRACT
Most youth in foster care aspire to obtain higher education, but face daunting obstacles in doing so. While societal interest and effort to support foster youth in achieving higher education has grown, very few supports have evidence to show that they are effective at improving postsecondary outcomes. In an effort to address the dearth of clearly articulated, evidence-based postsecondary support approaches for foster youth, we have developed Fostering Higher Education (FHE), a comprehensive, structured, and evaluable postsecondary access and retention intervention composed of elements (professional educational advocacy, substance abuse prevention, mentoring) that are either evidence based or promising based on the scientific literature and their ability to address the outcomes of interest. This paper describes the development and youth usability and practitioner feasibility testing of the FHE intervention approach, which was developed through funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Youth usability feedback was primarily positive, with the majority of participants indicating they found the FHE activities interesting and useful, and were comfortable participating in them. Practitioner feasibility feedback was also primarily positive, with almost unanimous ratings of the FHE intervention components as very important to provide to youth and that all would be feasible for an organization to implement, though the mentoring components were seen as slightly less feasible than other components. Next steps and implications of this intervention development process are discussed.
ABSTRACT
Youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood access and succeed in college at much lower rates than the general population. A variety of services exist to support youth with their postsecondary goals, but few if any have evidence for their effectiveness. As part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded intervention development project to design Fostering Higher Education, a structured, testable postsecondary access and retention intervention for youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood, focus groups were conducted with community stakeholders to collect recommendations for how to most effectively structure the intervention. Analyses of focus group findings resulted in four theme groups: (1) general recommendations for intervention development; (2) recommendations for an educational advocacy intervention component; (3) recommendations for a mentoring intervention component; and (4) recommendations for a substance abuse prevention intervention component. These themes offered a variety of important insights for developing interventions in a way that is usable for youth and feasible for communities to implement.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Fatal opioid overdose is a significant public health concern in the United States. One approach to reducing fatalities is expanding overdose response education to broader audiences. This study examined responses to a web-based overdose education tool. METHODS: The results of 422 anonymous surveys submitted on www.stopoverdose.org were analyzed for participant demographics, knowledge of opioid overdose recognition and response, and knowledge of Washington's Good Samaritan overdose law. Characteristics, knowledge, and planned behavior of respondents with professional versus personal interest in overdose education were compared. RESULTS: Most respondents were age 35 or older (57%) and female (65%). The mean score on the knowledge quiz for overdose recognition and response items was 16.2 out of 18, and 1.5 out of 2 possible points for items concerning the law. Respondents indicating professional interest were significantly more likely to be 35 or older (p = .001) and to have received prior overdose education (p < .001), but less likely to know someone at risk for opioid overdose (p < .001) or report planning to obtain take-home naloxone (p < .001). No significant differences were found in overdose knowledge scores between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Online training may be effective among individuals with professional and personal interest in overdose, as general knowledge scores of overdose response were high among both groups. Lower scores reflecting knowledge of the law suggest that the web-based training may not have adequately presented this information. Overall, results suggest that a web-based platform may be a promising approach to basic overdose education.
