American Indian adolescent inhalant use.

Inhalant use and use patterns, decision-making pertaining to inhalant use, cognitive capacity, cognitive egocentrism, and adherence to traditional ways were studied in a sample of male and female American Indian adolescents residing in a boarding home. Significant differences were not found for gender. Inhalant use group differences were found for only one variable, participation in tribal activities. For males, cognitive ability, cognitive egocentrism and participation in tribal activities were significant predictors of inhalant use/non-use. For females, tribal activities was the only significant predictor.

Failure in organization and planning: a case study of a treatment agency.

Substance use treatment for adolescents probably fails more often than it succeeds, yet reasons for these failures are seldom reported in the literature. Much can be learned from failure so that mistakes need not be repeated. A case study of one treatment center is presented with a discussion about the failures that can occur in five primary areas: facility/environment, administrative, staffing, treatment, and cultural application. Incidents that are not addressed immediately can create a cascade of critical incidents that lead quickly to treatment failure. Too often, clients are assigned the responsibility of treatment failure when, in fact, the treatment system is the true problem. Suggestions are made for timely interventions that may divert treatment failure.

Patterns of alcohol use among ethnic minority adolescent women.

There is agreement in the literature that women of the major ethnic groups in the United States have lower rates of alcohol use and suffer fewer alcohol-related problems than men. In adolescence, the highest rates of alcohol use are generally found among American Indians, followed in decreasing order by whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans. The role of sociocultural factors in alcohol use as found in the literature is discussed, including level of acculturation, generational status, culturally specific values and beliefs and peer influence. Lifetime and last 30-day prevalence, age of first time drunk, and peer sanction data from the 1989-93 database of The American Drug and Alcohol Survey are presented by gender and ethnicity for 8th and 12th graders. These data show similar rates of alcohol use by males and females in the 8th grade but more use by males in the 12th grade for all ethnicities except American Indians who live on reservations.

Locus of control and drinking behavior in American Indian alcoholics and non-alcoholics.

Many investigators have attempted to determine whether alcoholics differ from non-alcoholics in their perceived locus of control. The present study examined the responses of alcoholic and non-alcoholic American Indian males and females on Levenson's Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale. Subjects were 80 American Indian males and 40 American Indian females. All subjects were members of either an eastern (Cherokee) or western (Cheyenne) Oklahoma tribe. Results indicate no significant differences between the Cherokee male alcoholic and non-alcoholic group. Cheyenne male alcoholics reported significantly lower internal control scores than did Cheyenne male non-alcoholics. Within the female sample, alcohol use and tribal membership showed a significant interaction with locus of control. These findings suggest that locus of control may be a potentially useful clinical construct in the development of treatment plans and therapeutic issues for American Indian patients who are alcoholics.