Beginning adolescent drug use and peer and adult interaction patterns.

Interaction patterns among drug users, their peers, and significant adults have been implicated as causal factors of later drug abuse. Data were collected from 1,634 adolescents about their current use of 13 substances and about their interactions with peers and significant adults. Five canonical dimensions were necessary to explain the significant covariation in each of 2 comparable samples. The replicated pattern of rotated canonical loadings indicated that users of various classes of substances associated with other individuals who used the same substances. Other indicators of interaction patterns did not suggest that the drug users had friends who were particularly deviant. Adolescent drug users do not appear to form subcultures delineated from nonuser subcultures along interaction dimensions other than that of drug use. The results are consistent with an interactionist-socialization viewpoint of the development of drug use. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Low prosocial attachment, involvement with drug-using peers, and adolescent drug use: A longitudinal examination of mediational mechanisms": Correction to Henry (2008).

Reports an error in "Low prosocial attachment, involvement with drug-using peers, and adolescent drug use: A longitudinal examination of mediational mechanisms" by Kimberly L. Henry (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2008[Jun], Vol 22[2], 302-308). In Table 2, several numbers were missing negative signs due to a typesetting error. The correct version of Table 2 is presented in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-06772-016.) The process of disengagement from prosocial entities (e.g., family and school) and either simultaneous or subsequent engagement with antisocial entities (e.g., friends who use drugs) is a critical contributor to adolescent drug use and delinquency. This study provides a series of formal mediation tests to demonstrate the relationship between poor family attachment, poor school attachment, involvement with friends who use drugs, and a student's own use of drugs. Results indicate that poor family attachment exerts its effect on drug use through poor school attachment and involvement with friends who use drugs. In addition, poor school attachment exerts its effect on drug use through involvement with friends who use drugs. The results of this study corroborate theories that suggest disengagement from prosocial entities is associated with involvement with antisocial entities and eventual involvement in drug use. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trends in ecstasy use in the United States from 1995 to 2001: Comparison with marijuana users and association with other drug use.

This study aims to estimate changes in the prevalence of ecstasy use over time, analyze the overlap of ecstasy use and other drug use, and compare other drug use in ecstasy versus marijuana users. The authors hypothesized that ecstasy users early in the "epidemic" would be polydrug users and that associations between ecstasy and other drug use would diminish as the prevalence of ecstasy use increased. Data were drawn from public use data files from the 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Ecstasy use increased in the U.S. population and the prevalence was greater in younger age groups. Ecstasy users were likely to use a variety of other drugs; however, association of ecstasy use with other drug use was strongest early in the "epidemic," diminishing as the number of new users increased. Later, more drug-naive adolescents and young adults began experimenting with ecstasy. These results can orient prevention strategies that target ecstasy users. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Acceptability and availability of harm-reduction interventions for drug abuse in American substance abuse treatment agencies": Correction to Rosenberg and Phillips (2003).

Reports an error in "Acceptability and availability of harm-reduction interventions for drug abuse in American substance abuse treatment agencies" by Harold Rosenberg and Kristina T. Phillips (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2003[Sep], Vol 17[3], 203-210). On page 208, the first sentence in the note of Table 4 incorrectly reads as follows: "Numbers in parentheses are ns of respondents who provided an 'other' reason for this specific intervention." The sentence should read as follows: "Numbers in parentheses are ns of respondents whose agencies do not offer this intervention." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2003-07737-003.) This study assessed acceptability, availability, and reasons for nonavailability of interventions designed to prevent drug use related harm by substituting pharmaceuticals for illicit drugs; facilitating detoxification; and reducing the occurrence of HIV transmission, relapse, and opiate overdose. A survey was mailed to a sample of 500 randomly selected American substance abuse treatment agencies. Of 435 potentially eligible respondents, 222 (51%) returned usable data. A subset of interventions--including harm reduction education, cue exposure therapy, needle exchange, substitute opiate prescribing, various detoxification regimes, and complementary therapies--were rated as somewhat or completely acceptable by 50% or more of the respondents. Regardless of their acceptability, listed interventions were generally not available from responding agencies; respondents typically attributed unavailability to lack of resources and inconsistency of an intervention with agency philosophy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Aging, optimal testing times, and negative priming": Correction.

Reports 2 errors in the article "Aging, Optimal Testing Times, and Negative Priming' by M. J. Intons-Peterson, Paola Rocchi, Tara West, Kimberly McLellan, and Amy Hackney (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1998, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 362–376; see record 1998-00017-007). On page 370, the sentence beginning on line 6 of the Method section should have read as follows: "the younger adults were fulfilling a partial requirement of their introductory psychology courses, and the older group was drawn randomly from participants who served in the normative study and from more recently tested older individuals.' The final phrase of the sentence has been added to more accurately reflect the number of participants in the older group. The second error is on page 368. The entries in the left column of Table 3 were incorrect. The corrected table is presented. A portion of the original abstract follows: The effects of time-of-day preferences on selective attention were tested in 2 experiments after normative work with 975 younger adults and 143 older adults verified C. P. May, L. Hasher, and E. R. Stoltzfus's (1993) finding that most older adults prefer the morning, whereas younger adults prefer activities later in the day. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substance use diagnosis within a community sample of adults: Distinction, comorbidity, and progression over time.

Practicing psychologists conceptualize, assess, and treat clients who use substances in different ways. Using longitudinal data from a multiethnic community sample of 470 adults, the authors examine patterns of abuse and dependence on alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. Men were significantly more abusive, dependent, and polysubstance dependent on all drugs than women. A large percentage of drug abusers, and over 1/3 with drug dependence, remitted without formal treatment. However, early severe problems with cocaine increased later alcohol problems. Traditional disease progression and drug use acquisition models are not supported. Psychologists should incorporate the natural course of substance use into treatment and prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acceptability and availability of harm-reduction interventions for drug abuse in American substance abuse treatment agencies.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 18(1) of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (see record 2007-16711-001). On page 208, the first sentence in the note of Table 4 incorrectly reads as follows: "Numbers in parentheses are ns of respondents who provided an 'other' reason for this specific intervention." The sentence should read as follows: "Numbers in parentheses are ns of respondents whose agencies do not offer this intervention."] This study assessed acceptability, availability, and reasons for nonavailability of interventions designed to prevent drug use related harm by substituting pharmaceuticals for illicit drugs; facilitating detoxification; and reducing the occurrence of HIV transmission, relapse, and opiate overdose. A survey was mailed to a sample of 500 randomly selected American substance abuse treatment agencies. Of 435 potentially eligible respondents, 222 (51%) returned usable data. A subset of interventions--including harm reduction education, cue exposure therapy, needle exchange, substitute opiate prescribing, various detoxification regimes, and complementary therapies--were rated as somewhat or completely acceptable by 50% or more of the respondents. Regardless of their acceptability, listed interventions were generally not available from responding agencies; respondents typically attributed unavailability to lack of resources and inconsistency of an intervention with agency philosophy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pubertal maturation and early substance use risks among African American children.

Using 2 waves of longitudinal data collected from approximately 870 African American adolescents, this study examined (a) changes in early risk factors for substance use during transition to early adolescence, including perceived prototypes of substance-using peers, willingness and intention to use substances, number of substance-using peers, and youths' own actual substance use; (b) the relationship between pubertal timing and these substance use risks; and (c) the interaction between pubertal timing and peer substance use in predicting the risks. Results showed that, first, risks for substance use increased, particularly among girls, during the transition to early adolescence. Children's prototypic images of substance users became increasingly favorable during this transitional period; a greater number of them were willing and intended to use substances during the transition to early adolescence; and an increased number of early adolescents and their friends began to use substances. Second, these changes were significantly more likely to occur among early maturing girls. Third, early physical maturation interacted with peer substance use to affect these changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Where the 'Stars' are: The 25 most cited psychologists in Canada": Corrections.

Reports an error in "Where the "stars" are: The 25 most cited psychologists in Canada (1972–1976)" by Norman S. Endler (Canadian Psychological Review, 1979[Jan], Vol 20[1], 12-21). Several corrections should be noted. The corrections are as follows: 1) in Table 1, the subheadings "1975 1974 1973 1972" were improperly aligned with the columns, and Kimura's 1976 citation rank should have been 3 instead of 2; 2) in Table 2, the number 1 calling attention to footnote 1 was omitted from the title; 3) in Table 3, an additional heading "Citations" should have appeared over the columns "1975 1974 1973 1972" on the same line as "Publications;" 4) in Table 3, the probability levels should have read '*p 1980-01842-001) and Endler et al's 1978 American Psychologist article (Vol. 33, pages 1064-1082). CPR also extends apologies to Professors Endler, Melzack and Tulving for typographical errors in the spelling of their names as follows: on the front cover, Professor Endler's middle initial should have been listed as S; on page 16, in the last paragraph, in the left hand column, Melzack's name was misspelled; on page 19, in the second paragraph in the right column, Tulving's name was misspelled. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1980-28686-001.) The Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) for 1972-1976 was used as a data source for citation counts, which reflect scholarly impact, and publication counts reflecting productivity, for the 25 most cited psychologists ("stars") for 1972-1976. These 25 "stars" are located primarily at Ontario Universities and McGill and received their graduate training primarily at McGill, Yale, Harvard or the big 10 mid-western universities. Their major research areas appear to be cognitive processes, memory and verbal learning, personality theory and assessment, social processes and physiological psychology. Most of them are in their 40s or 50s, five of them are past presidents of CPA, three of them are currently departmental chairmen, and two are former departmental chairmen. Despite the limitations of the SSCI citation count, it appears to be the best single indicator of research quality and scholarly impact on the field of academic psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages of drug abuse in adolescence: Personality, peer, and family correlates.

Administered written questionnaires that consisted of personality measures, family measures, peer measures, and measures of drug use to 403 Black and 529 White 1st- and 2nd-yr high school students. Results indicate that (a) domains of personality, peer, and family are important in differentiating among the stages of drug use; (b) drug use by family and peers interacts with the socialization techniques of family and peers and with the personality attributes of the adolescents; and (c) family and peer positive and negative reinforcement are differentially effective, depending on the adolescents' personality attributes. In addition, data support an independent model; that is, each of the 3 domains (personality, peer, and family) was associated with the S's stage of drug use independent of the latter's relationship with the remaining 2 domains. An independent model was also obtained in the following comparisons between successive stages: nonusers vs legal users, legal users vs marihuana users, and marihuana users vs other illicit drug users. Factors affecting drug use stage were similar across races and sexes. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental management of adolescent peer relationships in context: The role of parenting style.

Three hundred 9th-graders and their best friends participated in this short-term longitudinal study. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Parental Management of Peers Inventory (N. Mounts, 2000) suggested that the 4-factor structure provided a good fit to the data. Significant differences in adolescents' perceptions of parental management of peers occurred across 4 parenting style groups. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relation among 5 aspects of parental management of peers and adolescents' Time 1 drug use, friends' Time 1 drug use, and adolescents' Time 2 drug use. The parental management styles of monitoring, guiding, prohibiting, and supporting all had significant paths in the model, whereas neutrality was not significant. Multiple group comparisons were used to examine whether parenting style moderates the relation between parental management of peers and the drug use outcomes. Parenting style functioned as a moderator for 7 of the paths in the model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecological predictors of substance use in middle school students.

The current study examined important predictors of substance use during early adolescence. The authors hypothesized that adolescents' relationships with key adults (i.e., teachers and parents) influence their choices to use substances indirectly through links with their decisions regarding peer groups. A total of 461 middle school students from an affluent suburban community completed self-report measures of authoritative parenting, perceived social support from teachers, affiliation with rule-breaking and substance-using peers, and frequency of alcohol, cigarette, and drug use. Results of structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized model. Authoritative parenting and teacher support accounted for 31% of the variance in affiliation with deviant peers which, in turn, accounted for 27% of the variance in adolescent substance use; direct paths from parenting and teacher support to substance use were not indicated. Implications for school psychologists' involvement in substance use prevention and intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low prosocial attachment, involvement with drug-using peers, and adolescent drug use: A longitudinal examination of mediational mechanisms.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 24(1) of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (see record 2010-05354-003). In Table 2, several numbers were missing negative signs due to a typesetting error. The correct version of Table 2 is presented in the erratum.] The process of disengagement from prosocial entities (e.g., family and school) and either simultaneous or subsequent engagement with antisocial entities (e.g., friends who use drugs) is a critical contributor to adolescent drug use and delinquency. This study provides a series of formal mediation tests to demonstrate the relationship between poor family attachment, poor school attachment, involvement with friends who use drugs, and a student's own use of drugs. Results indicate that poor family attachment exerts its effect on drug use through poor school attachment and involvement with friends who use drugs. In addition, poor school attachment exerts its effect on drug use through involvement with friends who use drugs. The results of this study corroborate theories that suggest disengagement from prosocial entities is associated with involvement with antisocial entities and eventual involvement in drug use. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer and parental influences on male adolescent drinking

Using data from males aged 16-19 in Buffalo, NY, the present study examines two social mechanisms by which parents and peers influence adolescent drinking--behavioral and attitudinal transmission--and compares the patterns of behavioral and attitudinal transmission for parents and for peers. The study also assesses the relative importance of parents and peers in accounting for adolescent alcohol behavior. The findings indicate that both alcohol behavior and attitudes of parents and peers are significant predictors of adolescent drinking. However, the prediction patterns are reversed. Parental attitudes are more important than parental alcohol behavior, while peer alcohol behavior is more important than peer attitudes. Overall, peers have more influence on adolescent drinking than parents. There is a significant interaction of parental alcohol-related attitudes and age, which indicates that parental alcohol-related attitudes exert a greater effect on younger (i.e., age 16-17) males' alcohol use.     

Correction to Wilhite.

Reports an error in the article, "Prepassage Questions: The Influence of Structural Importance," by Stephen C. Wilhite (Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol 75(2) Apr 1983, 234-244.) An error appears in Table 1 on page 238. Under the heading Within Subject, the fourth entry should read "A × C" (not "A × D").(The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1983-24964-001.) Compared the effects of prepassage questions quizzing information of different structural importance on 104 college students' memory for expository prose passages. In conditions in which information from a high-level passage unit was quizzed by the question, indirect recall (i.e., recall of nonquizzed information) was greater than recall in both low-level and no-question conditions. The low-question condition exceeded the no-question condition only when the analysis was limited to recall of superordinate information from the subtopic cluster containing the quizzed unit. Results indicate that questions that direct Ss' attention to material at the top of the organizational structure facilitate the effective encoding of the central organizational idea within the passage segment. A significant interaction was also found between Ss' Vocabulary Ability and Question Condition. The facilitative effect of high questions declined with increasing vocabulary ability. This interaction is consistent with the view that high- and low-ability people differ in their tendency to use the superordinate organizational structure of the passage and thus in their tendency to benefit from processing aids such as adjunct questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advances in empirically based assessment: Revised cross-informant syndromes and new DSM-oriented scales for the CBCL, YSR, and TRF: Comment on Lengua, Sadowski, Friedrich, and Fisher (2001).

L. Lengua et al. (2001) (see record 2001-18163-010) proposed scoring the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; T. Achenbach, (1991 b) on dimensions that "correspond to current conceptualizations of child symptomatology," (p. 695) embodied in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; 4th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 1994). They concluded that their "results support the use of the new dimensions." Yet, their regressions and diagnostic efficiency statistics showed that DSM diagnoses were predicted less well by their dimensions than by CBCL syndromes that reflect actual patterns of problems. Not only these findings, but also the high correlations of their dimensions with CBCL syndromes and the lack of norms and validated clinical cutoffs for their dimensions, argue against use of their dimensions. To advance assessment and taxonomy, new national samples have been used to construct DSM-oriented scales and to revise cross-informant syndromes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Age-linked declines in retrieving orthographic knowledge: Empirical, practical, and theoretical implications": Correction to MacKay and Abrams (1998).

Reports an error in "Age-linked declines in retrieving orthographic knowledge: Empirical, practical, and theoretical implications" by Donald G. MacKay and Lise Abrams (Psychology and Aging, 1998[Dec], Vol 13[4], 647-662). The article contained an error. In Table 1 on page 652, the values for rated spelling ability at age 20 and at current age were reversed for older and oldest adults. The corrected table is included in the erratum, with values that have been changed in bold. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1998-11674-011.) This study developed and tested a Transmission Deficit hypothesis of how aging affects retrieval of orthographic knowledge. Young, older, and very old adults heard a tape-recorded series of difficult-to-spell words of high and low frequency, spoken slowly, clearly and repeatedly, and wrote down each word at their own pace. With perceptual errors and vocabulary differences factored out, misspellings increased with aging, especially for high-frequency words. In addition, data from a metamemory questionnaire indicated that the oldest adults were aware of their declining ability to spell. These findings were not due to general slowing, educational factors, hours per week spent reading, writing, or solving crossword puzzles, or age-linked declines in monitoring or detecting self-produced errors. However, the results fit Transmission Deficit predictions, and suggested an age-linked decline in retrieval of orthographic knowledge that resembles age-linked declines in spoken word retrieval observed in many other studies. Practical implications of this age-linked decline for conceptions of normal aging are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent sexual behavior, drug use, and violence: increased reporting with computer survey technology

Surveys of risk behaviors have been hobbled by their reliance on respondents to report accurately about engaging in behaviors that are highly sensitive and may be illegal. An audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) technology for measuring those behaviors was tested with 1690 respondents in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. The respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions using either audio-CASI or a more traditional self-administered questionnaire. Estimates of the prevalence of male-male sex, injection drug use, and sexual contact with intravenous drug users were higher by factors of 3 or more when audio-CASI was used. Increased reporting was also found for several other risk behaviors.     

Substance use among incarcerated adolescents: associations with peer, parent, and community use of substances

This study of incarcerated adolescents documents the number and proportion of incarcerated adolescents who use cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs; examines substance use among the adolescents' peers, parents, and community members; and examines associations between incarcerated adolescents' use of substances and substance use by peers, parents, and community members. Questionnaire data indicated that substance use was common among incarcerated adolescents as well as among the adolescents' peers, parents, and community members. Logistic regression analyses revealed that, similar to patterns observed in the general population, peer substance use was the strongest predictor of substance use among incarcerated adolescents.