The Impact of Mandatory Substance Abuse Counselor Reporting Requirements on Child Maltreatment Reporting Outcomes

Child maltreatment takes on numerous forms, including physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, and affects an estimated 38% of children in the United States (U.S.). Due to the deleterious effects of maltreatment, 48 states mandate most health professionals to report suspected abuse and neglect. Yet, only 14 states specifically require substance abuse counselors to report suspected abuse and neglect. Substance abuse is commonly implicated in maltreatment cases, with an estimated 40 to 70 percent involving alcohol or drug use among perpetrators, which points to the importance of examining the association between substance abuse counselor reporting and the outcome of reports. The present study seeks to examine how state-level mandatory reporting policies are associated with child maltreatment reporting through analysis of the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN), which is a national repository of child maltreatment reports. Specifically, this study aims: 1) to examine how the implementation of substance abuse counselor reporting requirements is associated with the reporting process, including the disposition of reports and the presence of substance abuse; and 2) to examine differences in the above outcomes based on whether there were non-specific reporting requirements vs. requirements that mention substance use counselors specifically. It is expected that there will be a higher proportion of substantiated Child Protective Services (CPS) reports when and in states where substance abuse counselors are mandated to report suspected child abuse or neglect. If these differences do indeed exist, this finding would point to a benefit of requiring such professionals to report, which could aid in informing future policy.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/sciences_achievement/1026/thumbnail.jp

Patterns of youth tobacco and polytobacco usage: The shift to alternative tobacco products

Background: Despite significant declines in youth cigarette smoking, overall tobacco usage remains over 20% as non-cigarette tobacco product usage is increasingly common and polytobacco use (using 1+ tobacco product) remains steady. Objectives: The present study was designed to identify patterns of youth tobacco use and examine associations with sociodemographic characteristics and tobacco dependence. Methods: The current analysis uses Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to examine the 6,958 tobacco users (n = 2,738 female) in the National Youth Tobacco Survey (2012 and 2013). We used as indicators past month use of tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookah, snus, pipes, bidis, and kreteks) and regressed resulting classes on sociodemographic characteristics and tobacco dependence. Results: Nine classes emerged: cigarette smokers (33.4% of sample, also included small probabilities for use of cigars and e-cigarettes), cigar smokers (16.8%, nearly exclusive), smokeless tobacco users (12.3%, also included small probabilities for cigarettes, cigars, snus), hookah smokers (11.8%), tobacco smokers/chewers (10.7%, variety of primarily traditional tobacco products), tobacco/hookah smokers (7.2%), tobacco/snus/e-cig users (3.3%), e-cigarette users (2.9%,), and polytobacco users (1.7%, high probabilities for all products). Compared to cigarette smokers, tobacco/hookah smokers and hookah smokers were more likely to report Hispanic ethnicity. Polytobacco users were more likely to report dependence (AOR:2.77, 95% CI:[1.49–5.18]), whereas e-cigarette users were less likely (AOR:0.49, 95% CI:[0.24–0.97]).Conclusion: Findings are consistent with other research demonstrating shifts in adolescent tobacco product usage towards non-cigarette tobacco products. Continuous monitoring of these patterns is needed to help predict if this shift will ultimately result in improved public health

The impact of adolescent exposure to medical marijuana laws on high school completion, college enrollment and college degree completion

Background: There is concern that medical marijuana laws (MMLs) could negatively affect adolescents. To better understand these policies, we assess how adolescent exposure to MMLs is related to educational attainment. Methods: Data from the 2000 Census and 2001-2014 American Community Surveys were restricted to individuals who were of high school age (14-18) between 1990 and 2012 (n = 5,483,715). MML exposure was coded as: (i) a dichotomous any MML indicator, and (ii) number of years of high school age exposure. We used logistic regression to model whether MMLs affected: (a) completing high school by age 19; (b) beginning college, irrespective of completion; and (c) obtaining any degree after beginning college. A similar dataset based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was also constructed for confirmatory analyses assessing marijuana use. Results: MMLs were associated with a 0.40 percentage point increase in the probability of not earning a high school diploma or GED after completing the 12th grade (from 3.99% to 4.39%). High school MML exposure was also associated with a 1.84 and 0.85 percentage point increase in the probability of college non-enrollment and degree non-completion, respectively (from 31.12% to 32.96% and 45.30% to 46.15%, respectively). Years of MML exposure exhibited a consistent dose response relationship for all outcomes. MMLs were also associated with 0.85 percentage point increase in daily marijuana use among 12th graders (up from 1.26%). Conclusions: Medical marijuana law exposure between age 14 to 18 likely has a delayed effect on use and education that persists over time. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved