Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Young Adults for Drug-related Problems

This article reviews studies of brief motivational interviewing (MI) interventions applied to adolescents (ages 13 to 18 years) and young adults )ages 19 to 25 years) using alcohol or other psychoactive substances. An overview of the principles of MI is provided followed by a review of 17 clinical studies reported in the literature. This review revealed mixed findings for the efficacy of brief MI among these populations. However, in 29% of the studies (5 of 17), there was a clear advantage of the brief MI demonstrated compared to standard care or other programming. Components common to successful brief MI interventions included one-on-one sessions and feedback on substance use compared to norms. Interviewer empathy has been shown to be a key component in studies with adults, but this was not measured in a standardized manner across the current studies. The studies reviewed here indicate that brief MI might be effective among these populations, but the key components necessary for successful MI interventions have not been fully identified

Direct and Indirect Effects of Parent Stress on Child Obesity Risk and Added Sugar Intake in a Sample of Southern California Adolescents

Objective Research indicates that children are at higher risk for obesity if their parents have been exposed to a larger number of stressors, yet little is known about effects of parents’ subjective, perceived experience of stress on children’s eating behaviours and adiposity and whether weight-related parenting practices (i.e. parent rules and positive family meal practices) mediate this relationship. The present study evaluated the direct and mediated relationship between parent perceived stress and child waist circumference and parent stress and child consumption of added sugars one year later. Design Longitudinal panel data. Setting Eleven communities in Southern California, USA. Subjects Data were collected over two waves from parent–child dyads (n 599). Most parents were female (81 %) and Hispanic (51 %); children were 11 years old on average (sd 1·53; range 7–15 years) and 31 % received free school lunch. Results Perceived parent stress was not significantly associated with child waist circumference or consumption of added sugars one year later, and mediating pathways through parenting practices were not significant. However, parent rules were significantly associated with lower child consumption of added sugars (β=−0·14, P\u3c0·001). Conclusions Results suggest that parent rules about the types of foods children can eat, clearly explained to children, may decrease child consumption of added sugars but not necessarily lead to changes in obesity risk. Parent- and family-based interventions that support development of healthy rules about child eating have the potential to improve child dietary nutrient intake

Misuse of "study drugs:" prevalence, consequences, and implications for policy

BACKGROUND: Non-medical/illegal use of prescription stimulants popularly have been referred to as "study drugs". This paper discusses the current prevalence and consequences of misuse of these drugs and implications of this information for drug policy. RESULTS: Study drugs are being misused annually by approximately 4% of older teens and emerging adults. Yet, there are numerous consequences of misuse of prescription stimulants including addiction, negative reactions to high dosages, and medical complications. Policy implications include continuing to limit access to study drugs, finding more safe prescription drug alternatives, interdiction, and public education. CONCLUSION: Much more work is needed on prescription stimulant misuse assessment, identifying the extent of the social and economic costs of misuse, monitoring and reducing access, and developing prevention and cessation education efforts

Breast Cancer among Immigrants: A Systematic Review and New Research Directions

International audienc

Motivation in tobacco use cessation research

This paper summarizes four major conceptions of motivation that have been applied to cigarette smoking cessation. These conceptions are the direction-energy, transtheoretical, intrinsic/extrinsic, and self-regulation models. Constituents of each of these models are suggested. Implications of these theories of motivation for an integrative model of smoking cessation are discussed

Improving substance use prevention efforts with executive function training

AbstractBackgroundExecutive function (EF) includes emotional regulation, planning and decision-making, and behavioral impulse control. Improving youth substance use (SU) prevention by targeting EF poses challenges including determining whether specific sub-domains of EF are more associated with SU than others, whether EF is related to some types of SU more than others, and whether EF programs might be enhanced by inclusion of mindfulness training.MethodsData were drawn from two studies from the Pathways to Health project: a randomized controlled trial of 4th–6th graders and a cross-sectional pilot study of the relationship of EF to specific types of SU in a sample of 7th graders. Survey measures included assessment of the EF subdomains of inhibitory control (IC), emotional control, working memory, organization/planning, lifetime SU (tobacco and alcohol use), and mindfulness. Analyses included multivariate and multiple group path analysis.ResultsResults suggested that the EF sub-domain of IC was the strongest and most consistent predictor of SU, particularly cigarette and e-cigarette use, though emotional control was predictive of alcohol use among late-elementary school students. In the 7th grade sample, IC was predictive of alcohol, cigarette, and e-cigarette use only among students in the low 75% of mindfulness.ConclusionsFindings from the present studies suggest that improvements in SU prevention efforts may result from increased curricular emphasis on IC and its application to multiple substance use prevention, and systematically integrating mindfulness with EF skills training. Future research should examine whether EF–SU relationships vary across patterns of SU and types of measures used to assess EF

Generality and Specificity in Health-Behavior: Application to Warning Label and Social Influence Expectancies

Outcome expectancy constructs, also referred to as behavioral beliefs (see Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Bandura, 1977, 1986; Bolles, 1972; Leigh, 1989), have been used to explain a number of health-related behaviors. These constructs have been found to be useful in both theory and practice. Theoretically, expectancy constructs have been incorporated into a variety of perspectives, including social learning (Bandura, 1986; Rotter, 1954), reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), and memory-based (Tolman, 1932) models of how expectancies influence behavior. Practically, attempts at expectancy or belief change have played a central role in efforts to prevent health-compromising behaviors (e.g., Kivlahan, Marlatt, Fromme, Coppel, & Williams, 1990; Pentz et al., 1989), as well as in treatment strategies that focus on these behaviors (Marlatt, & Gordon, 1985)