Mediators between coping styles and substance use/intentions in urban, high school freshmen.

To explore what mediates relationships between coping styles and substance use, different types of coping, proximal precursors of substance use, and reported substance use/intentions to use were examined in a study of low income, urban, high school freshmen from American ethnic minority groups. Regression analyses showed evidence for two mediators. The relationship between a tendency to depend upon parents to cope with problems and increased substance use was mediated by lowered perceptions of harm from use.

The protective effects of ethnic identity for alcohol and marijuana use among Black young adults.

This study examined the extent to which individual differences in alcohol and marijuana use among 167 Black university students could be accounted for by degree of ethnic identity. After controlling for year in school, sex, and friends' substance use, higher levels of ethnic identity indeed were found to be significantly related to lower beer/hard liquor use, wine use, and marijuana use, accounting for approximately 31%, 6%, and 4% of the variance, respectively. For marijuana use, however, friends' substance use accounted for more of the variance (13%) than did ethnic identity (4%).

Impulsivity, negative expectancies, and marijuana use: a test of the acquired preparedness model.

According to the 'acquired preparedness model,' expectancies mediate the relationship between an impulsive personality style and alcohol use. The current study evaluated whether the model can also be applied to marijuana use. Estimated probabilities and subjective evaluations of personally expected marijuana effects, along with impulsivity and frequency of marijuana use, were assessed in 337 college undergraduates.

The effects of anger management groups in a day school for emotionally disturbed adolescents.

Drawn from a day school for emotionally disturbed adolescents, seven students who scored in the clinical range on the Conduct subscale of the Conners Teacher Rating Scale took part in an anger management program. The program included psychoeducation, anger discrimination training, logging incidents of anger, and training in prosocial responses to anger. Pre-post assessments provided evidence of positive effects.

Parent and family support groups with African American families: the process of family and community empowerment.

This article describes a process of family and community empowerment in which psychologists, along with community, school and religious leaders, intervened on a multisystemic level and formed a parent and family support group to empower families in helping their at-risk adolescents to succeed. The adolescents, who were predominantly African American, had been arrested for fighting at school and were experiencing academic and behavioral difficulties. Critical incidents in the group development and the family and community empowerment process are described.