Depression and Marijuana Use among a Sample of Urban Females: Is Stage of Development Important?

Background: Increasing rates of marijuana use and high rates of depression among females are major public health concerns and ambiguous study results suggest a complex association between the two. Inconsistent findings may be due to differences in sample characteristics (e.g.

Text Message Delivered Peer Network Counseling for Adolescent Smokers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Although adolescent tobacco use has declined in the last 10 years, African American high school seniors' past 30-day use has increased by 12 %, and as they age they are more likely to report lifetime use of tobacco. Very few urban youth are enrolled in evidenced-based smoking prevention and cessation programming. Therefore, we tested a text messaging smoking cessation intervention designed to engage urban youth through an automated texting program utilizing motivational interviewing-based peer network counseling.

Real-Time Readiness to Quit and Peer Smoking within a Text Message Intervention for Adolescent Smokers: Modeling Mechanisms of Change.

The psychological construct, readiness to change, is established as a central construct within behavioral change theories such as motivational interviewing (MI). Less is known about the interplay of mechanisms for change within adolescent treatment populations. Understanding the timing and interactive influence that adolescents' readiness to stop smoking and peer smoking have on subsequent tobacco use is important to advance intervention research.

Association of exposure to neighborhood drug activity, neurobehavioral traits, and marijuana use among at-risk African American females.

Introduction: Theories of relative deprivation suggest African Americans in disadvantaged communities are at increased risk for drug use. This increased risk may be due, in part, to exposure to drugs and drug subcultures. Given the significance of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning in yielding behavior that is strategically guided rather than reactive to environmental demands, it is important to examine the relationship between PFC functioning, neighborhood drug activity and substance use among African Americans residing in high risk communities.