Telescoping of drinking-related behaviors: gender, racial/ethnic, and age comparisons.

Objective: To examine demographic differences in alcohol telescoping-the rate of self-reported movement from regular alcohol consumption to the onset of regular heavy drinking-as well as differences in ages of initiation of regular alcohol use and alcohol use to intoxication.

Method: The present study compared the retrospective reports of 2037 clients (1252 males, 785 females) enrolled in substance user treatment facilities around the country in 1998 and 1999.

Results: Overall, the findings support previous research, indicating that women generally move more rapidly than men from initiation of regular alcohol use to problem use (telescoping).

Nonmedical use of prescription opioids among teenagers in the United States: trends and correlates.

Purpose: This article reports on trends and correlates of the nonmedical use of prescription opioids among youth.

Methods: Secondary analyses of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health were performed on youths, ages 12 to 17.

Results: Analyses revealed evidence of an emerging epidemic of opioid misuse among teenagers.

Rethinking medication prescribing practices in an inner-city Hispanic mental health clinic.

Improved compliance with pharmacotherapy was achieved in treating Hispanic outpatients with psychotic disorders when recognition of culturally based differences between patients and psychiatrists led to modifications in prescribing practices. Unacculturated Hispanic outpatients experienced akathisia as an increase in "nerviosismo." Addressing this issue, as well as using anxiolytics and low doses of antipsychotics when beginning treatment, led to an improvement in compliance.

Violence Among Comorbid and Noncomorbid Severely Mentally Ill Adults: A Pilot Study.

This pilot study examined the relationship between substance dependence and violence in a sample of severely mentally ill adults. Subjects were 42 psychiatric outpatients enrolled in a clinical case management program in San Francisco, California. Almost 40% of the participants reported perpetrating at least one violent act in the past 12 months.

The relationship between smoking, drinking, and adolescents' self-perceived health and frequency of hospitalization: analyses from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Purpose: To investigate the more immediate health effects of smoking and drinking among adolescents.

Methods: Secondary analyses of data from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse were conducted to explore the relationship between subjective and objective health outcomes and the use of alcohol and tobacco among adolescents.

Results: The findings suggest that adolescents who smoke or drink actually report poorer health during adolescence than those who do not.