Cannabis Withdrawal Among Detained Adolescents: Exploring the Impact of Nicotine and Race.

Rates of marijuana use among detained youths are exceptionally high. Research suggests a cannabis withdrawal syndrome is valid and clinically significant; however, these studies have mostly been conducted in highly controlled laboratory settings with treatment-seeking, White adults. The present study analyzed archival data to explore the magnitude of cannabis withdrawal symptoms within a diverse sample of detained adolescents while controlling for tobacco use and investigating the impact of race on symptom reports.

Measuring behaviors of individual adolescents during group-based substance abuse intervention.

Background: Group treatment is delivered in youth correctional facilities, yet groups may be iatrogenic. Few measures with demonstrated psychometric properties exist to track behaviors of individuals during groups. The authors assessed psychometrics for the Group Process-Individual Level measure (GP-IL) of group treatment.

Ethnicity as a moderator of motivational interviewing for incarcerated adolescents after release.

Motivational interviewing (MI) has been found to be an effective treatment for substance using populations, including incarcerated adolescents. Although some studies suggest MI is more successful with individuals from minority backgrounds, the research remains mixed. The current study investigated the impact of ethnicity on treatment in reducing alcohol and marijuana use among incarcerated adolescents.

Early adolescent executive functioning, intrauterine exposures and own drug use.

Individual differences in adolescents' executive functioning are often attributed either to intrauterine substance exposure or to adolescents' own substance use, but both predictors typically have not been evaluated simultaneously in the same study. This prospective study evaluated whether intrauterine drug exposures, the adolescents' own substance use, and/or their potential interactions are related to poorer executive functioning after controlling for important contextual variables. Analyses were based on data collected on a sample of 137 predominantly African-American/African Caribbean adolescents from low-income urban backgrounds who were followed since their term birth.