Mental Health, Academic Engagement, and Youths' Nonmedical Use of Stimulants: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Background:: Nonmedical prescription stimulant (NPS) use is a growing problem in Europe. Poor mental health and lack of academic engagement are potent sources of risk for substance use. Studies suggest that considerable heterogeneity may characterize the risk profiles of NPS users.

Impulsivity as a mechanism linking child abuse and neglect with substance use in adolescence and adulthood.

Emerging developmental perspectives suggest that adverse rearing environments promote neurocognitive adaptations that heighten impulsivity and increase vulnerability to risky behavior. Although studies document links between harsh rearing environments and impulsive behavior on substance use, the developmental hypothesis that impulsivity acts as mechanism linking adverse rearing environments to downstream substance use remains to be investigated. The present study investigated the role of impulsivity in linking child abuse and neglect with adult substance use using data from (a) a longitudinal sample of youth (Study 1, N = 9,421) and (b) a cross-sectional sample of adults (Study 2, N = 1,011).

Cost-effectiveness of the strong African American families-teen program: 1-year follow-up.

Introduction: Alcohol use poses a major threat to the health and well being of rural African American adolescents by negatively impacting academic performance, health, and safety. However, rigorous economic evaluations of prevention programs targeting this population are scarce.

Methods: Cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted of SAAF-T relative to an attention-control intervention (ACI), as part of a randomized prevention trial.