Recruiting sexual minority youth for a drug abuse prevention trial: Comparing Instagram and Facebook.

Background: Despite youth's shift from Facebook to Instagram, the literature on how to use Instagram to recruit youth for clinical trials is scant. This paper reports procedures and comparative metrics on the use of Facebook and Instagram to recruit a nationwide sample (N = 1216) of LGBQ youth, aged 15 and 16 years, for an online drug abuse prevention trial.

Methods: Our recruitment campaign used ads on Facebook and promoted posts on Instagram.

Longitudinal Outcomes of a Smartphone Application to Prevent Drug Use Among Hispanic Youth.

Objective: This trial tested the efficacy of a smartphone application (app) designed to prevent drug use among Hispanic youth.

Method: Participants were recruited through online advertising and youth service agencies. The baseline sample ( = 644) had a mean age of 14.

Two- and three-year follow-up from a gender-specific, web-based drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls.

Introduction: Rates of drug use among early adolescent girls meet or exceed rates of their male counterparts. Girls are also vulnerable to differential risk factors for drug use. Yet, expressly designed prevention programs targeting this population are absent.

Computer-Based Prevention and Intervention to Reduce Substance Use in Youth.

Purpose Of Review: Computer-based programs for substance use prevention and intervention among youth are on the ascendancy. Whether delivered by computer per se or by electronic tablet or smartphone, technology-driven programs are harmonious with how young people access information and interact with their worlds. This review examines recent evidence on computer-based programs aimed at substance use among youth, with particular attention to results from randomized trials.

An Online Drug Abuse Prevention Program for Adolescent Girls: Posttest and 1-Year Outcomes.

Early adolescent girls' rates of drug use have matched, and in some instances, surpassed boys' rates. Though girls and boys share risk factors for drug use, girls also have gender-specific risks. Tailored interventions to prevent girls' drug use are warranted.

Risk and protective factors associated with adolescent girls' substance use: Data from a nationwide Facebook sample.

Background: Despite overall reductions in teenage substance use, adolescent girls' rates of substance use remain unacceptably high. This article examines whether girls' substance use is associated with general risk and protective factors (goal setting, problem solving, refusal skills, peer use, and self-efficacy) and gender-specific risk and protective factors (communication style, coping skills, self-esteem, body image, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression).

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected in 2013 via online surveys from a nationwide sample of adolescent girls (N = 788), aged 13 and 14 years, who were recruited through Facebook.

Developing a Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Drug Use among Adolescent Girls.

Objectives: Girls' rates of drug use have met up with, and in some instances, surpassed boys' use. Though girls and boys share risk and protective factors associated with drug use, girls also have gender-specific risks. Interventions to prevent girls' drug use must be tailored to address the dynamics of female adolescence.

Preventing Drug Abuse Among Hispanic Adolescents: Developing a Responsive Intervention Approach.

Intervention research is essential to help Hispanic American adolescents avoid drug use. This article describes an intervention research program aimed at preventing drug use among these youths. Grounded in salient epidemiological data, the program is informed by bicultural competence, social learning, and motivational interviewing theories.

Preventing drug use among sexual-minority youths: findings from a tailored, web-based intervention.

Purpose: Rates of drug use among sexual-minority youths are disproportionately high. Yet, expressly designed prevention programs targeting this population are absent. This study developed and tested a web-based drug abuse prevention program for sexual-minority youths.

Alcohol Use and Related Behaviors among Late Adolescent Urban Youth: Peer and Parent Influences.

Peer and parent influences on alcohol use and related risky behaviors were examined in a sample of late adolescent ( = 17.3 years; = 1.11 years) urban youth.

A web-based, health promotion program for adolescent girls and their mothers who reside in public housing.

This study tested a brief web-based, family-involvement health promotion program aimed at drug use, physical activity, and nutrition for adolescent girls, aged 10 to 12 years, who reside in public housing. Separately, girls (n=67) and their mothers (n=67) completed baseline measures online. Following baseline, 36 randomly assigned mother-daughter dyads jointly completed a 3-session, health promotion program online.

Preventing alcohol use among late adolescent urban youth: 6-year results from a computer-based intervention.

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of a skills-based CD-ROM intervention, with and without a parent component, to reduce alcohol use among urban youth at 6-year follow-up.

Method: At recruitment, 513 youths with a mean age of 10.8 years were randomly assigned to one of three study arms: youth CD-ROM intervention plus parent component, youth CD-ROM intervention only, or control.

Longitudinal outcomes of an alcohol abuse prevention program for urban adolescents.

Purpose: This randomized clinical trial examined longitudinal outcomes from an alcohol abuse prevention program aimed at urban youths.

Methods: Study participants were an ethnically and racially heterogeneous sample of early adolescents, recruited from community-based agencies in greater New York City and its environs. Once they assented to study participation and gained parental permission, youths were divided into three arms: youth intervention delivered by CD-ROM (CD), the same youth intervention plus parent intervention (CD(P)), and control.

Preventing drug abuse among adolescent girls: outcome data from an internet-based intervention.

This study developed and tested an Internet-based gender-specific drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls. A sample of seventh, eighth, and ninth grade girls (N = 236) from 42 states and 4 Canadian provinces were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. All girls completed an online pretest battery.

Substance use among late adolescent urban youths: mental health and gender influences.

This paper explores gender and mental health influences on alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among late adolescent urban youths. Specifically, we examine whether rates of substance use differ by gender, whether mental health indices differ by gender and are predictive of substance use, and whether gender moderates the relationship between mental health and substance use. Data from our non-clinical sample of 400 youths were collected primarily online.

Alcohol abuse prevention among high-risk youth: computer-based intervention.

SUMMARYThis study examined the feasibility of a CD-ROM intervention to prevent alcohol abuse among high-risk youths. Youths from 41 community-based agencies in greater New York City participated in a randomized trial of a skills-based interactive CD-ROM. Outcome data were collected on 489 early adolescents in these agencies before and after a randomized subset of youths interacted with a 10-session alcohol abuse prevention program on CD-ROM.

Reducing the risks of alcohol use among urban youth: three-year effects of a computer-based intervention with and without parent involvement.

Objective: This study tested a CD-ROM intervention with and without a parent involvement component to reduce risk of alcohol use among an urban sample of early adolescents.

Method: Youths (N = 514, mean age 11.5 years at recruitment) were assigned randomly by community site to receive the CD-ROM intervention, the CD-ROM plus parent intervention, or no intervention.

Evaluation of a brief computer-mediated intervention to reduce HIV risk among early adolescent females.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a brief computer-mediated intervention, relative to no intervention, in altering HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, protective attitudes, and self-efficacy for risk reduction among early adolescent females aged 11 through 14 years.

Method: Recruited through the auspices of a large social services agency with multiple sites across New York City, a volunteer sample of 205 Black, White, and Hispanic young women participated in this research. The efficacy of the software intervention was examined in a randomized blocks design with site as the unit of randomization.

The relative efficacy of pamphlets, CD-ROM, and the Internet for disseminating adolescent drug abuse prevention programs: an exploratory study.

Background: Despite the availability of an increasing array of empirically validated adolescent drug abuse prevention programs, program materials and evaluation findings are poorly disseminated. CD-ROM and the Internet hold promise for disseminating this information to schools and agencies that directly serve youth, and to policy-making bodies that exercise control over funds to support adolescent drug abuse prevention programming. However, data on the relative efficacy of these newer technologies over conventional print means of dissemination are lacking.