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It is well established that there is an increase in substance use among college students. In the literature, this increase in use has been attributed to different personality factors, such as sensation seeking. However, what has not received sufficient attention is the possibility that the new peer groups, afforded by the transition to college, introduce unique influence on the relationship between personality and substance use. The purposes of the current study were to explore whether personality predicted substance use across the transition to college whether peer substance use moderated that relationship. The current study examined developmentally the relations among personality, peers, and substance use as students transitioned to college. It built upon previous work by disentangling how the multifaceted trait of impulsivity may interact with the aspects unique to the transition to college, such as dynamic peer groups and substance use behavior in different contexts. This study added to the literature as it was the first to examine negative urgency and its relation to peer influence. The results of the current study aid in understanding the development of substance use among college students and the environmental contexts likely to influence use across time. Participants (N= 229) were assessed longitudinally in order to examine changes in substance use. The participants completed an array of measures that included personality measures (i.e. sensation seeking and negative urgency), a life history calendar of substance use, a measure of problematic alcohol use, and a questionnaire examining the substance use of peers. The current study suggests differences in the way that sensation seeking and negative urgency predict alcohol use and problematic drinking across the transition to college and demonstrated that peers’ drinking had a moderating effect on the relationship between personality and drinking during particular times during the transition to college.

This study examined validity of the Life History Calendar by comparing retrospective and prospective reports of adolescent substance use. Agreement was calculated using kappa and phi coefficients for dichotomous variables, and Bivariate correlations for average substance use. Effects of potential personality, psychopathology, and demographic moderators on agreement were assessed through hierarchical regression analyses and curvilinear relations determined. Results reflected moderate agreement between retrospective and prospective reports of substance use, moderated by personality and psychopathology variables, particularly Agreeableness, symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, and symptoms of substance abuse. Agreement between retrospective and prospective reports was adequate for reports of alcohol and marijuana use for at least six years after initial reports of use. Agreement for cigarette reports was adequate a year after initial reporting.

Many men seek to address their substance use issues in a variety of resources including hospitals, detoxification centres, treatment programs, supportive recovery housing and more. How policy is constructed and implemented has a direct impact on how effectively clients achieve their recovery goals. There is little literature on the topic of how policy is developed and implemented in residential addictions services. What research could be found did not include the voices of the recipients of these services. The goal of this research is to gain insight into the experiences of people accessing residential addictions services to inform policy development and implementation. Thorne’s (2008) interpretive description was the methodology used to guide this study. Eleven qualitative interviews with men accessing residential addictions services were conducted. Several themes were identified and an interpretive description was made. Eight theories are proposed. Several recommendations were formulated. Three suggestions for future research considerations are discussed. / Graduate / 0452 / mark_s@hotmail.ca

Problem gambling currently affects between 5-7% of youth ages 12-18 (Hardooon & Derevensky, 2002); however, rates of problem gambling among youth who are involved with the Juvenile Justice System are more than twice that of school sample rates (Lieberman & Cuadrado, 2002). Furthermore, disordered gambling often co-occurs with substance use and criminal activity (Huang & Boyer, 2007), issues that are compounded in the Juvenile Justice population. The current study assessed gambling behaviors and risk factors of 145 youth involved in juvenile, juvenile drug, and family courts. Results indicated that nearly 13% of these youth are currently problem gamblers, and that males and African-Americans had higher problem gambling rates than female and Caucasian youth. Furthermore, gambling-related crime, substance use, scope of gambling activities, and time in detention facilities were all predictive of problem gambling severity, while suicidal ideation, urban environment, and lottery sales per capita were not. Finally, having a parent with a gambling problem also emerged as a risk factor;however, the risk was greater for males than for females. These results present a distinct need for youth to be screened for gambling problems upon entering and exiting the Juvenile Justice System, and for prevention and intervention services to be offered within juvenile and family court settings. Furthermore, communities need to take an active role in preventing youth gambling problems through increasing public awareness and insuring that appropriate and accurate messages reflecting gambling opportunities and outcomes are presented.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between drug abuse and high school size. This thesis includes a survey which was conducted at Ball State University. The dependent variable was drug use; school size was the main independent variable and was positively related to drug use. Intervening variables were considered-parent/teacher relations, student/teacher interaction, participation in extracurricular activities, and peer acquaintanceship. Several control variables were also taken into consideration which were as follows: 1) size of city; 2) racial composition of high school; 3) per-capita income; 4) drug education programs; 5) religiosity of community; 6)educational aspirations; and finally 7) respondent's perceived class composition.Peer acquaintanceship had the opposite effect of what was originally hypothesized. Control variables which remained significant in the analyses were city size, income, and race. After including the significant control variables high school size was still significant at .05. According to these findings, future research on drug use and adolescents should take into consideration high school size. / Department of Sociology

The purpose of this thesis research is to describe the availability of social support among street-involved youth and how this longitudinally predicts their substance use, mental health and mental well-being. Data from a panel study of street-involved youth in Victoria, British Columbia were analyzed (N=130). Thematic analysis of responses to open-ended questions and descriptive analyses of survey data were conducted to describe the availability of social support in participants’ lives. Multivariate regression was used to test two prominent theories of the relationship between social support and health (the stress-buffering and main effect theories) and to examine the association between sources of social support and health. The thematic analysis and descriptive analysis results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in terms of the availability, sources and types of social support among this population. The regression results provide partial support for the main effect theory; perceived availability of social support predicted reduced alcohol and hard drug use and better overall mental health and well-being, regardless of the stress levels. The stress-buffering theory was not supported. Sources of social support were not significantly related to health outcomes. The thesis concludes with policy and program suggestions and gives direction for further research on the relationship between social support and health among street-involved youth. / Graduate / 0626 / 0347 / 0573 / mary06@uvic.ca

This dissertation explored a number of themes associated with adolescent drug and alcohol prevention among culturally diverse Northern Australian adolescents. It was undertaken because important differences are often associated with specific cultural groups and local knowledge is often needed as a means of informing effective prevention programs. Five studies are presented, each, with its own hypotheses, results and conclusions that examine influences on the common dependent variable of adolescent substance use. In consultation with teachers a new universal school-based drug and alcohol prevention program was developed addressing the four most commonly used substances among Australian adolescents, namely alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis and inhalants. The program was predicated on the social influence and alcohol harm minimisation models and was successful in reducing alcohol initiation and increasing cannabis and inhalant refusal self-efficacy among non-initiates. Program delivery is equally as important and program content and prevention programs utilising interactive teaching have been found to be more effective in preventing adolescent substance use than those delivered in a didactic or non-interactive style. The implementation evaluation found that teachers delivered less of the interactive program contents (49%) compared with the non-interactive components (84%). Quality of program delivery may have explained the limited efficacy of the school program to reduce cigarette use and to deter use among those who had already initiated substance use. Additionally three descriptive studies explored variables representing risk and protection for adolescent substance use. Key finding were that cultural identity was observed to be protective of both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous alcohol initiation but was associated with risk for Indigenous youth who had any number of drinking friends; that drinking parents had a strong direct effect on adolescent drinking independent of friends’ use; and a lack of school connectedness was associated with increased adolescent smoking and drinking. This dissertation demonstrated that a school drug education program in its self cannot effectively prevent adolescent drug use. While improvements can be made to current teaching practices, school curricula need to be supplemented with multi-modal programs that aim to selectively reduce parental substance use and improve the school experience for all students.

The findings of this PhD provide a significant contribution to early intervention research. The ability to detect those at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) has been made possible in recent years. It is well known that people with serious mental illness have poor physical health, yet prior to this PhD little was known about the physical health of UHR individuals. This PhD explores the physical health and lifestyle of the UHR group, and makes recommendations for the development of a physical health intervention. A range of methods have been used including quantitative and qualitative methods, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and a clinical audit. Therefore, a multifaceted approach to investigate the physical health and lifestyle of UHR individuals has been taken. Papers 1-3 suggest UHR individuals are more likely to live an unhealthy lifestyle than their peers. This includes lower levels of physical activity, and higher levels of substance use (generally cannabis, tobacco and alcohol). Paper 4 contains a clinical audit showing physical health and lifestyle factors are not monitored routinely in early detection services, despite the UHR phase being an ideal opportunity to intervene. Living an unhealthy lifestyle can have a detrimental effect on physical and mental health. Papers 1-4 emphasise the need to intervene to promote a healthy lifestyle for the UHR group. In line with the Medical Research Guidelines for the development of complex interventions, a theoretical model is applied in Paper 5. The final paper presents a qualitative study with UHR individuals, their parents and clinicians to explore barriers and facilitators to living a healthy lifestyle and inform the development of a physical health intervention. A final evidence synthesis includes recommendations for future work and the clinical implications of this thesis. The findings of this PhD provide an important and timely contribution to early intervention research. Prior to this work, the physical health of UHR individuals had been largely under researched. For the first time, this PhD presents evidence to suggest individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis experience cardiovascular risk, and there is an opportunity to intervene to promote physical health. Although not all UHR individuals will develop psychosis, many will continue to experience difficulties with their mental health. Given that this group are also more likely to live an unhealthy lifestyle, it is important to take a holistic approach to treating those at imminent risk for psychosis, considering both mental and physical health.

abstract: The link between victimization and offending is well established in the literature, yet an unexplored causal pathway within this relationship is concerned with why some individuals engage in maladaptive coping in response to victimization. In particular, those with low self-control may be attracted to problematic yet immediately gratifying forms of coping post-victimization (e.g., substance use), which may increase their likelihood of violent offending in the future. Using three waves of adolescent panel data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, this research examines: (1) whether individuals with low-self control are more likely to engage in substance use coping following violent victimization, and (2) whether victims with low self-control who engage in substance use coping are more likely to commit violent offenses in the future. The results from negative binomial regressions support these hypotheses, even after controlling for prior offending, peer influences, prior substance abuse, and other forms of offending. The implications for integrating general strain and self-control theories, as well as for our understanding of the victimization-offending overlap, are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2011