This study examined the impact and extent to which drugs and alcohol, consumed by mothers prenatally and perinatally, has affected their capacity to attach to their children. It examined the role the dependent variables measured (i.e. drug(s)/substance(s) abused, demographic information) played in the attachment process. Data was collected from mothers currently participating in the perinatal substance abuse treatment at the San Bernardino County Rialto program.

The aim of this study is to investigate professionals’ working experience with elderly peoplewith substance use disorders and how drug or alcohol abuse affects their work with theirclients. The most important areas of focus are professionals’ views on older clients’ substanceand alcohol abuse, moral or ethical dilemmas in relation to work and the elderly’s needs forsupport and help according to professionals. To identify these problems, a qualitative methodwas used with semi-structured interviews, interviewing a total of 8 professionals in twonursing homes specializing in older clients with substance use disorder and a rehabilitationcenter aimed at ages 40 to 70. Interview data was analyzed with thematization and coding.Analysis of the material was carried out using theories such as care perspectives, ethics forsocial workers and ageism. The results of the study indicate that most professionals whowork with this target group lack the knowledge of geriatrics combined with substance abuseknowledge. A comparison is drawn between the two institutions and their organizationalrules regarding alcohol or drug consumption by clients. The study further highlights thestaff's experience of finding themselves between organizational rules, professional rules andtheir own values ​​and beliefs. The results show that professionals are struggling with the lackof rules. In addition to that the results of this study show that stereotypical perceptions ofolder people tend to influence professionals as well as other social institutions that work withthis target group. The study also addresses the issue of inadequate treatment efforts aimed atolder people and a mapping of their alcohol and drug habits.

Deported migrants in Jamaica face a plethora of integration and rehabilitation issues that have been exacerbated by the society’s negative perception of the population. Though previous research has highlighted the counterproductive implications of the negative attitudes (Headley, 2006), it is still evident in the Jamaican society. The current study examines the relationship between the migrant’s fear of crime and their well-being post-deportation. Therein, eight semi-structured interviews facilitated by the National Organisation of Deported Migrants were used to collect data over two weeks. A thematic analysis indicated that visibility impacted the extent to which deported migrants had a perceived risk of victimisation. The population's reduced mobility and lack of integration as a result of increased visibility and distrust of the wider society influenced their exhibition of isolating behaviours which were identified as incubators for physical and mental health effects, potential substance use disorders (SUD) and recidivism. Additionally, migrants residing in communities with reported criminal activities were identified to be at an increased risk of the adverse effects highlighted. The presence of several protective factors, including less time away from Jamaica and familial support mitigated these factors. The author highlights that social education, in addition to effective long-term reintegration and rehabilitation programs that focus on health are necessary implementations to reduce the risks associated with fear of crime and improve reintegration.

Externalizing disorders, including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and Impulse Control Disorder (ICD), are characterized by behavioral disinhibition/disruptive behaviors (King at al., 2004) and have been linked to high rates of substance use (Brady et al., 1998; De Sanctis, et al., 2008; Flory & Lynam, 2003; King et al., 2004). Specifically, Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) are three times higher among adolescents with ADHD and ten times higher for those with CD compared to those without these disorders (Kuperman et al., 2001). Additionally, adolescents with externalizing disorders tend to use substances earlier compared to others (Lillehoj et al., 2005), with many exposed to/regular use of alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana by age 14 (King et al., 2004). Unfortunately, adolescents with comorbid externalizing disorders and SUDs have a poorer prognosis, tending to display more substance use compared to those with SUDs only (Randall et al., 1999). Parental substance abuse disorders have also been related to a higher risk of substance use among adolescents (Hawkins et al., 1992), perhaps due to factors like accessibility and genetic predisposition. Research also suggests high rates of other risky/illegal behaviors for adolescents with externalizing disorders, including an increased number of sexual partners, rates of pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections among adolescent females with CD (Bardone et al., 1996; 1998). Criminal behavior is more frequent among adolescents with externalizing disorders and comorbid SUDs (Randall et al., 1999). Additional factors like behavioral disinhibition and sensation seeking, typically seen in adolescents with externalizing disorders, contribute to greater engagement in illegal activities (Hawkins et al., 1992). The current study seeks to investigate male adolescents with and without externalizing disorders (i.e., ADHD, ODD, CD, and ICD) by investigating a sample of youth in a residential treatment facility for sexually abusive behaviors (N = 295). Data related to adolescents’ substance use, criminal behavior, risky sexual behaviors, and participant/parental substance abuse history were gathered from archival records. Within the sample, 234 participants were diagnosed with at least one externalizing disorder, including ADHD (n = 209), ODD (n = 91), CD (n = 102), and ICD (n = 50). Chi-square analyses and one-way ANOVAs will be conducted to explore relationships among externalizing disorders, substance use, criminal behavior, and risky sexual behaviors. The results of this study intend to inform the literature by identifying important areas of concern among adolescents with externalizing disorders. Clinical implications from the findings of the current study will help to inform prevention, risk reduction, and therapeutic goals for the treatment of adolescents with externalizing disorders.

<p>Despite data suggesting that current substance use disorder treatments are largely effective in reducing substance use, most adolescents in SUD treatment experience relapse after finishing treatment. Understanding the factors proximal to relapse is crucial to understanding the course of substance use disorder and how best to improve recovery among adolescents. The current study represents part of a novel line of research using qualitative data analysis to examine these factors. Data for the present study were 200 de-identified node-maps, completed by high school students at Hope Academy, a recovery high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. The reported age in this sample ranged from 14-20 years (64.1% male, 89.1% White), with a mean age of 16.8 years (SD = 1.9 years). After a four-phase process of qualitative data sorting, primary people, places, and things most frequently described included using with others (n=153, 76.5%), away from home (n=156, 78.0%), and in response to negative affect (n=93, 48.4%). Eleven relapse pathways emerged: escaping (n=16), self-medicating (n=3), coping with tragedy (n=5), critical mass (n=6), unexpected activation (n=8), unexpected offer (n=22), planned use (n=19), resistant to recovery (n=5), not in recovery (n=22), passive agency (n=30), and acting out (n=15). Recovery is a system made up of many interrelated parts, including those related to the individual person in recovery, their thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and emotions; and those related to external factors, their environment, adverse life events, and the actions of other people. By considering the pathways together for their common features, they can each be said to represent one of three critical failures related to those three overarching facets of the system: failure to cope, failure to guard against temptation, and failure of belief. Identifying these overarching failures in the system is helpful because the failures contain in themselves the seeds of their solution, so by examining them as critical components to a relapse event, it may be possible to gain insight into how to prevent the same type of relapses from occurring in the future. </p>

<div>Exposure to racial discrimination has been consistently linked with risk for substance use. However, outside of affect-based factors, few other mechanisms have been examined in the literature. One potential candidate is locus of control (LOC). LOC is a learning processes that involves the degree to which an individual attributes rewards as resulting from their own control (internal LOC) versus outside control (external LOC). There is evidence that exposure to stressors is associated with LOC, with a separate body of literature linking LOC with substance use. Thus, it is plausible that LOC may be a mechanism underlying the relationship between racial discrimination and substance use. Additionally, there is evidence that depression is related to LOC. Thus, the relationship between racial discrimination, locus of control, and substance use may also be serially mediated through depressive symptoms. The current study investigated these two pathways among 503 racial/ethnic minority adults aged 18-35 who completed an online questionnaire that included measures on racial discrimination related stress, locus of control, depressive symptoms, and substance use. Results indicated a significant indirect effect of racial discrimination related stress through external locus of control, specifically the chance orientation, on substance use. Moreover, for both domains of external locus of control (i.e., chance and powerful others) a significant serial indirect effect was found through depressive symptoms within the racial discrimination-substance use pathway among racial/ethnic minority adults. These findings expand our understanding on potential mechanisms that underlie the racial discrimination-substance use risk pathway among racial/ethnic minority adults, which may in turn provide important targets for substance use intervention programming for this population.</div>

abstract: This study aimed to advance understanding of the relation between social media and adolescent alcohol use while accounting for offline peer alcohol use, exploring offline peer alcohol use separately as a covariate and as a moderator, with an additional exploratory analysis of the relation between social media and alcohol use without offline peer alcohol use in the model. A total of 868 students (55% female) in grade 7 (n = 468) and grade 8 (n = 400) at wave 1, self-reported on alcohol use, binge drinking, and social media use as well as nominated friends from their school and grade. Data from nominated peers who also completed the questionnaires were used for peer-report of alcohol use. Data were collected annually from students at grades 8, 9, 10, and 11 were used in analyses. Final structural models consisted of a cross-lagged panel design with saved factor scores for social media and peer alcohol use predicting a categorical alcohol use variable or a binary binge drinking variable. With offline peer alcohol use as a covariate in the model, social media did not prospectively relate to subsequent grade alcohol use or binge drinking. However, without offline peer alcohol use, the path from social media use to subsequent grade alcohol use was significant but not the path to binge drinking. Offline peer alcohol use did not significantly moderate the relation between social media and subsequent grade alcohol use or binge drinking. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2020

abstract: The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is an important developmental period, as youth experience rapid changes in many domains of their lives (Settersten & Ray, 2010). These transitions have been linked to both positive and negative turning points in youths’ behavior and psychosocial wellbeing (Elder & Shanahan, 2007). Being disengaged from work and school, two important social institutions involved in the transition to adulthood (Havighurst, 1972), has been associated with poorer mental health and increases substance use; in this literature, there is still a dearth of research among youth in the United States of America and on the developmental implications of disengagement (Hilley et al., 2019). Therefore, this dissertation includes two studies to address these gaps with respect to mental health and substance use. Study 1 explores the heterogeneity in youths’ engagement and disengagement from work and school at two developmentally relevant time points across the transition to adulthood rather than impose a priori definitions of disengagement. Next, this study explores whether risk and protective factors predict membership in these subgroups. Finally, this study examines subgroup differences in problematic substance use concurrently and longitudinally. Study 2 investigates the cross-lagged associations between opportunity youth (or youth who are neither in school nor working) status and mental health over the transition to adulthood and explores whether familial social support and socioeconomic status mitigate or exacerbate the influence of opportunity youth status on mental health. Findings from these studies support the developmental nature of disengagement (despite its heterogeneity) and its connection with mental health and substance use, as well as suggest the need for additional research into risk and protective factors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2020

Background: Individuals with substance use disorders are likely to have low health literacy due to risk factors related to their personal and socioeconomic characteristics. Current knowl- edge is limited in understanding whether low health literacy contributes to adverse health outcomes and whether it influences the substance use behavior of this population. Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study using a questionnaire survey. Aims: To explore multidimensional health literacy and its correlates in patients treated in residential addiction treatment programs and investigate health literacy as a predictor of self- reported health indicators and quality of life. Setting: Multiple residential addiction treatment programs (i.e., detoxification units, inpatient care, therapeutic communities) in the Czech Republic. Participants: Data of 613 patients treated in residential addiction treatment programs for mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use (F10-F19, ICD-10) were analyzed. Measurements: Health literacy was measured using the Czech version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47). Data on participants' socioeconomic characteristics, self-reported health indicators and quality of life, substance use behavior, and treatment experiences were...

A significant amount of adolescents are involved in the drug court system. Within a few of the systems are mental health clinics providing more specific services to youth introduced into the courts. At the Rhode Island Family Court, juveniles are referred for full mental health evaluations in the court mental health clinic. They are then referred for other services depending on the outcome of the evaluation. The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive analysis of the drug use of these youth referred to the mental health clinic. Because little is known about the about the affects of a substance use disorder diagnosis on incarceration and grade repetition, an analysis was done to determine if any associations were present. After accounting for mental health diagnosis and demographic variables, an association between substance use disorder and incarceration within 3 months of the mental health evaluation was found. There was no significant association between a substance use disorder diagnosis and grade repetition in school.