While the general link between adolescent maltreatment and adolescent substance abuse is well established, questions remain regarding factors that may explain variability in the strength of this link. This study examines whether the link between maltreatment and substance abuse varies across three categories of maltreatment: physical, sexual and emotional. It also examines gender differences and timing of abuse (past or current). This study also examines the level of parental monitoring and what effect parental monitoring has on maltreated adolescents and their use of substances. Survey data were collected from six public schools in a rural Southwestern Oregon County on experience of maltreatment (emotional, physical and sexual) and use of substances (tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs), gender differences and level of parental monitoring. Data were analyzed using t-tests and regression models. Results indicated that youth who currently experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse were significantly more likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs than were youth who had experienced abuse in the past. They also indicated a significant interaction between gender and physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse (past and present combined) in predicting illicit drug use with males using illicit drugs at a significantly higher rate than females. As predicted, a significant interaction was found between parental monitoring and maltreatment/no maltreatment in predicting drug use. Maltreated youth with low levels of parental monitoring were significantly more likely to have high levels of substance use than were maltreated youth with high levels of parental monitoring. These results give rise to the need for further research into this subject to aid counselors in helping youth, especially male youth, in substance abuse treatment. Results of this study suggest a need for substance abuse treatment counselors to educate the parents of the treatment clients to closely monitor their adolescent as a possible means of reducing substance abuse. / Graduation date: 2002

Specific personality characteristics have long been thought to be associated with adolescent substance abusers This study utilized the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI, Millon, 1982) to examine the personality styles, expressed concerns and behavioral correlates of adolescents.The subjects were 122 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 years old who were residents of an adolescent substance abuse treatment center. The MAPI was administered as a part of the initial assessment of each adolescent. The adolescents lived in areas that ranged from rural communities to midsize cities in a midwestern state.In this study, the dependent variable was the MAPI scores and the criterion variables were the following: gender, age, parent marital status, primary drug, secondary drug, drug use, treatment completion, and referral source. Additional subgroups studied were the following: 15-18 year old dependent males according to the primary drugs of alcohol or marijuana, and 15-18 year old females according to the primary drugs of alcohol and marijuana.Median base rate scores were calculated for the groups to reveal general personality profiles. Multivarite analyses of variance produced significant univariate Fs in the following groups: gender, parent marital status, and 15-18 year old dependent females by primary drug of choice. Results indicated that, as a whole, the group appeared to be fairly homogeneous in the personality characteristics revealed by the MAPI scores. The characteristics found mostoften in this sample were the following: moods that were unpredictable and erractic; attitudes that vacillated rapidly from unhappy to happy; relationships that ranged from ambiguous to belligerant, and affect that was irritable to disturbed. These adolescents also expressed considerable concern over family relationship issues. The Family Rapport scale was consistently the highest Expressed Concern scale. Other scales that were less pronounced, but frequently elevated were personal esteem, self-concept, and academic confidence. The most prominent elevation on the Behavioral Correlate scales was the Impulse Control scale.Similarities across groups on the scores of the MAPI scales was the most prominent finding. Scale scores in 15-18 year old dependent females group showed differences between alcohol users and marijuana users. Implications for treatment were discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-264). / Microfiche. / viii, 264 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Nicotine is one of the most widely abused drugs in the world, and most smokers begin smoking during their adolescent years. Adolescence is a unique developmental period during which vulnerability to the effects of drug exposure is especially high. This dissertation uses rodent models to investigate the persistent effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on both neurobiological and behavioral measures of drug sensitivity in adulthood. The aims of this dissertation were to 1) determine whether nicotine would be self-administered into the posterior ventral tegmental area (pVTA), a neuroanatomical component of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, which is known to be involved in reward and reinforcement; 2) investigate whether adolescent nicotine exposure would alter the sensitivity of the mesolimbic DA system as measured by DA release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in response to nicotine microinjections into the pVTA; 3) examine the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on behavioral sensitization to nicotine in adulthood; and 4) investigate whether adulthood alcohol drinking behavior, in both Wistar and alcohol-preferring (P) rats, would be augmented by nicotine exposure during adolescence. Results of this dissertation demonstrated that 1) the pVTA is a neuroanatomical site that supports nicotine self-administration; and that adolescent nicotine exposure results in 2) increased nicotine-stimulated DA release in the NAc during adulthood; 3) augmented behavioral sensitization to nicotine in adult animals; and 4) enhanced acquisition of alcohol drinking behavior in adult Wistar and P rats. Overall, this dissertation provides insight into the diverse and persistent changes, in both neurobiology and behavior, caused by exposure to nicotine during the critical developmental period of adolescence.

Using questionnaire survey generated data from a single school district, this study investigated the effects of family factors, peer factors, school problem behaviors, and psychosocial factors on adolescents' use of or abstinence from alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Following a review of literature, a theoretical framework incorporating family socialization theory was use to operationalize variables, develop indices, and generate hypotheses to be tested, as well as develop a general model of adolescent alcohol and other drug use and abstinence, incorporating the predictor variables. Using SPSSx procedures, factor analysis was used to develop the indices; the hypotheses were tested using Oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and F-ratio tests associated with regression analysis. The path analysis models were developed using multiple regression analysis and bivariate decomposition tables. For both junior high school students and high school students, users of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs were found to score higher on the Family Factors index, the Peer Factors index, School Problems index, and the Psychosocial Factors index. The model differed between alcohol and marijuana users, defining the conditions under which an adolescent is more likely to use or abstain from marijuana. While both family and peer factors effected the adolescents' choices of use or abstinence, the strongest predictor of use/abstinence was the peer use and attitudes factor. Family factors tended to be stronger in the younger age/grade levels than in the higher age/grade levels, as predicted from the theoretical framework.

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Friends have been implicated in the acquisition of adolescent substance use, but little attention has been given to how the origins of substance use similarity vary across groups. The first aim of this study is to examine whether friend selection, de-selection, and socialization differ as a function of friendship group's substance use. The second aim of this study is to extend Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses (SIENA) by demonstrating how group-level interactions can be included in the mode, and to demonstrate a new method to follow-up statistically significant group-level interactions in SIENA. Participants include 1419 Finnish students (729 females, 690 males) from upper secondary schools in Finland. Two waves of data were collected, starting when most participants were between 15 and 17 years of age. Waves of data collection were separated by one year. Results indicate that friends are selected, deselected, and socialized for substance use. Follow-up illustrations indicate that the magnitude of these processes vary as a function of substance use in the friendship group. / by Dawn DeLay. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This investigation assessed the effectiveness of an adolescent substance abuse treatment program that incorporated "Rites of Passage." Named Gender Based Treatment (GBT), the treatment program sought to address the adolescents' developmental needs through the use of rituals, myth and story telling, and rites of initiation. Employing quantitative and qualitative analysis, this investigation assessed and described the GBT program over a nine month period. The quantitative data analysis revealed a change in the positive direction after the treatment for most of the subjects. Of the subjects who met the Follow-up Structured Interview criteria, six out of eight reported being alcohol and drug free 30 days following treatment. Two subjects reported relapses and one subject reported a minor incident with the legal system. The qualitative data collected raised concerns regarding (a) the "common vision" of the staff; (b) the awareness level of the staff regarding the cultural assumptions and the moral/political implications of the GBT; (c) the contradictory messages being sent regarding smoking, gender relations, power, and sexism; and (d) the interest, engagement, and impact of the GBT on the subjects. This investigation revealed the accuracy in which the GBT matched the recommendations made in the substance abuse literature. It is speculated that an interaction effect between the traditional form of treatment and the new GBT, positively influenced subjects' abstinence and relapse rate, illegal behavior, self-esteem and coping behaviors. Further speculation regarding the theoretical implications for this study point to Social Learning Theory, or modeling as a potent variable. It is hypothesized that the staff members' involvement in the planning and implementing this new form of treatment had a positive influence on the staff as a whole and thereby positively influenced the adolescents in treatment. / Graduation date: 1993

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