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This thesis encompasses studies that examine autonomic reactivity and neuropsychological function in preadolescent boys who are at-risk for developing alcoholism and conduct disorder. The literature suggests an association between cognitive impairments and behavioural undercontrol, and that autonomic hyperreactivity may facilitate the use of alcohol to dampen stress. Thus, either factor may contribute to early alcohol use. In the first study, preadolescent sons of male multigenerational alcoholics were found to be cardiovascularly reactive during cognitive stress, and impaired on tests of executive function. Furthermore, reactivity was correlated with anxiety, and executive function deficits with conduct problems. In the second study, reactivity during a laboratory aggression task was monitored and cognitive functions (attentional or memory processes and executive functions) were assessed among aggressive boys rated as disruptive, or anxious-disruptive. During the aggression task, anxious-disruptive boys, unlike disruptive boys or controls, moderated their aggression when their opponent engaged in retaliatory behaviour. Anxious-disruptive boys were more highly aroused throughout the task, and the neuropsychological assessment found they were impaired on tests of executive function, independent of attention and memory. In the third study, anxious-disruptive boys exhibited greater cardiovascular, electrodermal, and muscle tension reactivity than disruptive or control boys during cognitive stress, while disruptive boys were electrodermally underaroused. These studies suggest it is possible to delineate specific neuropsychological profiles among at-risk youth, using either a behavioural genetics model, or selecting for personality traits. There were consistent autonomic reactivity patterns across tasks among groups defined by similar behavioural profiles. Thus, while cognitive impairments and hyperreactivity may comprise a vulnerability among sons of alcoholics, thes

Bakalauro darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti paauglių požiūrį į alkoholio vartojimo prevencijos organizavimo efektyvumą. Siekiama išsiaiškinti, kokios yra paauglių nuostatos į alkoholio vartojimą paauglystėje, koks jų požiūris į ugdymo įstaigose organizuojamą alkoholio vartojimo prevenciją ir efektyviausias alkoholio prevencijos organizavimo priemones, apibendrinti alkoholio vartojimo prevencijos organizavimo gerosios patirties atvejus paauglių požiūriu. Atliktas kiekybinis tyrimas, kurio instrumentas – mišraus tipo klausimynas. Tyrime dalyvavo 98 paaugliai, besimokantys Šiaulių gimnazijose ir progimnazijose. Gauti duomenys apdoroti matematinės analizės ir turinio analizės metodais. / In this paper is analyzed adolescents attitude towards the effectiveness of organizing alcohol use prevention. The aim is to find out what are the teenagers' attitudes towards alcohol use in adolescence, theirs’ approaches to organized alcohol prevention in educational institutions and what are the most effective measures and the best practice of alcohol prevention organization. A qualitative study was made using mixed-type questionnaire survey method. 98 adolescents from Siauliai took part in it. The data were processed by mathematical analysis and content analysis.

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There is a pervasive belief in the United States that the college experience typically includes frequent social activities characterized by widespread alcohol use. Unfortunately, awareness of the hundreds of deaths and wide variety of other harms experienced by college students as a result of alcohol use is much less pervasive. In an effort to increase awareness of the negative impact of alcohol use on college campuses, the NIAAA commissioned a panel composed of scientists and college presidents to document alcohol-related harms and identify strategies that have been found to be effective in reducing risky alcohol use based on empirical evidence. The final report of this expert panel was released as a "Call to Action" for institutions nationwide in an effort to increase understanding of the severity and prevalence of risky alcohol use, and to provide descriptions of programs that were considered effective based on empirical evidence. Unfortunately, there were very few strategies found to be effective, and one of the effective approaches could only be implemented in specialized laboratories operated by scientists with expertise in expectancy challenge. Due to the severity and pervasiveness of the college alcohol problem and the limited number of strategies deemed effective, there is clearly a pressing need to develop and validate an expectancy challenge method that could be implemented by any institution without being limited by the need for a specialized laboratory and highly trained personnel. Achievement of these goals was the focus of the present project. To this end, an expectancy challenge curriculum designed for delivery in a college classroom was developed based on a laboratory delivered protocol previously found to be effective in reducing alcohol use among college students, and a classroom delivered curriculum previously found to be effective with high school students. The newly developed college classroom curriculum was implemented in a single session with groups of students during their regular class time in their usual classroom. Measures of alcohol use and associated harms were completed anonymously by each participant before completing the curriculum and for the month following completion of the curriculum. Analyses indicated significant reductions in alcohol consumption among males and females in comparison to students who were randomly assigned to a wait-list control condition. Unfortunately, significant reductions in alcohol-related harms were not found. The time periods for baseline and follow-up were only one month each, and that limitation in the number of opportunities to experience harms limits the likelihood of demonstrating a significant reduction in harms as well. Overall, this project represents an important advance in the development of alcohol use reduction strategies that are theory-based and effective in reducing alcohol use based on empirical evidence. In addition, the curriculum that was developed and validated in this project represents the first expectancy challenge method that can be readily implemented at any institution willing to devote one hour to reducing their students' risk for a long list of negative consequences associated with alcohol use on college campuses. Motivation and a typical classroom are all that is needed.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Maternal drinking during pregnancy and its consequences are a growing health concern worldwide. It has also been identified as a significant problem in South African communities with some of the highest prevalence rates of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) reported in South Africa. The primary aim of this study was to explore how women in a South African community in the Northern Cape Province perceive the personal and general risk of drinking during pregnancy. The secondary aims were to ascertain whether there was evidence of unrealistic optimism, to examine whether there were personal characteristics that are associated with high or low risk perception, and to examine women‟s knowledge of FASD. A total of 128 women from De Aar in the Northern Cape, an area with a high prevalence of FASD, and therefore drinking during pregnancy, were recruited to take part in the study. Participants had previously taken part in a FASD prevention programme. Questionnaires were administered assessing the perception of the risk posed to a participant‟s own child should she drink during pregnancy, and the risk posed to others‟ children should they drink during pregnancy. The questionnaire also contained questions on FASD knowledge and demographic variables. Participants were between 18 and 44 years of age and reported high rates of unemployment. Most women had more than one child and 7.8% had a child diagnosed with FASD. No evidence for unrealistic optimism was found. Multiple regression analyses revealed both FASD knowledge, and the perception of how easy it would be for oneself to stop drinking, were significant predictors for both personal and general risk. A model including the perception of general risk, FASD knowledge and the perception of how easily one could stop drinking accounted for the most variance in the perception of personal risk (66.4%). Perception of personal risk on its own was the strongest predictor of the perception of general risk accounting for 56.1% of variance. There was no significant correlation between passage of time and FASD knowledge, but possible gaps in FASD knowledge were identified. The study provides an overview of the perception of the risk of drinking during pregnancy in the target population. It also suggests improvements to the research design and materials for further research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Moederlike drankgebruik gedurende swangerskap en die gevolge daarvan word wêreldwyd met groeiende kommer beskou. Dit is ook as ʼn wesenlike probleem in Suid-Afrika geïdentifiseer, met van die hoogste voorkomssyfers van Fetale Alkohol Spektrumafwykings (FASA) wat in Suid-Afrika aangeteken is. Die primêre doel van hierdie studie was om, in ʼn Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap in die Noord Kaap provinsie, die persepsie van persoonlike en algemene risiko van drink tydens swangerskap onder vrouens, te ondersoek. Die sekondêre doelstellings was om vas te stel of daar bewyse van onrealistiese optimisme is; te bepaal of daar persoonlike eienskappe is wat korreleer met ʼn hoë of lae risiko-persepsie, en om ook die vroue se kennis van Fetale Alkohol Spektrumafwykings (FASA) te ondersoek. 128 vroue van De Aar in die Noord-Kaap is gewerf om aan die studie deel te neem. Die gebied het 'n hoë FASA voorkoms, en dus ook alkoholgebruik tydens swangerskap. Deelnemers het voorheen deelgeneem aan 'n FASA voorkomingsprogram. Vraelyste is voltooi rakende die persepsie van die risiko vir 'n deelnemer se eie kind sou sy tydens swangerskap drink, en die risiko vir ander se kinders, sou hulle tydens swangerskap drink. Die vraelys het ook vrae oor FASA kennis en demografiese veranderlikes ingesluit. Deelnemers was tussen 18 en 44 jaar oud en het hoë vlakke van werkloosheid gerapporteer. Meeste vrouens het meer as een kind gehad en 7.8% het ʼn kind wat met FASA gediagnoseer is gehad. Geen bewyse vir onrealistiese optimisme is gevind nie. Meervoudige regressie-ontleding het bevind dat beide FASA-kennis en die persepsie van hoe maklik dit vir ‟n deelnemer self sou wees om op te hou drink, beduidende voorspellers vir beide persoonlike en algemene risiko is. 'n Model wat die persepsie van algemene risiko, FASA-kennis en die persepsie van hoe maklik 'n deelnemer self kan ophou drink, het die grootste variansie in die persepsie van persoonlike risiko verduidelik (66,4 %). Persepsie van persoonlike risiko op sy eie, was die sterkste voorspeller van die persepsie van algemene risiko, opsigself verantwoordelik vir 56,1% van die variansie. Daar was geen beduidende korrelasie tussen die verloop van tyd en FASA kennis nie, maar moontlike gapings in die kennis van FASA is geïdentifiseer. Die studie bied 'n oorsig van die persepsie van die risiko van drankgebruik tydens swangerskap in die teikenbevolking. Dit stel ook verbeteringe vir die navorsingsmetodiek voor vir toekomstige navorsing.

In the United States, post European-colonial influence and exposure to substances such as alcohol historically mark the beginning of substance use exposure and involvement among all American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. Research findings indicate there are strong interrelationships between the origin and prevalence of substance use and U.S.-European colonization, historical trauma, forced assimilation, cultural losses, and relocation among urban AI/AN people (Burt, 1986; Clinton, Chadwick, & Bahr, 1975; Yuan et al., 2010). In an historical sense, the unsuccessful attempts of relocating AI/AN people to urban areas place the future generations of urban AI/AN youth at risk for substance use, health conditions, and health disparities. Nationally, incident rates of substance use among urban AI/AN populations ages 12 and over is rising steadily, two to three folds higher than other ethnicities in urban areas within states such as Florida. The overall objective of this study is to culturally tailor the evidence-based Lowe (2013) Cherokee Talking Circle Intervention for substance use prevention among Cherokee adolescents to that of an Urban Taking Circle Intervention for use among urban AI/AN adolescents in Florida. Therefore, the feasibility of culturally tailoring this substance use intervention among a southeastern urban AI/AN youth was examined and presented within this dissertation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection