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Introduction. This paper analyses the evolution of antisocial behavior within the context of representative cross-sectional studies in student population from Mexico City. Surveys with students have collected data about substance use and related factors. The latter is associated with antisocial behavior and delinquency, eating disorders, risk sexual behavior, and suicide attempt. Statistics on younger offenders show an increased number of subjects presented before law institutions, meaning that they have been prosecuted somehow (there were 2623 cases in 1999, and 3506 in 2003). At the same time, there is a decrease in the age for committing these faults which are becoming more serious; a larger number of homicides, raping, and carrying weapons have been reported. The objective of this paper is to present tendencies of antisocial behavior through data obtained from three different representative surveys in junior high school and high school students from Mexico City (1997, 2000, and 2003). Surveys were held by the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatria Ramón de la Fuente and by the Secretaria de Educación Pública. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Inhalant use among various populations in Mexico occurs within the context of its legality, inadequate health regulation and supervision of its production and sales, high availability and low cost, combined with the pleasurable effects of inhaling, which vary according to the context and users. Objective This paper describes the social practices involved in the co-construction of inhalant use contexts of two groups of Mexican middle school students and their reported effects. Method Photo elicitation methodology was used, with two videotapes produced by students on school sociality practices where inhalants we are used and then analyzed in discussion groups. Results The theoretical categorization of the data was performed using Atlas. ti software. It was found that although the students inhaled toluene, only one of the students experienced dizziness and headaches, while another classmate felt sleepy. The other video was different; students got high, experiencing euphoria, emotional disinhibition and hallucinations. Dizziness, pain and drowsiness seem largely determined by toluene and alcohol use, whereas the different effects appear to be caused by the sociality of the contexts of inhalant use, students' subjectivity and their length of consumption. Discussion and conclusion It is argued that students enjoy inhalant use because getting high reinforces their sociality. The article concludes that inhalant use should be discouraged by incorporating the agency and subjectivity of youth, without neglecting the macro-social factors involved in the production, marketing and regulation of inhalants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Depression and its symptoms are becoming one of the most important health problems worldwide. The impact of depression on the productive life of people, and the burden it represents because of its co-morbidity, is growing. Some authors estimate that depression is the second cause for the global loss of years of healthy life and the first one in developed countries. An increasing proportion of teenage population has mental health issues. Depression and its symptoms are among the most common, but they are not an epidemic problem yet, although spread enough as to maintain interest in its current impact and in its negative consequences over individual health. Depression has a prominent place among mood disorders in Mexico (4.5%), and women are who mostly suffer it (5.8%), which has remained consistent over time. Different difficult situations occur during adolescence along with depression, depressive mood, and depressive symptoms. This situation may be related to changes and processes that occur during this period when individuals cope with situations they cannot handle, which in turn become stressful. Therefore, it is necessary to study and to work with adolescents in order to be able to differentiate affective, cognitive, somatic, and behavioral expressions, which are proper to this stage, from those possibly caused by an illness that could have negative consequences. Adolescent depression influences mood and the way individuals live unpleasant or annoying experiences, thus it affects almost every aspect of life and becomes a risk factor for psychiatric and behavioral problems. However, there are some areas that need more research, for example: the specific characteristics and expressions of the problem including gender comparisons and using designs with special groups. Data show that depression is growing in adolescents; therefore it is a priority to work on detection and prevention to reduce its impact on mental health and to develop cost-effective intervention strategies. One way to do this is using valid-reliable screening tools because they are cheap, and methodologically-logistically useful. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) has been used in different studies with Mexican adolescents, and has proven to have good psychometric characteristics. The CES-D has never been used with an entire population in a great scale study. The objective of this paper is to measure the validity and reliability of the scale (construct, concurrent, and external validity, as well as internal consistency) in a population of high school and college freshman students from Mexico City. Method Design. The study was a census made with high school and college freshman students during 2009. Data were collected in 22 schools. Population. A sample of 58568 students participated in the census. The mean age was 17 years old (±2.7). Most of the students lived in homes with one to four other persons at the moment of the study (55.4%); 86% said that only their father worked at that moment, and 59.4 said that only the mother; 79.7% of the students lived with both parents, and 17.9% only with their mother; 57403 students (98.0% of the population) completed the CES-D in the age range of 14-24 years: 27264 (47.5%) men, and 30139 (52.5%) women. Instrument. The Automated Medical Examination (Examen Médico Automatizado-EMA) is a diagnostic questionnaire designed by the General Directorate of Medical Services (Dirección General de Servicios Médicos) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). It is a questionnaire with four self-report forms that collect information about the physical and mental health, the family, and the general context of every student. This information is used to create a diagnosis of vulnerability and a predictive profile for developing prevention programs, as well as research protocols that help in promoting a culture for health care. The CES-D was included for the measurement in 2009. Results Overall internal consistency was adequate (α=.83). Internal consistency was tested by sex; the coefficient was higher for women (α=.84). Factor analysis generated a four-factor solution (explained variance 54.1%); each factor had good internal consistency and theoretical agreement. The scale showed a significant discriminative power for opposite scores (z=-144.121, p<.001), and a positive significant correlation with the Okasha Suicidality Scale (rΦ=.325, p=.000). A cut-off point of 16 or higher was established to identify students with high depressive symptomatology. 14.7% of the participants in this study had high depressive symptomatology (11.1% men, 17.9% women). Conclusions The CES-D is a valid and reliable epidemiological instrument for different populations. Since depression is a complex and dynamic phenomenon, it is important to evaluate the psychometric properties of any instrument used to measure it. The results of this study showed that the CES-D maintains its internal consistency as well as good concurrent-external validity. Coefficients are higher for women and they increase with age; thus, it would be necessary to refine some aspects to measure younger subjects in a more consistent manner. The data proved that CES-D is a useful instrument for distinguishing different levels of depressive symptomatology; this is relevant because the scale is often used in collective contexts, allowing systematic monitoring of depression with good cost-effective results. Monitoring is also important to keep acceptable levels of emotional wellbeing in student population. Development and refinement of instruments such as the CES-D would potentially lead to opportune and reliable detection of adolescents who may be at risk for suffering mental health problems. This would facilitate implementing more stable and continuous prevention and attention programs to reduce the negative impact of depression in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human groups make up for themselves, for the others and for the events they live explanations that, although not scientific, determine the practices that regulate their behavior. In the case of marijuana consumption, the representations of young people in particular and society in general influence the decision about whether or not to continue consuming. The perception of risk associated with consumption by high school students dropped from 60% in 1994 to 36.9% in 2004, which backs up the relationship between high consumption and low risk perception. Cannabis is the illegal drug with the highest indexes of consumption in the world with an increasing growth rate, to which we may add the alarming reduction in the age when people begin consuming it. This research paper is concerned with the effects of consumption on cognitive processes in school and social performance: a drop in performance, more problems getting along with others, absenteeism and drop out. The study aims to know how low marihuana doses affect cognitive ability in post-primary students. There are no studies concerned with the effect of marihuana in non-patient students (i.e. not diagnosed with addictive behavior and not considered socially as drug addicts). Material and methods Sample: The sample comes from high school students in public schools, private subsidized schools and private paying schools. The sample was stratified by non-proportional affixation, considering the sex, course and social economic level variables, and was made up of 304 students in high schools of the Metropolitan Area (Santiago), belonging to low, medium, and high socioeconomic groups (determined by dependence and the city in which the school is located). The research is descriptive, not experimental, ex post facto. Instruments: Group application to the entire sample (n=304) a) Psychosocial evaluation and consumption questionnaire, abbreviated and adapted, aimed at the collection of demographic data, consumption behaviors and other required information. The young people are identified with a number in order to ensure their anonymity and thus promote the truth of the responses. b) Domino Test (D-48): Evaluates non-verbal intelligence. It controls differences caused by social and educative factors. It is applied on a group basis in order to discard subjects whose IQ is lower than average, regardless of consumption. Individual application to the consumer group and the non-consumer group. a) Rey Complex Figure Test: Widely used in recent studies on the effects of drugs on teenagers. Evaluates neuropsychological functioning. b) Benton Test: Evaluates current intellectual efficiency from the attention span, concentration and immediate retention. c) Verbal memory (Rey): Evaluates immediate verbal memory. Results General: The total results for the three schools polled and evaluated show that 14.5% of the students declared that they consumed marijuana at least four times during the last month. The proportion in the three establishments is not distributed in a homogenous fashion, but is concentrated in the low social economic level school (27.8%), with the lowest percentage in the high social economic level school. With regard to sex, 11% are girls and 15.7% are boys. Although a higher proportion of the boys consumed, the consumption in girls shows a sustained increase in recent years. A significant group is beginning to consume marijuana at age 15 or even earlier. The perception of risk associated with frequent consumption and the possibility of quitting smoking on a voluntary basis show significant differences: among consumers (C), 51% consider that there is no risk or negative effect in consumption, while only 10% of nonconsumers (NC) share this perception. Protective factors or those associated with risk The family.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of the information Reporting System on Drugs, which describe the trends of cocaine use for 1987-2003 among users between 15 and 24 years old in Mexico City. It also describes the results of the evaluation carried out by the IRSD in June 2003 which include the sociodemographic characteristics of users, pattern of use, associated problems and slang words used to refer to this substance, according to the reports of the evaluated cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]