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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.12.032 Byline: Nadra E. Lisha, Steve Sussman Keywords: Sports participation; Teens Abstract: This study provides an exhaustive review of 34 peer-reviewed quantitative data-based studies completed on high school and college sports involvement and drug use. The studies reviewed suggest that participation in sport is related to higher levels of alcohol consumption, but lower levels of both cigarette smoking and illegal drug use. Additional research is needed in this domain to further elucidate the relationship between these variables. Author Affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, United States Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.11.018 Byline: Steve Sussman (a), Pallav Pokhrel (a), Richard D. Ashmore (b), B. Bradford Brown (c) Keywords: Adolescent group identification; Group characteristics Abstract: This study provides an exhaustive review of 44 peer-reviewed quantitative or qualitative data-based peer-reviewed studies completed on adolescent peer group identification. Adolescent peer group identification is one's self-perceived or other-perceived membership in discrete teenage peer groups. The studies reviewed suggest that adolescent peer groups consist of five general categories differentiable by lifestyle characteristics: Elites, Athletes, Academics, Deviants, and Others. We found that the Deviant adolescent group category reported relatively greater participation in drug use and other problem behaviors across studies, whereas Academics and Athletes exhibited the least participation in these problem behaviors. Additional research is needed in this arena to better understand the operation of adolescent group labels. Author Affiliation: (a) Departments of Preventive Medicine and Psychology, Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California, 1000 S Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, CA 91803, USA (b) Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA (c) Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706-1796, USA

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.06.033 Byline: Steve Sussman, Clyde W. Dent Keywords: Self-initiated; Smoking; Cessation Abstract: This paper provides a 5-year replication-extension of a previous 1-year follow-up study of the same sample of southern California alternative high school youth. Demographic, behavioral, psychosocial, and emerging adult function predictors of adolescent self-initiated smoking cessation were investigated. Based on the first (1-year) prospective study and this follow-up, one may speculate that smoking cessation programs for adolescents should include counteraction of problem-prone attitudes, assistance with job aspirations and information about drug-free workplaces, motivation to quit strategies, and assistance with overcoming withdrawal symptoms. Author Affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California, Alhambra, California 91803, United States

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.05.005 Byline: Ping Sun, James Miyano, Louise Ann Rohrbach, Clyde W. Dent, Steve Sussman Keywords: Cigarette smoking; Cessation; Prevention; Motivation; Behavior; Intervention Abstract: Researchers continue to try to develop effective teen tobacco use prevention and cessation programs. Three previous school clinic-based studies established the efficacy of Project EX for teen smoking cessation. This fourth study adapts Project EX to the classroom context. This paper reports the findings based on pretest and posttest surveys conducted immediately prior and post-intervention. Author Affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research and Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1000 South Fremont Avenue, Box 8, Alhambra, CA 91803, USA

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.07.019 Byline: William Jason McCuller (a), Steve Sussman (a), Michael Wapner (b), Clyde Dent (c), David J. Weiss (b) Keywords: Smoking cessation; Mediation Abstract: The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to evaluate the effects of a smoking cessation clinic (Project EX) on changing motivation to quit smoking, and 2) to assess differences in quit rates based on these changes in motivation. Student smokers in 18 continuation high schools in the Los Angeles county area were invited to participate in a tobacco cessation clinic designed to enhance motivation to quit tobacco use. The 18 schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Compared to students in the control group, students who participated in the program conditions were more likely to express higher motivation to quit tobacco use. Higher motivation was also significantly related to higher quit rates. Motivation to quit as defined by constituents of the energy/direction model of motivation appears to be a plausible mediator of cessation program effects. Author Affiliation: (a) University of Southern California, United States (b) California State University, Los Angeles, United States (c) Oregon Research Institute, United States Article Note: (footnote) [star] This research was supported by a grant from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program.

A study is conducted to examine relationships between illegal and legal drug use and violation perpetration and victimization and possible mediators of these relationships. Results from these studies suggest that violence and victimization prevention efforts may benefit by addressing the psychopharmacological effects of adolescent illegal drug use.

A pilot study sought to answer the question whether educational programming can exert lifestyle improvements among liver disease inpatients. The liver disease inpatients showed promising effects on self-reported lifestyle changes and the persons who received the program reported high receptivity to it and greater lifestyle changes than the control patients.

The effectiveness of Project EX, a teen school-based clinic tobacco use cessation program, is discussed. The authors maintain that Project EX, a program that includes fun and motivating activities to help teenagers quit smoking, has reported that 17% of enrolled teens had quit smoking for at least 30 days after the quit date.

Research is presented concerning the use of the canonical correlation analysis of 1,325 high school students to determine the correlates of drug use. Drug use by Latino youths and children from unstable family units is discussed.

Stimulant use is addictive and linked with health consequences such as brain damage, psychotic behaviour, memory loss, and violence. The correlates of stimulant use among high risk youth were examined to help determine elements of effective adolescent programming for the substances. It is speculated that programming for such stimulant-using youth should incorporate treatment of multiple substances, depression, and correction of social-cognitive misperceptions.

Prediction of marijuana use cessation amongst adolescents who had been regular users, are reported, including social, attitude, violence-related, drug-use-related, and intrapersonal predictors. Those who were slightly older, reporting that they received less approval for using drugs and who held unfavorable attitudes about drug use acceptability, were relatively likely to quit.

A study was conducted to analyze home, school and other public locations where youth report using drugs. Also, these settings were examined as a function of gender, type of drug used, ethnicity and drug abuse status. It was observed that the single most frequent location of use was the participants' bedroom with a small group of friends. However, heavier users were found to use different drugs in various locations with the school as the least likely site of use.

A unidimensional drug involvement model is used to determine the potential role of smokeless tobacco in drug abuse. The study, based on a sample of high school students, found that the smokeless tobacco place in the model's continuum is unstable. It was also found that the use of smokeless tobacco that fit in the model differs in relation to genders and ethnicity. Smokeless tobacco use, particularly among males, is found to be preceded by use of soft drugs and followed by use of hard drugs.

The reasons for starting smoking and smoking prevention programs, perceived as effective by African American and Latino students in the seventh grade, are similar to those for White students of the same age. However, smoking onset patterns, program modality utilization and psychosocial predictors for smoking are different in different cultural groups. This indicates that smoking prevention programs for minority groups should include culturally and linguistically relevant features.

Users of smokeless tobacco working in the lumber mill industry have unhealthy sleep patterns, frequently take alcohol and become intoxicated, and have less job satisfaction and organizational committment. However, they feel more secure in their organizations than the tobacco-free employees. The tobacco chewers and the smokers are less hardworking and take more breaks from their work than the tobacco-free employees. Supervisors should encourage smokeless tobacco users to join smoking cessation programs.

Research suggests that the onset of tobacco use (smokeless tobacco, cigarettes) in adolescents is associated with alcohol use, risk taking, and low self-esteem. A sample of 842 seventh grade boys and girls from south California who had not used tobacco were identified and surveyed a year later. Risk taking was more associated with initiation of tobacco use in females. Social influence is a bigger factor in initiation of smoking among boys.

Study of an ethnically mixed group of participants and nonparticipants of a self-help media-enhanced program for smokers to determine the demographic differences and the characteristics related to smoking proved that the program was cost-effective and successful in reaching different types of smokers. Smokers with intentions to quit benefit from written self-help materials, cessation programs in television and supplements in local Sunday newspapers.

A group of forty-six 10th-grade-level cigarette smokers from two schools in Wuhan, China, were provided with Project EX, an eight-session school-based clinic smoking cessation program developed in the United States. Data from the study provided evidence that Project EX can be successfully adapted in another countries, as it could lead to promising results on smoking cessation.

The five-year prospective prediction of marijuana use cessation among young adults at continuation high schools is studied using three hundred and thirty-nine teenage users who had earlier quit marijuana. The prevalence of quit attempts can be increased due to the need to reduce psychological dependence on marijuana and increase in the social unacceptability of marijuana use.

This article examines the relationship between social self-control, personality disorders, and drug abuse among high-risk youth. The authors, testing a sample of 1050 high-risk youth, conclude male gender, antisocial personality, and lack of social self-control are strong predictors of substance abuse.

Research reveals that adolescents respond to interpersonal conflicts by way of resorting to substance use. Physical aggression is associated with a higher risk of cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use, while nonphysical aggression is associaed with cigarette and alcohol use. The nonaggressive conflicts are associated with a lower risk of cigarette use.

Introduction: Emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25) is characterized by changes in relationships, education, work, and viewpoints on life. The prevalence of substance use also peaks during this period. Among emerging adults, Hispanics have a unique substance use profile, and have been described as a priority population for substance use prevention. Cross-sectional studies among Hispanics have shown that specific role transitions (e.g., starting or ending romantic relationships) were associated with substance use. Negative affect from uncertainty/stress that accompanies role transitions in emerging adulthood may lead to substance use as a maladaptive coping mechanism. Longitudinal studies are needed to gain a more complete understanding of these associations.Methods: Participants completed surveys for Project RED, a longitudinal study of substance use among Hispanics in Southern California. This study used Coarsened Exact Matching to overcome the methodological limitations of previous studies. Participants were matched on pretreatment variables including age, gender, substance use behavior in high school, and depressive symptoms. Past-month cigarette use, binge drinking, marijuana use, and hard drug use were the outcomes of interest. After matching, each outcome was regressed on each individual role transition in year one of emerging adulthood with this process repeated in year two of emerging adulthood.Results: Role transitions in romance and work were positively associated with multiple categories of substance use.Conclusions: Prevention programs should teach emerging adults ways to cope with the stress from role transitions. Individual role transitions may be used to screen for subgroups of emerging adults at high risk for substance use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco use experimentation is most frequent between the ages of 15–24 in India. Therefore, programming to counteract tobacco use among adolescents is needed. There is a lack of evidence-based teen tobacco use prevention and cessation programs. The current study provides an outcome evaluation of the Project EX tobacco use prevention and cessation program among Indian adolescents (16–18 years). An eight-session classroom-based curriculum was adapted to the Indian context and translated from English to Hindi (local language). Next, it was tested using a quasi-experimental design with 624 Indian students at baseline, involving two program and two control schools, with a three-month post-program follow-up. Project EX involves motivation enhancement (e.g., talk shows and games) and coping skills (e.g., complementary and alternative medicine) components. Program participants rated complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) activities like meditation, yoga and healthy breathing higher than talk shows and games. Compared to the standard care control condition, the program condition revealed a prevention effect, but not a cessation effect. Implications for prevention/cessation programming among Indian teens are discussed. This study was approved by the Independent Ethics Committee, Mumbai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptions of invulnerability toward smoking and nonsmoking-related health risks were examined in adolescents. Smokers were not as likely as nonsmokers to report feeling invulnerable. High public body awareness, fewer previous attempts to stop smoking and being in the process of change, were important independent concurrent predictors of being in the invulnerable group.

Abstract: Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a widely-used approach for addressing adolescent substance use. Recent meta-analytic findings show small but consistent effect sizes. However, differences in intervention format and intervention design, as well as possible mediators of change, have never been reviewed. This review of the literature summarizes the most up-to-date MI interventions with adolescents, looks at differences between intervention format and design, and discusses possible theory-based mechanisms of change. Of the 39 studies included in this review, 67% reported statistically significant improved substance use outcomes. Chi square results show no significant difference between interventions using feedback or not, or interventions combined with other treatment versus MI alone. The need for systematic investigation in theory-based mechanisms of change is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Purpose: The cognitive tendency toward mindfulness may influence the enactment of health and risk behaviors by its bringing increased attention to and awareness of decision-making processes underlying behavior. The present study examined the moderating effect of trait mindfulness on associations between intentions to smoke (ITS)/smoking refusal self-efficacy (SRSE) and smoking frequency. Methods: Self-reports from Chinese adolescents (N = 5,287; mean age = 16.2 years, standard deviation = .7; 48.8% female) were collected in 24 schools. Smoking frequency was regressed on latent factor interactions Mindful Attention Awareness Scale*ITS and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale*SRSE, adjusting for school clustering effects and covariates. Results: Both interaction terms were significant in cross-sectional analyses and showed that high ITS predicted higher smoking frequency among those low, relative to high, in trait mindfulness, whereas low SRSE predicted higher smoking frequency among those low, relative to high, in trait mindfulness. Conclusions: Findings suggest trait mindfulness possibly shields against decision-making processes that place adolescents at risk for smoking. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy of a version of Project EX that was adapted for implementation in the classroom context (Project EX-4). This paper reports the program outcomes based on pretest, six-month, and one-year follow-up surveys.Methods: An 8 session classroom-based curriculum was tested with a clustered randomized controlled trial that involved a total of 1097 students in 6 program and 6 control alternative high schools. Weekly and monthly smoking was assessed at the three time points. Outcome effects were analyzed with multi-level random coefficients models.Results: Students in the program condition experienced a greater reduction in weekly smoking and monthly smoking, at 6-and-12-month follow-ups. The net change varied between -5.1% and -7.6%, comparing the program condition to the control condition.Conclusions: The implementation of Project EX in a classroom setting produced decreases in smoking among students in the program, relative to those in the standard care control condition. It is likely that a classroom-based smoking prevention/cessation program can lead to lower overall smoking prevalence than a cessation program that is implemented in a school-based smoking cessation clinic format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing smoking prevalence in China indicates a need for effective smoking cessation programs, yet, to our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the effects of smoking cessation programs among Chinese adolescents. A group of 46 10th-grade-level cigarette smokers from two schools in Wuhan, China, were provided with Project EX, an eight-session school-based clinic smoking cessation program developed in the United States. Efforts of translation of the Project EX curriculum, verification of translation, curriculum modification, and cultural adaptation were made to adapt the curriculum to the local culture. The 46 smokers represented 71% of all the self-reported 30-day smokers among 622 10th graders at these two schools. Only one student dropped out from the clinic program. Four-month follow-up data indicated a 10.5% 30-day quit rate and a 14.3% 7-day quit rate. The students who did not quit smoking reported a 16% reduction in daily cigarette consumption at posttest and a 33% reduction at 4-month follow-up. Use of a 2 1/2-week prebaseline-to-baseline clinic assessment indicated a clinic cohort nonassisted quit rate of 3%. These data provided evidence that Project EX can be adapted in another country, such as China; can be very well received; and can lead to promising results on cessation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

: PurposeTo investigate the influence of two potentially protective factors, Health-as-a-Value and spirituality, on monthly alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in two multiethnic groups of adolescents varying in risk.: MethodsThree-hundred-eighty-two students from continuation/alternative high school, a population considered at risk for drug use, participated in the study. The other sample of 260 students was drawn from a medical magnet high school, and is considered to be at lower risk. Similar surveys containing measures of spirituality, “Health-as-a-Value,” and monthly substance use, were distributed. Logistic regression analyses were performed.: ResultsThe analyses revealed that spirituality was protective against monthly alcohol use and marijuana use in the lower risk sample. In the higher risk sample, spirituality was protective against all monthly use. “Health-as-a-Value” (HAV) was protective against monthly alcohol use in the low risk sample, and protective against all monthly use in the higher risk sample. Importantly, when both constructs were entered into the same model, spirituality and HAV were independently protective of all monthly use for the higher risk sample and of monthly alcohol use in the lower risk sample.: ConclusionsThese findings extend earlier work on protective factors. “Health-as-a-Value” and spirituality may be protective against substance use in environments with different levels of use. Future studies should explore these findings in longitudinal analyses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Addictions share common etiological factors associated with personality vulnerabilities such as narcissism or emotional instability. Also, there are gender differences in the type of and risk for addiction (e.g., men may be more prone to addictions, overall). These are considerably less understood in relation to behavioral addictions (BAs) than in substance use disorders. This study aimed to investigate associations between profiles of six potential BAs (study, shopping, gaming, Facebook, pornography, and food) and gender, personality, and well-being among Polish emerging adults, as a partial replication and extension of previous work.Participants and Procedure: In a paper-and-pencil cross-sectional study, 1182 Polish undergraduate students (mean age = 20.33 years; SD = 1.68) completed questionnaires measuring six potential BAs alongside questions on demographic variables, personality traits (Big Five, narcissism), and well-being indicators (general quality of life, health quality, sleep quality, perceived stress, anxiety, and hopelessness).Results: Using latent profile analysis, four profiles were identified: (1) elevated levels of study, Facebook, shopping, and food addictions; (2) elevated levels of gaming and pornography addictions; (3) low or average levels of all potential BAs, and (4) highest levels of all potential BAs. The second and fourth profiles included men predominantly, and the first profile included almost exclusively women. The fourth profile, in comparison to all other profiles, demonstrated significantly higher scores on all potential BAs, narcissism, lowest conscientiousness and emotional stability, and lowest well-being.Conclusions: The results suggest that there is a general proclivity to potential BAs. Furthermore, there are gender-specific profiles of potential BAs, which at present are poorly understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: E-cigarette dependence measures largely focus on e-cigarette use ("vaping") that is linked to nicotine use, and measures assessing sensory aspects of vaping that may influence use (e.g., taste) are limited in scope. Thus, we developed the novel Sensory E-cigarette Expectancies Scale (SEES).Methods: In Summer 2017, 610 adult e-cigarette users (48.7% male, 84.9% White, 37.41[±12.15] years old) completed an online survey that included 23 SEES items. Psychometric analyses included evaluating latent structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance, mean differences, and test-criterion relationships.Results: Factor analyses supported a 9-item, 3-subscale structure (taste/smell, pleasure/satisfaction, vapor cloud production). Subscales evidenced internal consistency and scalar invariance by sex, race, smoking status (current/not), vaping status (daily/not), e-liquid nicotine content (yes/no), and device type (cig-a-likes/vape-pens/Advanced Personal Vaporizers [APVs]/Mods). Women and daily e-cigarette users reported stronger SEEs for taste/smell and pleasure than their counterparts. Non-white participants reported stronger SEEs for cloud production than White participants. Cig-a-like users reported the weakest SEEs for taste/smell and weaker SEEs linked to cloud production than APV/mod users. SEES scores evidenced convergence with nicotine dependence (mean r = .36). Finally, SEES scores predicted vaping frequency and habitual vaping concurrently and incrementally beyond nicotine dependence.Conclusions: The SEES evidenced good psychometric properties, suggesting that the measure can be used to assess sensory vaping expectancies in adults. Importantly, SEES scores indicated that sensory expectancies are related, yet distinct, from nicotine dependence. Future research should evaluate how SEEs relate to product characteristic preferences and patterns of vaping including the development and maintenance of addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Exposure to E-cigarette marketing and media advertisements is prevalent among adolescents. A validated vaping media literacy scale is needed to inform effective vaping prevention programs.Methods: A 6-item vaping media literacy scale was adapted from validated smoking and general media literacy scales with an emphasis on marketing influences. A school-based survey (N=856) was conducted to assess the reliability of vaping media literacy and 3 subscales (i.e., authors and audiences [vaping Authors and Audiences], messages and meanings [vaping Messages and Meanings], and representation and reality [vaping Representation and Reality]). Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to examine the associations of vaping media literacy with perceived harmfulness of E-cigarette use and susceptibility to use E-cigarettes. Analyses were conducted in 2021.Results: The mean vaping media literacy among students was 2.6 (range=0-6). There were significant disparities with lower vaping media literacy among middle-school (versus high-school, p=0.03) students, males (versus females, p=0.003), and racial/ethnic minority students (Blacks, Hispanics, others versus Whites, p=0.0009). A higher vaping media literacy was significantly associated with increased perceived harmfulness of E-cigarette use (AOR=1.2; 95% CI=1.1, 1.2; p<0.0001). All subscales were also associated with E-cigarette harm perception. Among never E-cigarette users, students with a higher (versus those with a lower) vaping media literacy had lower susceptibility to initiating E-cigarettes (AOR=0.90; 95% CI=0.83, 0.97; p=0.005). Both vaping Messages and Meanings and vaping Representation and Reality subscales were adversely associated with susceptibility to vaping.Conclusions: The vaping media literacy scale may gauge the influence of E-cigarette marketing on adolescents with high reliability and validity. Racial minorities, younger adolescents, and males appear relatively vulnerable to vaping marketing influence. Efforts to increase vaping media literacy are needed to curb youth E-cigarette use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of electronic (e−) cigarettes has greatly increased recently, particularly in adolescents. However, the extent of psychiatric comorbidity with adolescent e-cigarette use and dual use of conventional (combustible) and e-cigarettes is unknown. This study characterized psychiatric comorbidity in adolescent conventional and e-cigarette use. Ninth grade students attending high schools in Los Angeles, CA ( M age = 14) completed self-report measures of conventional/e-cigarette use, emotional disorders, substance use/problems, and transdiagnostic psychiatric phenotypes consistent with the NIMH-Research Domain Criteria Initiative. Outcomes were compared by lifetime use of: (1) neither conventional nor e-cigarettes (non-use; N = 2557, 77.3%); (2) e-cigarettes only (N = 412, 12.4%); (3) conventional cigarettes only (N = 152, 4.6%); and (4) conventional and e-cigarettes (dual use; N = 189, 5.6%). In comparison to adolescents who used conventional cigarettes only, e-cigarette only users reported lower levels of internalizing syndromes (depression, generalized anxiety, panic, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder) and transdiagnostic phenotypes (i.e., distress intolerance, anxiety sensitivity, rash action during negative affect). Depression, panic disorder, and anhedonia were higher in e-cigarette only vs. non-users. For several externalizing outcomes (mania, rash action during positive affect, alcohol drug use/abuse) and anhedonia, an ordered pattern was observed, whereby comorbidity was lowest in non-users, moderate in single product users (conventional or e-cigarette), and highest in dual users. These findings: (1) raise question of whether emotionally-healthier (‘lower-risk’) adolescents who are not interested in conventional cigarettes are being attracted to e-cigarettes; (2) indicate that research, intervention, and policy dedicated to adolescent tobacco-psychiatric comorbidity should distinguish conventional cigarette, e-cigarette, and dual use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Client language about change, or change talk, is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between counselor fidelity in motivational interviewing (MI) and drug use outcomes. To investigate this causal chain, this study used data from an MI booster delivered to alternative high school students immediately after a universal classroom-based drug abuse prevention program. One hundred and seventy audio-recorded MI sessions about substance use were coded using the motivational interviewing skill code 2.5. Structural equation modeling showed that percentage of change talk on the part of the client mediated three of the four relationships between MI quality indicators and marijuana outcomes, while percentage of reflections of change talk showed a main effect of counselor skill on marijuana outcomes. Findings support change talk as an active ingredient of MI and provide new empirical support for the micro-skills of MI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Hookah use among adolescents is increasing globally. No prior studies in the published literature have examined hookah use among youth in the Russian Federation. We assessed demographic, psychological and behavioral factors associated with lifetime and past 30-day hookah use among Russian youth. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three areas of Bashkortostan, Russia. In 2015, we surveyed Russian high school students (n = 716) on socio-demographic characteristics, tobacco (cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah) and drug use (alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs), coping strategies, and getting in trouble (self and/or family). We estimated hookah use prevalence and performed bivariate analyses prior to fitting two multilevel models evaluating lifetime and past 30-day hookah use. Within this sample, 34.92% and 9.36% were lifetime and last 30-day hookah users, respectively. Lifetime hookah use was associated with older age (OR = 1.29), higher anger coping (OR = 1.41), school troubles (OR = 2.30), lifetime cigarette (OR = 1.59), e-cigarette (OR = 4.62), alcohol (OR = 5.61), and marijuana use (OR = 8.05). Additionally, past 30-day hookah use was associated with older age (OR = 1.71), lifetime use of alcohol (OR = 5.39), school troubles (OR = 5.82), and anger coping strategies (OR = 1.40). Hookah use is currently high among Russian youth in Bashkortostan and is associated with other risky behaviors. Effective interventions targeting multiple substances and coping strategies are needed. Social media campaigns encouraging cessation and advocating against its use at home may be beneficial in curbing hookah use among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although some school-based tobacco cessation and prevention programs have been proven to be effective, there remains a lack of understanding of how these programs succeed.Methods: This longitudinal study aimed to test smoking intention as a mediator of Project EX's intervention efficacy to reduce tobacco use. Using a computerized random number generator, six high schools located in the Mediterranean coast were randomly selected to participate in the program condition (Spanish version of Project EX) or the waiting-list control group with baseline, immediate-posttest, and 12-month follow-up assessments. At baseline, 685 adolescents aged 14-20 years (mean age: 14.87; SD = 0.92; 47.4% were females) were evaluated using self-administered tests of tobacco, and smoking intention. A biomarker of smoke inhalation, a measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide (ECM), was used. Mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS v2.12 macro for Windows.Results: Project EX had a significant effect on smoking intention. Indirect effects indicated that Project EX reduced the ECM level, and number of cigarettes used.Conclusions: This is the first Spanish study that explored intention as a mediator of the long-term efficacy of Project EX to reduce tobacco use in adolescents. Results suggested that interventions that reduce consumption intention at short-term are more likely to be successful in decreasing tobacco use in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-cigarette use rates are increasing among youth and adults, despite limited knowledge about the safety, risks, and potential for this product in substituting for or reducing other tobacco use. Understanding how to characterize and assess e-cigarette dependence will be important for evaluating the public health impact of e-cigarettes and considering prevention and intervention strategies. To provide an initial review of constructs to consider when assessing e-cigarette dependence, a content expert group within the Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science (TCORS) Measurement Workgroup engaged in a review of published manuscripts and 12 tobacco dependence measures, followed by review of suggested dependence domains by a 10-person external subject-matter expert panel. The final domains selected to be considered in the development of a measure of e-cigarette dependence included: 1) Quantity and frequency of use, 2) Tolerance, 3) Perceived benefits, 4) Withdrawal symptoms, 5) Craving/urge to use, 6) Use despite harm, 7) Impaired control, 8) Automaticity, 9) Preferred over competing rewards, and 10) Sensory dependence. Similarities and differences in potential features of e-cigarette dependence compared with dependence on other tobacco products is discussed. Future work will evaluate these dependence items and constructs in a sample of e-cigarette users with a goal of developing a valid, brief, standardized measure of e-cigarette dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous literature suggests that trait impulsivity and engagement in non-drug-related behavioral addictions (e.g., Internet addiction, food addiction) are two risk factors for drug use. Here we further investigated the potential impact of having one or both of these risk factors on drug use in Los Angeles area adolescents.Method: High school students (N=1612; Mean age=14.1) completed self-report surveys measuring two potential risk factors (impulsivity, lifetime history of several behavioral addictions), and past 6-month use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. Participants who reported never using drugs completed questionnaires assessing their susceptibility for future use.Results: In general, adolescents who endorsed either impulsivity alone or at least two behavioral addictions alone were more likely to have used tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana compared to individuals who had neither risk factor (OR=2.50-4.13), and individuals who endorsed both impulsivity and three or more behavioral addictions were the most likely to have used these drugs (OR=9.40-10.13). Similarly, among those who had never tried a drug, individuals with this combined set of risk factors were the most likely to be susceptible to future drug use (OR=3.37-5.04).Discussion: These results indicate that the combination of trait impulsivity and a history of behavioral addictions increases the risk for current and future drug use in adolescents, to a greater extent than either risk factor alone. It may be useful for drug prevention efforts to target impulsive adolescents who also actively engage in other non-drug-related addictive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent smoking is a major public health problem around the world, including Thailand. The current study provides a three-month follow-up evaluation of the Project EX tobacco use cessation program among Thai adolescents. The intervention was tested involving a quasi-experimental trial with 185 smokers, with two program and two control condition schools (within each condition, one school in Bangkok Province and one school in Nakhon Pathom Province). At 3-month follow-up, the intent-to-treat (ITT) quit rate was 23% in the program group and 11% in the standard care control group (p<0.02). The intervention also lowered the level of last 30-day smoking at follow-up among persons who did not quit in the program condition, while no change in level of smoking was reported in the control condition. These results are promising for teen tobacco use cessation programming in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: There is little knowledge about how emotional regulation contributes to vulnerability versus resilience to substance use disorder. With younger adolescents, we studied the pathways through which emotion regulation attributes are related to predisposing factors for disorder.Methods: A sample of 3561 adolescents (M age 12.5 years) was surveyed. Measures for emotional self-control (regulation of sadness and anger), emotional dysregulation (angerability, affective lability, and rumination about sadness or anger), and behavioral self-control (planfulness and problem solving) were obtained. A structural model was analyzed with regulation attributes related to six intermediate variables that are established risk or protective factors for adolescent substance use (e.g., academic involvement, stressful life events). Criterion variables were externalizing and internalizing symptomatology and positive well-being.Results: Indirect pathways were found from emotional regulation to symptomatology through academic competence, stressful events, and deviance-prone attitudes and cognitions. Direct effects were also found: from emotional dysregulation to externalizing and internalizing symptomatology; emotional self-control to well-being; and behavioral self-control (inverse) to externalizing symptomatology. Emotional self-control and emotional dysregulation had independent effects and different types of pathways.Conclusions: Adolescents scoring high on emotional dysregulation are at risk for substance dependence because of more externalizing and internalizing symptomatology. Independently, youth with better behavioral and emotional self-control are at lower risk. This occurs partly through relations of regulation constructs to environmental variables that affect levels of symptomatology (e.g., stressful events, poor academic performance). Effects of emotion regulation were found at an early age, before the typical onset of substance disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet addiction (including online gaming) has been associated with depression. However, most prior research relating internet addiction symptomatology to depressive symptoms has been cross-sectional, conducted with children and adolescents, and only examined depressive symptoms as a broad construct. The purpose of the current study was to examine potential longitudinal associations between anhedonia (i.e., difficulty experiencing pleasure, a key facet of depression) and internet-related addictive behaviors in 503 at-risk emerging adults (former attendees of alternative high schools). Participants completed surveys at baseline and approximately one year later (9–18 months later). Results indicated that trait anhedonia prospectively predicted greater levels of compulsive internet use and addiction to online activities as well as a greater likelihood of addiction to online/offline video games. These findings suggest that anhedonia may contribute to the development of internet-related addictive behaviors in the emerging adult population. Thus, interventions that target anhedonia in emerging adulthood (e.g., bupropion treatment or behavioral activation therapy) may help prevent or treat internet addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Despite efforts to prevent smoking, the prevalence of smoking in Spanish adolescents remains high. So far, there are no evidence-based smoking cessation programs for adolescents in Spain. Methods This study describes the evaluation of Project EX, an eight-session school-based clinic smoking cessation program, with Spanish cigarette smokers 13–19 years of age, from 9 schools (four program condition schools and five control condition schools). A group-randomized controlled trial was used. There were 211 smokers at baseline (112 program group, and 99 control group). Evaluation involved an immediate pretest and posttest survey (administered five-weeks later) and six-month follow-up (after the immediate posttest). Results At immediate posttest, Project EX significantly reduced future nicotine dependence scores (mFTQ; p < .001), and increased intention to quit smoking ( p < .001), and led to a higher previous day (prior to assessment) quit rate ( p < .03). At the six-month follow-up, the percentage of quitters in the program group was 14.28%, whereas no smokers quit smoking in the control group ( p < .04), and Project EX had a significant influence on future smoking expectation ( p = .006) and overall level of 30-day smoking. Conclusions Results for the Project EX school-based clinic are promising for adolescent smokers in Spain, although difficulties in recruitment and high attrition are of concern. Findings and limitations are discussed and suggestions for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Studies show depressive symptoms are associated with substance use in adolescents, but the mechanism underlying this association is still unclear. This study investigated negative urgency – the disposition to rash action during emotional states – as a factor explaining relations between depressive symptoms and use of several substances. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 476 adolescents (mean age 14.5 years) completed self-report surveys. Regression models and products of coefficient analyses examined the overall relation of depressive symptoms to substance use and negative urgency as a statistical mediator of this association. Results Depression levels associated with increased likelihood of lifetime use of cigarettes, other forms of tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, inhalants, prescription painkillers, and any substance. Relations between depression levels and lifetime use of alcohol, inhalants, and any substance were accounted for (i.e., statistically mediated) by negative urgency. In adolescents endorsing lifetime use, depression levels associated with younger age of first use of other forms of tobacco and alcohol as well as use frequency of cigarette, alcohol, and composite frequency. Negative urgency accounted for the covariance between depression level and age of first use of alcohol, but did not for other forms of tobacco or frequency of use of any substances. Conclusions Depression levels are associated with lifetime use of a variety of substances in early adolescence and targeting this risk factor with preventive efforts may be useful in reducing risk. Negative urgency may be an important target for interventions aimed at alcohol and inhalant use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The 2016 FDA's "Deeming Rule" prohibited free samples of vaping products. The purpose of this study was to investigate compliance with or adaptation to this newly established FDA policy.Methods: Vape shops were recruited in Southern California between November 2017 and December 2018. Data collectors interviewed 121 vape shop employees who responded to questions pertaining to the sampling protocol at their shop. Nicotine levels used for sampling were also assessed for consideration of future policy adoption.Results: Only 7.4% of shops were non-compliant to federal sampling rules. The remaining shops either: 1) charged a fee for samples (58.7%); 2) deducted the fee from the final purchase price (5.8%); or 3) eliminated product sampling (28.1%). Of the shops that charged for sampling (including membership fees), 94.4% initiated a minimal cost protocol (≤$1) for sampling. Half (50.0%) the shops that allowed sampling offered nicotine-containing samples.Conclusion: There was high compliance (92.6%) to the change in policy among vape shops. However, minimal modification of sampling protocol was observed due in part to the lack of specificity on parameters of compliance, which lessened the potential impact of the policy. To further protect consumers, policymakers must develop unambiguous and comprehensive policies to achieve intended results and true compliance. At minimum, future tobacco product sampling policies should consider standardized pricing; alternatively, total elimination of tobacco product sampling is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study evaluates the performance of the Project EX tobacco use cessation program in Russian summer recreational camps. An eight-session clinic-based tobacco use cessation program for adolescents was tested during the summer of 2011 in an experimental pilot trial that involved different youth that rotated through camps. Conditions were nested within camps. Two rotations of unique subject groups of smokers (program and standard care control) through each of five camps provided the means of controlling for campsite by condition. Assignment of condition by rotation was random (by a flip of a coin), achieving reasonable baseline comparability (total n=164 smokers at baseline, 76 program group, 88 standard care control group). Evaluation involved an immediate pretest and posttest and a six-month telephone follow-up. At immediate posttest, Project EX was moderately well-received, significantly reduced future smoking expectation (46% reduction in EX program condition versus 8% in control, p<.0001), decreased intention to not quit smoking (−5.2% in EX versus +1.4% in control, p<.05), and increased motivation to quit smoking (0.72 versus −0.04, p<.0001). At the six-month follow-up, program subjects reported a higher intent-to-treat quit rate during the last 30days (7.5% versus 0.1%, p<.05). For the subjects who remained monthly smokers at the six-month follow-up, Project EX reduced subjects' level of nicotine dependence (−0.53 versus +0.15, p<.001). The results were quite promising for this program, which included motivation enhancement, coping skill, and alternative medicine material. However, further research on teen tobacco use cessation programming in Russia with larger sample sizes, involving other locations of the country, and with stronger research designs is needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]