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The authors developed a psychoeducational alcohol and drug program for Old Order Amish youth. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 20 years old. All were referred following arrest for a variety of predominantly alcohol-related offenses. The model was designed with input from the Old Order Amish community in response to concerns about existing programs that integrated Amish and non-Amish youth. Increased awareness of the effects of alcohol and drugs and the ability to resist social encouragement to use these substances were goals for the intervention. Preliminary results with 185 participants indicated that Amish youth increased factual knowledge about substances they considered culturally acceptable with moderate increases in comfort with choices. The article discusses the clinical and cultural implications of these findings.

Students in a junior high school serving a large Old Order Amish settlement completed a survey of attitudes, opinions, and intentions regarding substance use. A total of 1,031 students participated across a four-year span, approximately equally divided between Amish and non-Amish youths. Amish youths maintain attitudes that suggest perceived greater use of substances by their peers and greater concern about this use; however, they also express the intent to use alcohol and tobacco at a higher rate than non-Amish counterparts. The study addresses implications for interventions among Amish youths as they mature and enter an often culturally sanctioned period of alcohol use.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a versatile technique for studying the electronic structure and/or the local geometry of matter, and time-resolved XAS has been developed into a powerful tool for studying the dynamics of materials [1, 2]. The temporal resolution of this technique is usually determined by the X-ray pulse duration in pump and probe geometries. Although this technique has been developed in the synchrotron environment and takes advantage of existing X-ray beamlines, the study of ultrafast dynamics on time scales on the order of a picosecond or faster is limited because typical pulse durations from third-generation light sources is on the order of tens of picoseconds. In addition, XAS typically requires the integration of a large number of X-ray pulses to get quality data. These features make it difficult to apply this technique to research areas in which samples undergo irreversible processes.

Old Order Amish experience a theologically and culturally defined period of exploration in mid-adolescence that may include experimentation with alcohol and drugs. The trajectory into this period of identity exploration and its purpose are vastly different from those of non-Amish peers. As a result, interventions to address a behavior which appears superficially similar (substance abuse) must be tailored to their specific needs. This article describes a psychoeducational program designed to meet the unique challenges of a culturally respectful interface with this “peculiar people.” In particular, it describes a model that creates an interface between Amish and non-Amish culture, respects their spiritual beliefs, and maximizes learning and motivation to change behaviors.