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Heavy alcohol use and its associated negative consequences continue to be an important health issue among adolescents. Of particular concern are risky drinking practices such as playing drinking games. Although retrospective accounts indicate that drinking game participation is common among high school students, it has yet to be assessed in current high school students. Utilizing data from high school students who reported current drinking game participation (n=178), we used latent class analysis to investigate the negative consequences resulting from gaming and examined underlying demographic and alcohol-related behavioral characteristics of students as a function of the resultant classes. Three classes of "gamers" emerged: (1) a "lower-risk" group who had a lower probability of endorsing negative consequences compared to the other groups, (2) a "higher-risk" group who reported that they experienced hangovers and difficulties limiting their drinking, got physically sick, and became rude, obnoxious, or insulting, and (3) a "sexual regret" group who reported that they experienced poor recall and unplanned sexual activity that they later regretted. Although the frequency of participating in drinking games did not differ between these three groups, results indicated that the "lower-risk" group consumed fewer drinks in a typical gaming session compared to the other two groups. The present findings suggest that drinking games are common among high school students, but that mere participation and frequency of play are not necessarily the best indicators of risk. Instead, examination of other constructs such as game-related alcohol consumption, consequences, or psychosocial variables such as impulsivity may be more useful.

Heavy drinking and psychiatric symptoms pose challenges to college student Veterans and may undermine academic success. We used Boynton College Student Health Survey data to assess highrisk drinking (HRD), psychiatric symptoms, and psychosocial stressors among student Veterans (N = 1,679) with and without prior deployment. Rates of HRD and consequences were higher among deployed Veterans compared to those who had not been deployed. In adjusted analyses, HRD and a mental health diagnosis were associated with a greater number of academic consequences. Lower perceived support from faculty and difficulty managing stress were associated with lower GPA and academic problems. Research is needed to inform risk-reduction strategies targeting student Veterans, particularly those who perceive little on-campus support and experience high levels of stress.

The current Web-based survey investigated the association between team or individual sport participation (or both) and self-reported alcohol and tobacco use among high school athletes (N = 1,275) transitioning to college. Peak blood alcohol concentration, weekly drinking, and alcohol-related problems were significantly lower among athletes in individual sports compared to other groups. Athletes competing in both team and individual sports reported greater lifetime tobacco use and combined alcohol/tobacco use compared to individual or team sports alone. Preventive strategies targeting high school athletes in general and those participating in team sports in particular may be useful in minimizing future alcohol use and related problems.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2010.07.001 Byline: Joel R. Grossbard, Nadine R. Mastroleo, Jason R. Kilmer, Christine M. Lee, Rob Turrisi, Mary E. Larimer, Anne Ray Keywords: Substance use; Drugs; Alcohol; Prevention; College students; Parents Abstract: This study explored secondary effects of a multisite randomized alcohol prevention trial on tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit drug use among a sample of incoming college students who participated in high school athletics. Students (n = 1,275) completed a series of Web-administered measures at baseline during the summer before starting college and 10 months later. Students were randomized to one of four conditions: a parent-delivered intervention, a brief motivation enhancement intervention (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students [BASICS]), a condition combining the parent intervention and BASICS, and assessment-only control. A series of analyses of variance evaluating drug use outcomes at the 10-month follow-up assessment revealed significant reductions in marijuana use among students who received the combined intervention compared to the BASICS-only and control groups. No other significant differences between treatment conditions were found for tobacco or other illicit drug use. Our findings suggest the potential utility of targeting both alcohol and marijuana use when developing peer- and parent-based interventions for students transitioning to college. Clinical implications and future research directions are considered. Article History: Received 30 October 2009; Revised 27 June 2010; Accepted 6 July 2010

Objective: Relatively little research has evaluated motives for using marijuana based on users' self-reported reasons. This article details the construction and psychometric validation of a new marijuana motives questionnaire. Method: Participants included 346 marijuana-using college students who completed online assessments regarding their motives for, frequency of, and problems associated with their marijuana use. Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported a 12-factor scale, including the following: (1) Enjoyment, (2) Conformity, (3) Coping, (4) Experimentation, (5) Boredom, (6)Alcohol, (7) Celebration, (8)Altered Perception, (9) Social Anxiety, (10) Relative Low Risk, (11) Sleep/Rest, and (12) Availability. Regression results indicated enjoyment, boredom, altered perception, relative low-risk, and sleep/rest were each uniquely associated with greater frequency of use. Experimentation and availability motives were associated with less use. After accounting for use, coping and sleep/rest were associated with significantly more consequences whereas enjoyment was associated with fewer consequences. Additional results comparing the scale to an existing marijuana motives measure indicated comparatively good convergent validity. Conclusions: Emerging adult college students may have several different reasons for using marijuana, which are uniquely related to use and negative consequences. Results are considered in terms of their implications for brief interventions., ADOLESCENCE AND EMERGING ADULTHOOD are crucial periods for the initiation of risky health-related behaviors (Arnett, 2000), and theoretical models on the determinants of alcohol use (e.g., Cooper, 1994; Cox and [...]

Objective: Studies indicate greater sexual risk-taking behaviors and alcohol use in student-athletes compared with nonathletes, particularly in college samples. Although research has documented an association between drinking and risky sex, studies have not examined the role of sex motives in predicting risky sex in athletes. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous research on athletes' risk-taking behaviors by examining incoming college student-athletes and nonathletes' alcohol consumption, risky sexual behavior, and sex motives. Method: Participants included 2,123 (58.9% female) incoming college students attending a northwest university, 221 of whom reported intercollegiate athletic participation during their upcoming year. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between sex motives and risky sexual behaviors using a cross-sectional design. Results: Results indicated greater weekly alcohol consumption, frequency of drinking before or during sex, and number of sexual partners in athletes compared with nonathletes. Athletes also reported greater levels of enhancement motives for sex and lower levels of intimacy motives than nonathletes, although no differences were found for coping motives. Significant interactions indicated that, for athletes, greater levels of enhancement sex motives predicted a greater number of sexual partners and more frequent drinking before or during sex, and greater levels of intimacy motives predicted less frequent drinking before or during sex. Conclusions: Student-athletes are at risk for problematic outcomes associated with risky sex, including drinking before or during sex and having sex with multiple partners. Prevention efforts targeted at incoming college student-athletes should consider the role of sex motives., ADOLESCENCE AND EMERGING ADULTHOOD are crucial developmental periods characterized by self-exploration and experimentation in multiple, health-related domains (e.g., alcohol use, sexual behavior), often accompanied by subsequent increases in risk-taking behaviors [...]

Objective. The validity of parent reports of children's attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms has been questioned, especially in clinical trials. Some advocate the exclusive use of teacher reports, maintaining that parent reports are not sensitive to changes in ADHD symptoms. This study compares the ability of parent and teacher reports to document change during clinical trials of long-acting treatments. Methods. We conducted a literature search of Medline to identify any published clinical trials in pediatric ADHD that met the following criteria: 1) used a randomized design, 2) examined the efficacy of long-acting agents or standard formulations using 3-times-a-day dosing, and 3) used both parent and teacher reports of the same measure of ADHD symptoms as a study outcome. For each measurement of ADHD symptoms, we calculated effect sizes for parent and teacher reports. Results. Three large, randomized, controlled clinical trials were identified (N = 1445 subjects). For every outcome for which teacher reports documented significant improvement, parent reports did also. Pooled analysis revealed a larger effect captured by the parent report relative to the teacher report. Conclusion. Results suggest that parent reports are at least as sensitive to detecting change in ADHD symptoms as teacher reports in clinical trials that assess the efficacy of long-acting agents. These results suggest that parent reports are informative for detecting change during treatment of children with ADHD. Pediatrics 2004; 113:1667-1671; ADHD, clinical trials, pooled analysis, long-acting treatments, parent reports., ABBREVIATIONS. ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; MTA, Multimodal Treatment of ADHD; tid, 3 times a day; IR, immediate-release; MPH, methylphenidate; OROS, ostomotic-release oral system; SNAP, Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham questionnaire. Clinical trials [...]

This article describes the development and validation of the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2), a multidimensional measure of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety in sport performance settings. Scale development was stimulated by findings that the 3-factor structure of the original Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schutz, 1990) could not be reproduced in child samples and that several items on the scale produced conflicting factor loadings in adult samples. Alternative items having readability levels of grade 4 or below were therefore written to create a new version suitable for both children and adults. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the original SAS factor structure at all age levels, yielding separate 5-item subscales for Somatic Anxiety, Worry, and Concentration Disruption in samples as young as 9 to 10 years of age. The SAS-2 has stronger factorial validity than the original scale did, and construct validity research indicates that scores relate to other psychological measures as expected. The scale reliably predicts precompetition state anxiety scores and proved sensitive to anxiety-reduction interventions directed at youth sport coaches and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]