Does success in school protect teenagers from drug use? Does drug use impair scholastic success? This book tackles a key issue in adolescent development and health - the education-drug use connection. The authors examine the links and likely causal connections between educational experiences, delinquent behavior, and adolescent use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. The book uses data from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future project. It focuses on a large and nationally representative sample of 8th grade students in the United States who were initially surveyed in 1991-1993 and then followed over the vitally important developmental period between ages 14 and 22. The volume uses a variety of statistical analysis techniques, and the findings can be understood by individuals with limited, as well as with extensive, backgrounds in research design. The findings convincingly demonstrate that if young people can be successful in school, it can improve a broad range of outcomes in their lives, not the least of which is their ability to resist pressures to use drugs. The book provides: a summary of the findings and conclusions; a review of relevant literature; a detailed discussion of the survey and analysis methods; the academic attainment of those in the longitudinal panel; the delinquent behaviors of panel members as they relate to measures of educational success; and the patterns of initiation, continuation, and cessation for each substance: cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. This book is intended for anyone who deals with education and/or substance use, including educational, developmental, and social psychologists; sociologists; epidemiologists; educators; and policy makers. The analysis of panel survey data, using a variety of techniques, will also appeal to survey methodologists and students.

This report considers to what extent linking adolescent educational successes and failures with drug use remain applicable to White, African-American, and Hispanic adolescents when analyzed as separate groups. The Education¿Drug Use Connection focused primarily on a nationwide sample of adolescents, first surveyed when they were nearing the end of 8th grade in the years 1991, 1992, and 1993, and followed biennially for eight years thereafter. It provides a wealth of detail, both in analyses and reporting. This report describes key regression findings briefly in the text, along with a good deal of further detail in the tables, and then presents the authors¿ conclusions.

"This publication does not offer a pre-packaged programme of education for drug abuse prevention that can be picked up and implemented. It is rather an attempt to provide a conceptual basis upon which teachers, policy makers and school administrators can make decisions about school based drug prevention programmes in order to achieve greater success in education terms" -- p. 6.

This instructive manual presents a pragmatic and clinically proven approach to the prevention and treatment of undergraduate alcohol abuse. The BASICS model is a nonconfrontational, harm reduction approach that helps students reduce their alcohol consumption and decrease the behavioral and health risks associated with heavy drinking. Including numerous reproducible handouts and assessment forms, the book takes readers step-by-step through conducting BASICS assessment and feedback sessions. Special topics covered include the use of DSM-IV criteria to evaluate alcohol abuse, ways to counter student defensiveness about drinking, and obtaining additional treatment for students with severe alcohol dependency. Note about Photocopy Rights: The Publisher grants individual book purchasers nonassignable permission to reproduce selected figures, information sheets, and assessment instruments in this book for professional use. For details and limitations, see copyright page.

The Education-Drug Use Connection focused primarily on a nationwide sample of adolescents, first surveyed when they were nearing the end of 8th grade in the years 1991, 1992, and 1993, and followed biennially for eight years thereafter. (Full details on samples and methods are provided in Bachman et al., 2008, and are not repeated here.) The analyses in that book were based on the total samples of males and females, analyzed separately because of important gender differences in educational experiences, delinquency, and substance use. Most of the analyses included a race/ethnicity dimension (distinguishing between Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and a remaining category that combined all others); it was a background dimension and statistically controlled any additive effects of race/ethnicity on the relationships between educational factors and various dimensions of substance use. Important subgroup differences were evident in the analyses, and were often noted--albeit briefly. Statistically controlling additive effects does not, however, fully guard against spuriously attributing racial/ethnic differences to other effects. As a further check against that risk, we repeated key analyses with only the White respondents included, and satisfied ourselves that racial/ethnic differences did not produce erroneous results in our findings for the total samples of males and females. We did not, however, attempt to explore interactions involving race/ethnicity. That remaining task, examining whether the same patterns of relationships found for the total samples are evident in each of the subgroups, is the main focus of the present paper. (Contains 1 footnote, 8 figures, and 12 tables.) [For "Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper Paper 65," see ED508288.].

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.