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Biomedical subjects

G J Botvin

Publications and source records attributed to G J Botvin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Marijuana use among minority youths living in public housing developments.

Youths residing in public housing developments appear to be at markedly heightened risk for drug use because of their constant exposure to violence, poverty, and drug-related activity. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model of marijuana etiology with adolescents (N = 624) residing in public housing. African-American and Hispanic seventh graders completed questionnaires about their marijuana use, social influences to smoke marijuana, and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. Results indicated that social influences, such as friends' marijuana use and perceived ease of availability of marijuana, significantly predicted both occasional and future use of marijuana. Individual characteristics such as antimarijuana attitudes and drug refusal skills also predicted marijuana use. The findings imply that effective prevention approaches that target urban youths residing in public housing developments should provide them with an awareness of social influences to use marijuana, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of marijuana smoking, and train adolescents in relevant psychosocial skills.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

A six-year follow-up study of determinants of heavy cigarette smoking among high-school seniors.

Most adult cigarette smokers start smoking during adolescence. Few studies, however, have focused on adolescents that are heavy smokers. The present study examined how several risk and protective factors measured during early adolescence were associated with heavy smoking in a sample of high-school seniors. As part of a school-based survey, seventh-grade students (N = 743) reported degrees of experimentation with psychoactive substances and several psychosocial factors deemed to be important in the etiology of smoking. Students were followed-up in the twelfth grade, when 12% (n = 88) smoked a pack of cigarettes or more each day. Logistic regression analyses revealed that heavy smoking was predicted by several earlier variables: poor grades, experimentation with cigarettes or alcohol, a mother or many friends that smoked, and high risk-taking in the seventh grade. Antismoking attitudes and those of one's parents and friends predicted less later heavy smoking in girls only. Implications for smoking prevention are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Psychosocial predictors of cigarette smoking among adolescents living in public housing developments.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents residing in low-income public housing developments in inner-city regions may be particularly vulnerable to a variety of risk factors associated with cigarette smoking. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the aetiology of cigarette smoking among adolescents living in public housing developments. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS: We examined predictors of smoking from four domains: background characteristics, social influences, behavioural control, and psychosocial characteristics using a sample of seventh graders (mean age 12.9 years) who reside in public housing developments in New York City (n = 624). The addresses of participants in a larger investigation of the aetiology and prevention of smoking were checked to determine if they lived in one of 335 public housing developments in New York City. All participants living in public housing developments were included in the current study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: African-American and Hispanic students completed questionnaires about their cigarette use, social pressures to smoke, smoking attitudes, smoking knowledge, and smoking resistance skills. Students also provided information on demographic and behavioural control (such as church and school attendance). RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from friends and family members predicted smoking. Psychosocial characteristics such as advertising resistance skills, anti-smoking attitudes, and refusal skills lowered the odds of smoking. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that smoking prevention approaches targeted at these young people should increase their awareness of social pressures to smoke, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of smoking among friends, and teach relevant psychosocial skills.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Impact of social influences and problem behavior on alcohol use among inner-city Hispanic and black adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Inner-city black and Hispanic adolescents might be at great risk for alcohol use. Yet the etiology of drinking among these adolescents receives little attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of social influences and problem behavior on alcohol use among Hispanic and black adolescents. The impact of these factors was also tested separately for girls and boys to determine the differences in etiology of alcohol use depending on gender. METHOD: A large sample of black and Hispanic seventh-grade students (N = 4,847, 52% female) self-reported alcohol use, demographic characteristics (gender, family structure, age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status), social influences to drink (peer norms, adult norms, their friends' use, their mother's use, their father's use, their siblings' use, and perceived availability of alcohol), and problem behaviors (cigarette smoking, marijuana use, getting into trouble). Teams of three to five data collectors administered the questionnaire following standardized protocol. These data were collected in class during a regular 40-minute period. RESULTS: Logistic regressions indicated that social influences to drink from friends, peers, and family and problem behaviors including cigarette smoking and marijuana use were related to alcohol use across and within gender. Getting into trouble predicted drinking for boys but not girls. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, adolescent alcohol prevention programs need to include an awareness of the many social influences to drink, modify incorrectly perceived peer norms for drinking, involve family members in the prevention program and address an array of problem behaviors within one prevention intervention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Smoking initiation and escalation in early adolescent girls: one-year follow-up of a school-based prevention intervention for minority youth.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of a drug abuse prevention program in reducing the initiation and escalation of smoking in a sample of predominantly minority junior high school girls. METHODS: The 15-session prevention program teaches social resistance skills within the context of a broader intervention designed to promote general personal and social competence skills, and is implemented in the seventh grade. Smoking rates in girls from 29 New York City public schools who received the program (n = 1,278) were compared to smoking rates in a control group of girls (n = 931) who did not. RESULTS: Those who participated in the program were less likely to initiate smoking relative to controls, due in part to significant program effects on smoking intentions, smoking knowledge, perceived peer and adult smoking norms, drug refusal skills, and risk taking. Experimental smokers in the intervention group were less likely to escalate to monthly smoking relative to controls, due in part to significant program effects on smoking intentions. CONCLUSION: A school-based drug abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among white youth significantly reduced smoking initiation and escalation among urban minority girls.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Ethnic and gender differences in smoking prevalence among a longitudinal sample of inner-city adolescents.

PURPOSE: To determine if ethnic and gender differences in smoking (lifetime prevalence and 30-day prevalence) exist among a cohort of Asian, black, Hispanic, and white inner-city adolescents during the 3-year middle school period. METHODS: Students in 22 urban schools completed self-report questionnaires and provided carbon monoxide breath samples at three annual assessments. Chi-square analyses were conducted to test for associations between ethnic group (Asian, black, Hispanic, and white) and smoking and to test for gender differences in smoking within each ethnic group. Additional analyses examined differences in smoking between two Hispanic subgroups (Puerto Rican and Dominican). RESULTS: Ethnicity was associated with lifetime smoking prevalence at all three assessment points but was only associated with 30-day smoking prevalence at the 2-year follow-up. However, there were no differences in smoking between Puerto Rican and Dominican youth. Black girls reported higher lifetime smoking prevalence than black boys at all three assessments. At the 2-year follow-up, Asian boys reported higher lifetime smoking prevalence than Asian girls; Hispanic girls reported higher 30-day prevalence than Hispanic boys. CONCLUSIONS: White and Hispanic adolescents were at higher risk for smoking relative to Asian and black adolescents. With the exception of white youth, gender differences were found within each ethnic group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Psychosocial determinants of alcohol use among minority youth living in public housing developments.

Youth residing in low income, inner city, public housing developments might be extremely vulnerable to psychosocial risk factors associated with alcohol use. In this study, we developed and tested a model of alcohol etiology with 624 African-American and Hispanic 7th graders residing in public housing developments. The students completed questionnaires concerning their alcohol use, social influences on their drinking, their drinking attitudes and knowledge, their psychosocial skills, and demographic and behavioral control information. Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from adults, friends, and family members predicted alcohol use. Individual psychosocial characteristics, e.g., drinking refusal, lowered the odds of drinking. These findings imply that effective prevention approaches targeting minority urban youths residing in public housing developments should provide them with an awareness of social influences to drink, correct misperceptions concerning the prevalence of drinking, and train them in relevant psychosocial skills.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Risk and protective factors as predictors of adolescent alcohol involvement and transitions in alcohol use: a prospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Determinants of initial alcohol use may differ from predictors of accelerated or problematic consumption. Social influences may be strong predictors of initial drinking; however, later stages of problem drinking may be linked developmentally to intrapersonal deficits. This study prospectively examined the influence of chronic and changing risk and protective status in predicting adolescent alcohol involvement and transitions in alcohol use. METHOD: Data were obtained from a three-wave cohort (N = 823) of 8th-10th grade nonintervention students participating in a school-based drug abuse prevention trial. Cognitive, attitudinal and social influence measures were dichotomized using empirical cut-offs to designate risk or protective status. Using a conceptually based assignment scheme, additive risk indices were created assessing chronic (averaging across time) and changing features of competence, psychological and interpersonal functioning, cognitive-affective and social influences. Three chronic and change protective indices were created tapping competence, psychological, and interpersonal functioning. RESULTS: Controlling for initial drinking and gender, chronic risk for social influence and psychological functioning and increased risk for social influences and competency predicted subsequent drinking behavior. Chronic psychological protection attenuated subsequent drinking. Using categorical measures of drinking behavior to designate nonuse, experimental or moderate-heavy use, chronic social influence and competency risk were associated with an increased likelihood of accelerated drinking, whereas improved psychological functioning diminished the likelihood of increased drinking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Findings underscore the need for implementing prevention strategies that reinforce developmentally appropriate skills and enhance personal competence and psychological functioning as effective barriers against initial and more problematic alcohol use. The unique contribution of protective forces also underscores that risk reduction and protection enhancement are complementary processes and are both required to offset social influences for alcohol consumption.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Validation of an acculturation measure for Hispanic adolescents.

Based on the continuing growth and youthfulness of the Hispanic population in the United States, valid cultural measures are needed for Hispanic adolescents. Hispanics living in this country experience acculturation or cultural change during their exposure to American culture. A matched sample of 994 Hispanic students and their parents completed acculturation measures. Scores on a 10-item acculturation scale completed by the adolescents' parents correlated significantly .49 with a single-item rating, a measure of acculturation by adolescents. This finding supports construct validity for a measure of language use as an index of linguistic acculturation for Hispanic adolescents.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1995

Long-term follow-up results of a randomized drug abuse prevention trial in a white middle-class population.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term efficacy of a school-based approach to drug abuse prevention. DESIGN: Randomized trial involving 56 public schools that received the prevention program with annual provider training workshops and ongoing consultation, the prevention program with videotaped training and no consultation, or "treatment as usual" (ie, controls). Follow-up data were collected 6 years after baseline using school, telephone, and mailed surveys. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3597 predominantly white, 12th-grade students who represented 60.41% of the initial seventh-grade sample. INTERVENTION: Consisted of 15 classes in seventh grade, 10 booster sessions in eighth grade, and five booster sessions in ninth grade, and taught general "life skills" and skills for resisting social influences to use drugs. MEASURES: Six tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use self-report scales were recorded to create nine dichotomous drug use outcome variables and eight polydrug use variables. RESULTS: Significant reductions in both drug and polydrug use were found for the two groups that received the prevention program relative to controls. The strongest effects were produced for individuals who received a reasonably complete version of the intervention--there were up to 44% fewer drug users and 66% fewer polydrug (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) users. CONCLUSIONS: Drug abuse prevention programs conducted during junior high school can produce meaningful and durable reductions in tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use if they (1) teach a combination of social resistance skills and general life skills, (2) are properly implemented, and (3) include at least 2 years of booster sessions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Effects of early adolescent drug use on cognitive efficacy in early-late adolescence: a developmental structural model.

Despite an accumulated body of research evidence that documents the negative physical consequences of chronic alcohol and drug use, it is less clear whether the use of these same substances produces impaired cognitive abilities during the early stages of use. Early drug use may impede acquisition of critical thinking skills and hinder the learning of important cognitive strategies required for successful transition to adulthood. To better understand these relations, longitudinal latent-variable analyses were used to examine the effects of early adolescent drug use on early-late adolescent cognitive efficacy. Latent factors of polydrug use, behavioral control, and cognitive efficacy were hypothesized in early adolescence, the latter two controlling for potential spurious relations. At outcome, six constructs were hypothesized tapping polydrug use, cognitive mastery, self-reinforcement, problem-solving confidence, decision-making skills, and cognitive and affective self-management strategies. Models were psychometrically sound and accounted for large portions of variance. Early adolescent drug use had a small but significant negative effect on cognitive and affective self-management strategies. By the 12th grade, linkages between drug use and cognitive functioning were of larger magnitude than long-term influences, perhaps reinforcing the argument that deficits in cognitive skills are developmentally delayed and surface only with exacerbated or persistent drug use. Overall, specific effects of drug use adversely influenced important cognitive skills that may be critically related to functioning in both interpersonal and intrapersonal domains.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

The role of social factors and individual characteristics in promoting alcohol use among inner-city minority youths.

OBJECTIVE: During seventh grade, many adolescents initiate alcohol use yet school drop-out rates are still low. Therefore, this is an ideal period of adolescence to examine predictors of alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the etiology of alcohol use among an understudied population: disadvantaged inner-city minority youths. Specifically, we attempted to develop as complete a model of predictors of alcohol use as possible from three domains: background characteristics, social influences to drink and individual characteristics. METHOD: To explore alcohol use of youths who are living in poverty and are members of minority groups, New York City public schools from districts known to have predominantly minority student bodies with low socioeconomic status (SES) were identified. Self-reports of alcohol use and data concerning background, social environmental and individual characteristics hypothesized to promote drinking alcohol were collected from black and Hispanic seventh graders (N = 757). RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from friends, peers and parents predicted alcohol use. Most interestingly, the drinking status of the person the respondent most admired was related to drunkenness and future alcohol use. Individual characteristics, such as health-related knowledge concerning alcohol use and antidrinking attitudes, lowered the odds of drinking. CONCLUSIONS: These findings imply that effective prevention programs targeting inner-city minority youths should provide students with an awareness of the social influences to drink, provide them with positive role models and correct misperceptions about the prevalence of drinking among friends and peers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Social and personal factors in marijuana use and intentions to use drugs among inner city minority youth.

Limited information is available about the etiology of illicit drug use among minority youth. This study examined predictors of marijuana use and intentions to use marijuana, cocaine/crack, and other drugs for African-American and Hispanic seventh graders (N = 757). Self-reports of marijuana use and intentions to use drugs were collected along with data concerning background, social environmental, and individual characteristics hypothesized to be related to drug use. Results indicated that social influences, including adults, friends, and the most admired person's marijuana use, predicted marijuana use. Individual characteristics, such as a lack of knowledge about the prevalence and negative social consequences of marijuana use, positive attitudes toward marijuana use, and inadequate social, communication, and refusal skills increased suspectability to marijuana use. Lack of self-efficacy was related to intentions to use cocaine and other drugs. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the development of effective prevention programs.

Achievement↗
PubMed1994

Intraclass correlation among common measures of adolescent smoking: estimates, correlates, and applications in smoking prevention studies.

Most adolescent smoking prevention studies employ designs in which classrooms, schools, school districts, or sometimes whole communities are assigned to treatment conditions while observations are made on individual students. The critical design feature in such community trials is the nesting of intact social groups within treatment conditions. This combination requires that the treatment effect be assessed against the between-group variance; unfortunately, that variance is usually larger than for randomly constituted groups and its precision is usually less than that for the within-group variance. These factors often combine to reduce power so that it is almost impossible to detect important treatment effects in an otherwise well designed and properly executed study. To address these problems, investigators need good estimates of the intraclass correlation for the variables of interest, which together with the number of observations per unit determine the magnitude of the extra variation in the nested design. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and results from a study designed to generate estimates of intraclass correlation for common outcomes in adolescent smoking prevention studies and to discuss the use of these estimates in the planning of new studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Determinants of intentions of Junior High School students to become sexually active and use condoms: implications for reduction and prevention of AIDS risk.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with young adolescents' increased risk for AIDS. A multiethnic sample of 303 seventh-grade students in three schools in the greater New York area completed questionnaires assessing their basic demographic characteristics (gender and ethnicity), AIDS knowledge, substance use (cigarette smoking, alcohol use), and decision-making skills. AIDS knowledge, substance use, decision-making skills, gender, and ethnicity predicted intentions to engage in sexual behavior in the future. Relevant knowledge of AIDS was associated with lower intentions to engage in sexual behavior in the future. More frequent substance use, less frequent use of decision-making skills, and being male increased intentions to engage in sexual behavior in the future. Our findings are discussed in terms of their implications for education and prevention of adolescent sexual activity and AIDS-risk reduction.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Predictors of cigarette smoking among inner-city minority youth.

Limited information is available concerning the etiology of smoking among minority youth. We examined predictors of smoking among inner-city African-American and Latino seventh graders (N = 757). Enhanced self-reports of cigarette smoking were collected along with data concerning background, social environmental, and individual characteristics hypothesized to promote smoking. Results indicated that friends and peers were the most important social influences in predicting smoking. Several psychological factors, including feelings of hopelessness, low efficacy in life skills (social skills, communication skills, and refusal skills) and low self-esteem seemed related to increased susceptibility to smoking. We discuss implications of our findings for effective prevention programs for minority youth.

Adolescent↗