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The relationship between drug and alcohol use and peer group associations of college freshmen as they transition from high school.

College freshmen responded to a drug and alcohol questionnaire. For drugs other than alcohol and marijuana, the best predictor of drug use at the beginning of college is drug use during a typical month of the senior year of high school. College freshmen, however, use marijuana less frequently than they did in high school and the use of alcoholic beverages increases early in college. While the frequency of alcohol use increases considerably, college freshmen do not increase the number of times they got drunk. It has been hypothesized that the likely change in peer relations between high school and college would alter subsequent rates of drug and alcohol use. However, the data shows that college and high school drug use are very similar and entering freshmen found new friends much like their high school friends to use drugs with and get drunk. Therefore, alcohol and drug use may be important determining factors in the choice of new college friends.

Adolescent↗

Evaluation of a high school peer group intervention for at-risk youth.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of Reconnecting Youth, a prevention program for at-risk high school youth. Data are from a large, independently evaluated effectiveness trial in two diverse urban school districts. A total of 1,218 students participated; 50% were male; average age was 15. We tested whether positive efficacy trial effects could be replicated, and whether any negative behavioral effects occur when clustering high-risk youth. Although mixed program effects were observed at immediate post-intervention, only negative effects were found at 6-month follow-up. These effects included less optimal scores on measures of GPA, Anger, School Connectedness, Conventional Peer Bonding, and Peer High-Risk Behaviors. Overall, we found little support for the use of this social-influence--model intervention aimed at increasing school connectedness for high-risk youth. Further, this study provides evidence that clustering high-risk youth in preventive interventions has the potential for iatrogenic effects.

Adolescent↗

A child with bronchial asthma--his functioning in a peer group.

PURPOSE: Aim of the study is to show problems parents have to account for in the process of treatment and their knowledge how to solve them. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty girls and boys aged 5-12 years were participated in this study. The research employed an own questionnaire prepared for this particular purpose. It consisted of three parts: the first part dealt with social-demographic data, the second one with the age of a child at the onset of asthma and accompanying it problems, and finally, the third part was concerned with the knowledge of parents about asthma and its treatment at the time of exacerbation. RESULTS: Out of all children under study, 60% were boys and 40% were girls, 85% of them come from a district town and 15% from rural areas. Almost 42% of parents answered that the most frequent reaction of the peers and particularly children attending the same class to this information was understanding. Only 11% of peers were able to help the children with bronchial asthma in difficult moments. CONCLUSIONS: The study has shown that hay fever and atopic dermatitis accompanying bronchial asthma markedly make their functioning among peers difficult. Bronchial asthma makes most children suffering from it resign from favorite games and plays connected with physical effort. The attitude of peers to these children can be described as indifferent.

Asthma↗

Training crisis intervention specialists and peer group counselors as therapeutic agents in the gay community.

This paper describes the development of a training program to provide unique services to homosexuals in crisis. The focus of the program was on the utilization of gay nonprofessionals as therapeutic agents in specific crisis situations and the development of a follow-up program to prevent future crises. Emphasis was placed on many aspects of the social milieu to provide comprehensive community intervention.

Communication↗

Peer group training of pragmatic skills in adolescents with acquired brain injury.

OBJECTIVE: To empirically evaluate a method of treating adolescents with cognitive communication disorders, including pragmatic deficits, secondary to acquired brain injury (ABI) in a group setting by objectively measuring outcomes before treatment and immediately after treatment and at 6 months posttreatment. DESIGN: A before-after trial with follow-up in a consecutive sample, with no control group. SETTING: Inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation center. SUBJECTS: Adolescents who demonstrated pragmatic deficits and scored a rating of 3 or less on each subdomain of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Rating Scale of Pragmatic Communication Skills (RICE-RSPCS) were eligible for the study. Eight subjects were recruited into the study, and two subjects were lost to follow-up. Thus, six of the eight completed the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: RICE-RSPCS, Communication Performance Scale (CPS). RESULTS: Clinically relevant and statistically significant (P <.01) changes occurred during the treatment and were maintained at follow-up for the four RICE-RSPCS subscales and the CPS. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the potential and often typical long-term pragmatic and subsequent social difficulties associated with ABI can possibly be lessened through effective intervention.

Adolescent↗

Peer group reputation and smoking and alcohol consumption in early adolescence.

Research has shown that substance use might serve beneficial, developmental functions for adolescents, in particular concerning young people's functioning in friendships and intimate relationships. Nonetheless, a major problem in these studies is that information on social functioning is based on adolescent's self-reports, which undoubtedly might lead to an overestimation of the social functions of substance use. In the present study, we collected data of 3361 early and mid-adolescents at secondary schools in the Netherlands. Information on individual student's social behavior and psychological traits were gathered by using sociometric measures. All respondents were asked to evaluate all classmates on measures, such as sociability, self-confidence, achievement, withdrawal, and aggression. Person- and variable-centered analyses clearly showed that highest levels of smoking and drinking were found in adolescents who score high on sociability and self-confidence, and relatively low on aggression-inattentiveness, achievement-withdrawal, and emotionality-nervousness. This suggests that beneficial functions of substance use are not only in the eyes of the beholder, at least not in that of the individual drinker or smoker.

Adolescent↗

Peer group interaction of physically abused children.

The aim of this research study was to test the assumption that physically abused children differ significantly from their non-abused peers along dimensions which characterize abusing adults and other social deviants. Nineteen 5-10 year-old physically abused children and 38 non-abused peers were assessed by video-taped behavioral observations during free-flowing social interaction in a playroom. The dimensions tapped were: aggression, warmth, fear, pleasure, concentration, imagination and social participation. The dimension social participation was split into three variables: total social participation, negative participation and positive participation. The data from these nine dimensions was subject to a Pearson's correlation. Given the high correlation amongst these variables the data was subject to a principal components analysis with varimax rotation. From this analysis two components emerged which explained 76.9% of the total variance. These components were designated "social interaction" (component 1) and "hostility" (component 2) and were then subject to analyses of variance. A significant difference was found between the two groups on the "social interaction" component. The implications of these findings were explored and treatment possibilities examined.

Child↗

Radiologist review versus group peer review of claimed responses in a phase II study on high-dose ifosfamide in advanced soft tissue sarcomas of the adult: a study of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group.

The Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (STBSG) of the EORTC ran a phase II study to assess the therapeutic activity of high-dose ifosfamide in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcomas by means of response rate (RR). Investigators claiming a response submitted the relevant chest radiographs (CXR) or scans to two other members of the STBSG for peer review. The reviewers completed a questionnaire indicating overall response or reasons for rejecting the claimed responses. An independent radiologist also reviewed the cases and he was blinded to the results of the peer review until the study was concluded. Twenty-two patients were reviewed by the radiologist and peer review, and the completed questionnaires were retrospectively reviewed. Two differences were noted, one partial responder (PR) was regarded as stable disease by the radiologist and one PR by peer review was determined a complete response by the radiologist. The radiologist found subsequent evidence of progressive disease in three patients who initially showed a PR, whilst the review group noted only one. This study suggests peer review in this tumor type is a satisfactory method of achieving an accurate, objective RR.

Adolescent↗