Social Determinants of Narcotics Use Susceptibility among School-Attending Adolescents in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Balanced medical and criminal justice approaches addressing determinants of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use are central to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 16. However, data on AOD use in resource-poor settings are characterised by relative paucity and anecdote. This study aimed to describe and analyse AOD use susceptibility and its determinants among school-attending adolescents in the capital Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Survey data were collected through a locally adapted Planet Youth questionnaire in June 2017 across 16 schools in Bissau. The 2039-strong sample was selected through a multi-stage, random cluster process. Participants’ lifetime alcohol use was 27.3%, smoking 10.8%, and cannabis use 3.6%. In each instance, the ‘15 years and above’ age bracket was the most common initiation period, signifying increased instigation in later adolescence. Subsequent Varimax Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of 312 variables captured data-driven models of AOD use susceptibility, implying imitated, polydrug use among initiates. Linear regression analysis revealed drinking, group violence, male gender, school dismissal and relationship breakdown as explanatory variables. Overlapping predictive variables suggest singular interventions may pre-empt myriad antisocial behaviours. PCA offers alternatives to singular, potentially myopic quantifications of drug use. PCA facilitates the creation of context-sensitive composite variables, enabling the identification of related outcome behaviours relevant to studies’ sociocultural settings.

Features, State and Context of Narcissism in Drug Misuse

Both clinical and street-based encounters with people who misuse drugs have led the authors to examine the relationship between misuse of drugs and narcissism. Widely accepted criteria for diagnosing Substance Use Disorder (SUD) suggest parallels between narcissistic traits (e.g. invulnerability to consequences and lack of empathy for others) and the characteristics of drug abusers. Because narcissism as a concept has a long and somewhat confusing history, we first reviewed its origins in the psychoanalytic tradition of psychiatry and its exegesis into current clinical concepts in order to arrive at a set of attributes that may be useful when applied to problems of drug abuse. This process required extensive review of the literature on narcissism and its interactions with the literature on drug abuse. This process led to an understanding that positive self-concept may exemplify a variety of socially beneficial narcissism, but that at the other end of narcissism's continuum of traits may be found exploitative and non-empathetic traits. Furthermore, the negative traits of narcissism, as they may arise in adolescence along with drug use, can support an individual's ongoing dependence on drugs, especially if narcissism and drug use persist into adulthood. Our investigation of narcissism and drug use revealed, through in-depth interviewing, that some drug users employ drugs and alcohol to feed their self-concepts of superiority over other people. Our findings suggest that treatment for drug abuse cannot proceed assuming that drug users have low self-concepts. Rather, their continued use of drugs may emanate from a narcissistic sense of superiority.

Prevalence of Substance Abuse (Tobacco, Alcohol, Narcotics and Psychotropic Drugs) and Its Relationship to Family Factors in Pre-university Male Students in Shiraz 2017-2018

Teenagers are valuable resources in communities and they are faced with multiple risk factors. Factors such as family attachment, devotion to family, parent's educational level, and parental support are the protective factors against high-risk behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of drug use among pre-university students and its relationship with familial factors. 1000 Fourth grade high-school male students were randomly selected during 6 months in four districts of Shiraz City during 2017-2018. 14% of the participants were current smokers, 13.5% had a history of alcohol consumption, and 1% used psychotropic drugs, respectively. Moreover 59% of the participants who had consumed alcohol were cigarette smokers as well. 4.5% of them used all the three substances such as alcohol, tobacco and psychotropic drugs. Children whose parents do not set clear regulations or do not control their children are at higher risk of drug abuse.

Reliability and validity of the Treatment Outcome Profile among patients attending methadone maintenance treatment programs in Kunming, China

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Substance misuse has been a major health and social issue worldwide and has become an important public health issue in China over the past two decades. Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) has been proved worldwide by large bodies of research to be one of the most effective practices for illicit drug users. The Treatment Outcome Profile (TOP) was developed in 2007 by the UK National Treatment Agency (NTA). It has been proved to be a reliable instrument for outcome measure. This study aim to develop the Chinese version of the Treatment Outcome Profile (TOP), and to assess whether TOP is a reliable outcome measure that can be recommended for use in Chinese MMT program.

METHODS

The Chinese version of TOP was translated and revised based on the English version of TOP. Psychometric properties of TOP were evaluated through face-to-face interviews in 197 patients who had been attending methadone maintenance treatment clinics in Kunming city, Yunnan Institute for Drug Abuse, for less than three months. Patients were interviewed by 3 trained interviewers. Reliability and validity of the instrument were analyzed by measures including test-retest and inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity and change sensitivity. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing the scores from TOP with scores obtained from validated clinometric instruments. Self-reported opiate use was compared with results of urine analysis. Change sensitivity was judged by t-tests and chi-square tests.

RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS

About 67% of the 197 interviewers were male and 33% were female. Test-retest reliability of TOP scores (after 10 days interval) were good (K=0.65 to 0.95), inter-rater correlations (ICC) ranged from 0.7 to 0.9, and the criterion validity ranged from 0.72 to 0.88. TOP covers a large scope of problems encountered by drug users needed for treatment. The Chinese version of TOP is a reliable and valid assessment tool.

An Integrative Model for Drug Use Severity Among Inhalant Users

Two alternative conceptual models, a psychological-peer model and an integrative model, for explaining inhalant use in early adolescence and drug use severity in later adolescence among Mexican American youth were tested using linear structural equations (LISREL). The models addressed the interrelationships of peer deviancy, psychological vulnerability, availability of inhalants, family environment, acculturative stress, and low social assets and their effects longitudinally otn inhalant use and drug use severity. They differed mainly in the specification of direct influences on inhalant use. Results suggest that the integrative model was the better model for explaining the data. The most important component represented peer influences, and only an indirect effect was found for psychological vulnerability on inhalant use and drug use severity. There was no support foundfor direct influences of availability of inhalants and low socioeconomic assets on inhalant use.

Drug Use among Hispanic Youth: Examining Common and Unique Contributing Factors

Designing effective programs to reduce alcohol and other drug use among Hispanic youth requires delineation of cultural influences on substance use. Although alcohol is used more than any other addictive substance, the influences for onset of alcohol and other substance use vary among ethnic groups. This review, therefore, examined common and unique factors that contribute to drug use among Hispanic youth. To avoid overgeneralization and to maximize construct validity, only studies that sampled Hispanics were included. Mainstream and subcultural theories that help explain drug use among Hispanic youth are provided. Observations about future directions for research and drug prevention among Hispanic youth are provided as well.

Inhalant withdrawal as a clinically significant feature of inhalant dependence disorder

Inhalant use is the intentional inhalation of vapors from commercial products or specific chemical agents for the purpose of achieving intoxication. Inhalants are among the most common and pernicious forms of substance use and the least studied of the major drugs. Diagnosis of inhalant dependence, according to the DSM-IV [Weintraub E, Gandhi D, Robinson C. Medical complications due to mothball abuse. South Med J 2000;93:427-9] excludes inhalant withdrawal symptoms, as expert opinion has suggested that an inhalant withdrawal syndrome is neither common nor clinically significant. This article draws from multiple sources of data to suggest that withdrawal symptoms can be part of inhalant dependence and are clinically significant. This hypothesis needs rigorous evaluation to ensure the diagnostic validity of inhalant use disorders.

School effects on young people's drug use: a systematic review of intervention and observational studies

PURPOSE

This systematic review examined the hypothesis that school institutional factors influence young people's use of drugs. We aimed to (1) identify the effect of school-level changes on drug use and (2) explore the possible mechanisms by which school-level influences on individual drug use might occur.

METHODS

Systematic review. Experimental/quasi-experimental studies of "whole-school" drug prevention interventions and longitudinal observational studies on the association between school-level and individual-level school-related exposures and drug use were included. Experimental studies were included because they are the most reliable available source of evidence about causation. Observational studies of school-level and individual-level school-related exposures were included with the aim of providing evidence about a wider range of possible school-level effects and how school-level influences might be mediated by individual-level factors.

RESULTS

Experimental studies suggested that changes to the school social environment that increase student participation, improve relationships and promote a positive school ethos may be associated with reduced drug use. School-level and individual-level observational studies consistently reported that disengagement and poor teacher-student relationships were associated with drug use and other risky health behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

There is evidence of school effects on young people's drug use. Interventions that promote a positive school ethos and reduce student disaffection may be an effective complement to drug prevention interventions addressing individual knowledge, skills, and peer norms. Such approaches should now be piloted in a wider range of settings. Further research is also needed to explore mechanisms by which schools may influence young people's drug use.

The changing influences of self-worth and peer deviance on drinking problems in urban American Indian adolescents

This study explored the changing relations among self-worth, peer deviance, and alcohol-related problems in a sample of 224 urban-dwelling, American Indian adolescents. Data were collected annually at 7 time points to test a proposed mediational model. As expected, peer deviance mediated the relation between low self-worth and alcohol-related problems in younger adolescents; however, this relation did not hold as participants became older. In older adolescents, low self-worth and peer deviance directly and independently contributed to alcohol problems. Possible explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed in terms of developmental changes during adolescence.

An exploratory multivariate approach to drug consumption patterns in young people based on primary socialization theory

Drug consumption patterns and their psychosocial conditioning factors are explored on the basis of Primary Socialization Theory (PST), through the application of a questionnaire to a representative sample (N= 650) of the young population (age 15 to 29 years) in the Madrid Region. Cluster analysis identifies five consumption groups. Discriminant analysis, including indicators about subject's integration in primary socialization environments, beliefs about the effects of drugs, indicators of psychosocial wellbeing, and variables related to leisure time, allows 67.45% of correct consumption group prediction. Complex associations between drug use, socialization environments and psychosocial wellbeing are found, calling into question approaches establishing cumulative or unidimensional relationships between posited "risk factors" and drug consumption.

Illicit substance use among adolescents: a matrix of prospective predictors

This paper reviews findings from 58 prospective studies of illicit substance use (ISU) among adolescents. It arranges 384 findings according to three types of influence (viz., social, attitudinal, and intrapersonal) and four levels of influence (viz., ultimate, distal, proximal, and immediate). The bulk of evidence reconfirms the importance of several predictors of ISU (e.g., intentions and prior substance-related behavior, friendship patterns and peer behaviors, absence of supportive parents, psychological temperament), reveals that a few variables thought to be well-established predictors may not be (e.g., parental behaviors, parental permissiveness, depression, low self-esteem), and uncovers several variables where findings were either sparse or inconsistent (e.g., the role of public policies concerning ISU, mass media depictions of ISU, certain parenting styles, affective states, perceptions of parental disapproval for ISU, and substance-specific refusal skills). Directions for future research are discussed.