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Southeast > News > Prevention News > Jan 05 News this Month |
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New this Month - December 2004 Below are citations/abstracts of recently published articles and publications that have been authored and/or co-authored by Pacific Institute staff. Berkeley - Paul Gruenewald Gorman, D.M.; Gruenewald, P.J.; Hanlon, P.J.; Mezic, I.; Waller, L.A.; Castillo-Chavez, C.; Bradley, E.; Mezic, J., Implications of systems dynamic models and control theory for environmental approaches to the prevention of alcohol- and other drug use-related problems. Substance Use & Misuse, 39(10-12): 1713-1750, 2004. Abstract: The approach described in this article is premised on the idea that drug and alcohol use-related problems are heterogeneously distributed with respect to population and geography, and therefore, are essentially local problems. More specifically, it is argued that viewing a local community as an interacting set of systems that support or buffer the occurrence of specific substance misuse outcomes, opens up to research two important prospects. The first of these involves creating adequate systems models that can capture the primary community structures and relationships that support public health problems such as alcohol and drug misuse and related outcomes. The second entails rationally testing control strategies that have the potential to moderate or reduce these problems. Understanding and controlling complex dynamic systems models nowadays pervades all scientific disciplines, and it is to research in areas such as biology, ecology, engineering, computer sciences, and mathematics that researchers in the field of addictions must turn to in order to better study the complexity that confronts them as they try to understand and prevent problems resulting from alcohol and drug use and misuse. Here we set out what such a systems-based understanding of alcohol- and drug use-related problems will require and discuss its implications for public policy and prevention programming. Roland Moore Moore, R.S.; Cunradi, C.B.; Ames , G.M., Did substance use change after September 11th? An analysis of a military cohort. Military Medicine, 169(10): 829-832, 2004. [with C. Cunradi and G. Ames of PRC/Berkeley]. Marcia Russell Stranges, S.; Wu, T.; Dorn, J.M.; Freudenheim, J.L.; Muti, P.; Farinaro, E.; Russell, M.; Nochajski, T.H.; Trevisan, M., Relationship of alcohol drinking pattern to risk of hypertension, a population-based study. Hypertension, 44: 813-819, 2004. Abstract: Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between heavy alcohol use and hypertension, but few studies have directly addressed the role of drinking pattern. This study was designed to investigate the association of current alcohol consumption and aspects of drinking pattern with hypertension risk in a sample of 2609 white men and women from western New York , aged 35 to 80 years, and free from other cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension was defined by systolic blood pressure 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medication. Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were computed after adjustment for several covariates. Compared with lifetime abstainers, participants reporting drinking on a daily basis (1.75 [1.13 to 2.72]) or mostly without food (1.64 [1.08 to 2.51]) exhibited significantly higher risk of hypertension. When analyses were restricted to current drinkers, daily drinkers and participants consuming alcohol without food exhibited a significantly higher risk of hypertension compared with those drinking less than weekly (1.65 [1.18 to 2.30]) and those drinking mostly with food (1.49 [1.10 to 2.00]), respectively. After additional adjustment for the amount of alcohol consumed in the past 30 days, the results were follows: 0.90 (0.58 to 1.41) for daily drinkers and 1.41 (1.04 to 1.91) for drinkers without food. For predominant beverage preference, no consistent association with hypertension risk was found across the various types of beverages considered (beer, wine, and liquor). In conclusion, drinking outside meals appears to have a significant effect on hypertension risk independent of the amount of alcohol consumed. Calverton - Mary Jo Vazquez Harwood, E.M.; Bernat, D.H.; Lenk, K.M.; Vazquez, M.J.; Wagenaar, A.C., Public opinion in Puerto Rico on alcohol control policies. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 26(4): 426-445, 2004. Abstract: This article discusses the first study to assess public opinion of alcohol policies in Puerto Rico . In 2001, a telephone survey of 514 adults on the island assessed levels of support for 20 alcohol control policies covering five domains: (a) raising alcohol taxes, (b) restricting alcohol consumption in public places, (c) punishing adult providers of alcohol, (d) restricting youth access to alcohol, and (e) restricting marketing of alcohol. Results show high-level support for all alcohol policies, especially for restrictions on alcohol consumption in public places (93% to 95% support) and increases in alcohol taxes earmarked for alcohol treatment, prevention, and education (92% support). Multiple regression analyses reveal older respondents, compared to younger respondents, and respondents reporting lower levels of alcohol consumption were more supportive of alcohol control policies. Results demonstrate a willingness in Puerto Rico to consider public policy solutions to social and health problems associated with drinking. Geetha Waehrer Waehrer, G.; Leigh, P.; Cassidy, D.; Miller, T., Costs of occupational injury and illness across states. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(10): 1084-1095, 2004. [with T. Miller of PIRE/Calverton]. Abstract: The objective of this study was to estimate occupational injury and illness costs per worker across states. Analysis was conducted on injury data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and costs data from workers' compensation records. The following states were at the top of the list for average cost (cost per worker): West Virginia , Alaska , Wyoming , Kentucky , and Mississippi . The following states were at the bottom: South Carolina , Delaware , Minnesota , Massachusetts , and New Hampshire . The following variables (and signs on regression coefficients comparing this industry with manufacturing) were important in explaining the variation across states: employment in farming (+), agricultural service, forestry, fishing (+), mining (+), transportation and public utilities (+), wholesale trade (-), and finance, insurance, real estate (-). Southern and especially Western states were disproportionately represented in the high cost per worker list. A significant amount of the variation in cost per worker across states was explained by the composition of industries.George Yacoubian Yacoubian, G.S.; Wish, E.D.; Choyka, J.D.; Boyle, C.L.; Harding, C.A.; Loftus, E.A., Examining the Prevalence and Perceived Harm of Ecstasy and Other Drug Use Among Juvenile Offenders. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 3(2): 95-105, 2004. Abstract: To date, few studies have examined the use of 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") among criminal populations. In the current study, self-report drug use data and urine specimens were collected from 86 male juvenile offenders surveyed through Maryland 's Offender Population Urinalysis Screening (OPUS) Program. Prevalence estimates of ecstasy use were generated and associations between ecstasy use, demographic characteristics, and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use were explored. Nineteen percent of the sample reported lifetime ecstasy use, 14% within the past 12 months, and 8% within the past 30 days. One percent of the sample reported ecstasy use in the two days preceding the interview, and none tested positive for MDMA via urinalysis. Compared to non-users, past-year ecstasy users were significantly more likely to be white and to have used alcohol, marijuana, powder cocaine, and heroin within the 12 months preceding the interview. The use of marijuana once or twice and regularly was associated with the least amount of risk of physical and/or psychological harm for both the past-year ecstasy users and the non-users in the sample. Policy implications are discussed. Chapel Hill - Melinda Pankratz Pankratz, M.M.; Hallfors, D.D., Implementing evidence-based substance use prevention curricula in North Carolina pubic school districts. Journal of School Health, 74(9): 353-358. 2004. [with D. Hallfors of PIRE/Chapel Hill] Abstract: The Safe and Drug Free Schools Community Act (SDFSCA) provides funding for prevention education to nearly every school district in the nation. Recent federal policy requires SDFSCA recipients to implement evidence-based prevention programs. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the extent to which North Carolina public school districts implement evidence-based substance use prevention curricula. Results showed that while the majority of school districts use evidence-based prevention curricula, they are rarely the most commonly used curricula. Evidence-based curricula are much more likely to be used at the middle school level than at the elementary or high school levels. Although urbanicity, coordinator time, and coordinator experience correlate with extensive use of evidence-based curricula in the bivariate analysis, only time spent on prevention by the SDFSCA coordinator significantly predicted extensive use in the multivariate analysis. Increasing district SDFSCA coordinator time is a necessary step for diffusing evidence-based curricula. Providence - Bob Stout Pagano, M.E.; Skodol, A.E.; Stout, R.L.; Shea, M.T.; Yen, S.; Grilo, C.M.; Sanislow, C.A.; Bender, D.S.; McGlashan, T.H.; Zanarini, M.C.; Gunderson, J.G., Stressful life events as predictors of functioning: findings from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 110: 421-429, 2004. Abstract: Objective: Although much attention has been given to the effects of adverse childhood experiences on the development of personality disorders (PDs), we know far less about how recent life events influence the ongoing course of functioning. We examined the extent to which PD subjects differ in rates of life events and the extent to which life events impact psychosocial functioning. Method: A total of 633 subjects were drawn from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS), a multi-site study of four personality disorders - schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) - and a comparison group of major depressive disorders (MDD) without PD. Results: Borderline personality disorder subjects reported significantly more total negative life events than other PDs or subjects with MDD. Negative events, especially interpersonal events, predicted decreased psychosocial functioning over time. Conclusion: Our findings indicate higher rates of negative events in subjects with more severe PDs and suggest that negative life events adversely impact multiple areas of psychosocial functioning. Grilo, C.M.; Sanislow, C.A.; Shea, M.T.; Skodol, A.E.; Stout, R.L.; Gunderson, J.G.; Yen, S.; Bender, D.S.; Pagano, M.E.; Zanarini, M.C.; Morey, L.C.; McGlashan, T.H., Two-year prospective naturalistic study of remission from major depressive disorder as a function of personality disorder co-morbidity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(5), 767-775. 2004. Abstract: The authors examined the stability of schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD) avoidant (AVPD) and obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders (PDs) over 2 years of prospective multiwave follow-up. Six hundred thirty-three participants recruited at 4 collaborating sites who met criteria for 1 or more of the 4 PDs or for major depressive disorder (MDD) without PD were assessed with semistructured interviews at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months. Lifetable survival analyses revealed that the PD groups had slower time to remission than the MDD group. Categorically, PD remission rates range from 50% (AVPD) to 61% (STPD) for dropping below diagnostic threshold on a blind 24-month reassessment but range from 23% (STPD) to 38% (OCPD) for a more stringent definition of improvement. Dimensionally, these findings suggest that PDs may be characterized by maladaptive trait constellations that are stable in their structure (individual differences) but can change in severity or expression over time. New Library Acquisitions The following materials have recently been added to the PIRE Library collection. Please contact Andrew Wahl or Terry Kemper if you would like to borrow and/or obtain reprints of these materials. General Accounting Office. Tobacco use and public health: federal efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use among youth. Washington , DC : General Accounting Office. November 2003. Abstract: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, on average, over 440,000 deaths and $76 billion in medical expenditures were attributable to cigarette smoking each year from 1995 through 1999. Reducing tobacco-related deaths and the incidence of disease, along with the associated costs, represents a significant public health challenge for the federal government. Most adults who use tobacco started using it between the ages of 10 and 18. According to a Surgeon General's report, if children and adolescents can be prevented from using tobacco products before they become adults, they are likely to remain tobacco-free for the rest of their lives. GAO was asked to provide information on federal efforts to prevent and reduce youth smoking. Specifically, this report describes (1) federal programs, research, and activities that aim to prevent and reduce tobacco use among youth, (2) the efforts of federal departments and agencies to monitor their programs, and (3) the coordination among federal departments and agencies in efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use among youth. Some federal programs, research, and activities that aim to address tobacco use among youth focus only on tobacco while others aim to address tobacco use as part of broader efforts to address unhealthy behaviors such as substance abuse and violence. Two federal programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) focus only on tobacco use. CDC's National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) focuses on preventing and reducing tobacco use among the general population and explicitly targets youth. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's program to oversee implementation of a provision of federal law, commonly referred as the Synar Amendment, focuses only on tobacco use among youth. The Synar Amendment requires states to enact and enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. In addition to these tobacco-focused programs, HHS, and the Departments of Defense (DOD), Justice (DOJ), and Education sponsor programs that include tobacco use as part of broader efforts to address unhealthy behaviors among youth, such as substance abuse and violence. For example, Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program is designed to prevent substance abuse and violence. HHS agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, conduct research on tobacco use and nicotine addiction among youth and its health effects on youth. HHS agencies and other federal departments also support activities to prevent and reduce tobacco use among youth, such as education and outreach efforts. HHS and its component agencies coordinate tobacco-related efforts with other federal, state, and local government agencies and nongovernmental entities. Federal departments and agencies collect a variety of information to monitor how programs that aim to address tobacco use among youth are being implemented by grantees and the effectiveness of grantee efforts in meeting program goals. The information is collected through various means, including grant applications, progress reports, periodic site visits, and program evaluations. For example, to monitor NTCP, CDC requires states to submit biannual reports on the implementation of state NTCP-supported tobacco control programs. The information that federal departments and agencies collect on these programs is also used to provide training and technical assistance to grantees on topics such as conducting program evaluation. In commenting on a draft of this report, HHS stated that the report was very informative but it did not include programs like Medicaid that are a substantial element of HHS tobacco prevention efforts. Including programs that finance health insurance such as Medicaid, however, was beyond the scope of our review. Also, HHS noted that we did not include information about the challenges other federal agencies face in coordinating tobacco related issues but DOD, DOJ, and Education did not describe such challenges. DOD and DOJ had no comments on the report and HHS and Education provided technical comments that we incorporated as appropriate. Jones-Webb, R.; Fabian, L.E.; Harwood, E.M.; Toomey, T.L.; Wagenaar, A.C., Fatal injuries associated with alcohol use among youth and adults: 1990-1998. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 14(1): 41-60, 2004. Abstract: The major objective of this study was to compare trends in three types of fatal injuries associated with alcohol use among youth under the legal drinking age and among adults of legal drinking age from 1990-1998. The fatal injuries investigated included homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle-traffic deaths. Results were: (1) motor vehicle-traffic deaths and homicide were higher among youth under the legal drinking age than among adults of legal drinking age; whereas, suicide was more common among adults of legal drinking age than among youth under the legal drinking age; and, (2) African American, Hispanic, and American Indian male youth under the legal drinking age were at substantial risk of being victims of homicide and motor vehicle-traffic deaths. National Center for Health Statistics. Health , United States , 2004: With chartbook on trends in the health of Americans. Hyattsville , MD : National Center for Health Statistics, 2004. Prevention in the News Links to prevention based news articles and stories. Please note that not all of the news web sites/sources listed below keep their links active, thus some of the article links are subject to become inactive without notice. If you are unable to access a news story listed below, please contact the library for assistance. November 30, 2004 - Mo. May Criminalize Underage
Intoxication - JoinTogether.org November 29, 2004 - Agency urges targeting adults in teen drinking
- Reno Gazette Journal (NV) November 26, 2004 - Council kicks around ideas to lessen fatality
rate by impaired ... The Torrington Telegram (WY) November 25, 2004 - Imaging Study Shows Why Drunk Drivers Are Dangerous - http://alcoholism.about.com/od/dui/a/blyale041120.htm November 23, 2004 - Drinking becomes a dangerous `thrill sport'
- Miami Herald November 21, 2004 - Adults increasingly held liable in youths'
crimes - Contra Costa Times November 19, 2004 - A license to kill time - Albuquerque
Tribune November 18, 2004 - Group releases survey tracing underage use of tobacco, alcohol - http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/1154053.shtml November 16, 2004 - Blowing drunk-driving smoke - Helena
Independent Record (MT) November 15, 2004 - DWI Dismissals: Wrecked Lives -
Charlotte Observer November 13, 2004 - 5th OWI leaves jail term looming for father
- Portage Daily Register (WI) |
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