Search

Young adult drinkers engage in a range of drinking patterns from abstaining to heavy drinking in both the United States and Sweden. Heavy drinking during young adulthood in both countries is associated with a variety of negative consequences. Personalized feedback interventions have been identified as effective prevention strategies to prevent or reduce heavy drinking in the United States. This study examined transitions in drinking profiles and compared the efficacy of a personalized feedback intervention for 3965 young adults in the United States (1,735) and Sweden (2230) during their transition out of high school. Using goodness-of-fit criteria, results indicated that three drinking profiles exist among young adults transitioning out of high school: very low drinkers/abstainers, moderate to heavy drinkers, and very heavy drinkers. Latent Markov models revealed a moderating effect of country on personalized feedback intervention such that intervention condition participants in the United States were more likely to belong to the light drinker/abstainer or moderate to heavy profile relative to the very heavy drinking profile at 6-month follow-up. There was no significant effect of personalized feedback intervention in Sweden. Future research could investigate the impact of when personalized feedback interventions are administered and could examine if personalized feedback interventions should be more intentionally culturally adapted in order to be more effective.

Girls and boys with disabilities, 15–16 years of age, report a significantly higher rate of sexual debut than adolescents with no disabilities. In a society where a young person with a disability often is considered to have an essentially asexual status, there can be several fronts for adolescents to fight. The survey Life and Health—Young People 2005 was completed by 3,084 adolescents attending mainstream schools in Sweden. In this study the sexual debut in girls and boys with and without disabilities is related to mental health, school exposure and substance use. Our findings might be explained by a mechanism of identity construction from the adolescents’ ideas of normality and by a battle for acceptance and confirmation of life. The ideas of normality can be erroneous but still influence the adolescents’ sexual activity. Multivariate analyses also showed that the relationship between sex and substance use is strong among all adolescents.

Background Substance use disorders have repeatedly been found to lead to premature death, i.e. drug-related death by disease, fatal intoxications, or trauma (accidents, suicide, undetermined suicide, and homicide). The present study examined the relationship between multi-drug substance use and natural and unnatural death. Methods All consecutive, autopsied patients who had been in contact with the Addiction Centre in Malmö University Hospital from 1993 to 1997 inclusive were investigated. Drug abuse was investigated blindly in the case records and related to the cause of death in 387 subjects. Results Every substance apart from alcohol used previously in life added to the risk of unnatural death in a linear way. There were independent increased risks of fatal heroin overdoses or undetermined suicide. Death by suicide and violent death were unrelated to additional abuse. Conclusion The number of drugs used was related to an increased risk of unnatural death by undetermined suicide (mainly fatal intoxications) and heroin overdose.

Acceptance, attrition and outcome of the same outpatient treatment programme for alcoholics was studied first in a non-randomized and later in a randomized study. There was a lower (15%) rate of acceptance and a higher (19%) rate of attrition in the randomized study. Among treatment completers drinking outcome during the third year after commencement of treatment did not differ between the non-randomized and the randomized study. It is concluded that the characteristics of subjects accepting a randomly assigned study should always be clearly presented. The absence of a patient-therapist matching in a randomized design could negatively effect attrition and probably also acceptance of treatment, while it seems to be less influential on outcome in those completing therapy.

The regional cerebral blood flow (133Xe-inhalation method) was measured during acute amphetamine intoxication in a male 25 years old addict. During the study the patient displayed symptoms of paranoia and slight euphoria and tension. The flow level was found to be elevated by about 30% compared to a study in non-intoxicated state. The augmentation was most marked in the left hemisphere and in frontal regions (local increases up to 100%). The results confirm earlier findings in animal models and indicate the central role of frontal cortical structures in the production of psychotic symptoms.