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The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of family background and preincarceration socioenvironmental variables on three-year post-release drug use for African American and white prison-based drug treatment participants in order to explain the previously found disparities in rates of three-year post-release drug use between the two groups. There were two hypotheses: 1) for both groups, family background and preincarceration socioenvironmental variables would predict postrelease drug use more strongly than sociodemographic characteristics and preincarceration behaviors, and 2) the predictors would be different for each group. The sample included 279 African American and 512 white male treatment participants who were supervised by a U.S. probation officer following incarceration. Event history analyses were used to model time to first drug use during postrelease supervision. The results indicated that none of the family background factors or socioenvironmental variables predicted postrelease drug use. The variables predictive of drug use for one or both racial groups were limited to sociodemographic characteristics and preincarceration behaviors such as age at release, prior commitments, and preincarceration employment. Yet, there were no significant between-group differences for these predictors. The authors concluded that future assessment of the effects of socioenvironmental variables on postrelease drug use likely requires evaluation of the postrelease social environment at the time of release.

This study assessed both prevalence rates of substance dependence and level of treatment need among recently-incarcerated prisoners in a southeastern state. Participants were 752 consecutive admissions to the state prison system in 2002. They were administered the 93-item Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI). The results indicated that approximately 72% of participants met criteria for substance dependence and 46% of participants met criteria for prison-based residential treatment. The results of this study can be used to inform allocation of prison-based treatment resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present study presents background and pretreatment characteristics of adolescent substance abuse treatment clients, and it provides a mechanism for describing perhaps the largest research sample of adolescents who were in drug treatment in this decade.Methods: The sample was 3382 subjects who presented for treatment from 1993 to 1995 in 37 programs in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania: Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Maine; and New York City, New York. Informed permission for the youth to participate was obtained from the subject's custodial parent/guardian, and both the youth and the youth's parents or guardians provided informed assent if they agreed to participate as subjects. Adolescents then were interviewed privately and confidentially by a trained professional interviewer who was independent of the treatment programs. The interviews queried subjects about their background, including education and employment; physical and mental health; use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; sexual experiences; legal problems: religious beliefs; and treatment experience.Results: The long-term residential treatment modality was the least gender balanced of the modalities and had the most African-American and Hispanic clients. This modality was distinguished by the proportion of clients who were referred to treatment by the juvenile or criminal justice system. Compared with other clients in other modalities, short-term inpatient clients were more likely to be female and white. Inpatient clients also reported more indicators of psychiatric impairment. Outpatient clients were slightly younger than clients in the other modalities, and more of them were attending school at the time of admission to treatment. Outpatient clients had the least criminally involved lifestyles, their rates of (regular daily or weekly) drug use were also the lowest of the three modalities for all drugs assessed, and they had the least drug treatment experience.Conclusions: These results merit several recommendations. One is the need for more community-based adolescent substance abuse treatment programs. An additional recommendation is for more substance abuse treatment programs in facilities that serve incarcerated youth. Finally, and perhaps most critically, it is recommended that programs be designed to address such specialized issues as comorbid substance abuse and psychiatric problems, family dysfunction, physical and sexual abuse, gender and ethnic differences, and academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perceived ability to engage in situation-specific behaviors (self-efficacy) to overcome nicotine dependence and alcohol abuse has been shown to correlate significantly with and be predictive of the actual ability to engage in such behaviors. Self-efficacy is also related to subsequent behavior change during treatment and maintenance of this change after treatment termination. In this study, part of a national outcome study, the relationship between self-efficacy and drug use was investigated in a subsample of regular cocaine users (n = 294) who completed at least three months of treatment in community-based outpatient treatment programs. Frequency of cocaine and other drug use was reported for the period of 1 year before treatment and at 1 month and 3 months in treatment. Self-efficacy regarding resisting drug use was measured at 1 and 3 months in treatment. Self-efficacy at 1 month was correlated with cocaine use at 1 month and self-efficacy contributed to the prediction of self-reported drug use at 1 month over and above pretreatment and demographic variables. Similarly, self-efficacy at 3 months was correlated with cocaine use at 3 months and contributed to the prediction of self-reported drug use at 3 months. These outcomes were obtained even though over 75 % of subjects reported no drug use during treatment. The results supported previous findings suggesting that increased self-efficacy regarding resisting drug use is associated with lower rates of drug use during treatment, and that self-efficacy enhancement may be an important intervention in the treatment of cocaine use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]