%0 Journal Article %J Subst Abus %D 2016 %T Prevalence of marijuana and other substance use before and after Washington State's change from legal medical marijuana to legal medical and nonmedical marijuana: Cohort comparisons in a sample of adolescents. %A Mason, W A %A Fleming, Charles B %A Ringle, Jay L %A Hanson, Koren %A Gross, Thomas J %A Haggerty, Kevin P %X

BACKGROUND: A growing number of states have new legislation extending prior legalization of medical marijuana by allowing nonmedical marijuana use for adults. The potential influence of this change in legislation on adolescent marijuana and other substance use (e.g., spillover or substitution effects) is uncertain. We capitalize on an ongoing study to explore the prevalence of marijuana and other substance use in 2 cohorts of adolescents who experienced the nonmedical marijuana law change in Washington State at different ages.

METHODS: Participants were 8th graders enrolled in targeted Tacoma, Washington public schools and recruited in 2 consecutive annual cohorts. The analysis sample was 238 students who completed a baseline survey in the 8th grade and a follow-up survey after the 9th grade. Between the 2 assessments, the second cohort experienced the Washington State nonmedical marijuana law change, whereas the first cohort did not. Self-report survey data on lifetime and past-month marijuana, cigarette, and alcohol use were collected.

RESULTS: Multivariate multilevel modeling showed that cohort differences in the likelihood of marijuana use were significantly different from those for cigarette and alcohol use at follow-up (adjusting for baseline substance initiation). Marijuana use was higher for the second cohort than the first cohort, but this difference was not statistically significant. Rates of cigarette and alcohol use were slightly lower in the second cohort than in the first cohort.

CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study found that marijuana use was more prevalent among teens shortly after the transition from medical marijuana legalization only to medical and nonmedical marijuana legalization, although the difference between cohorts was not statistically significant. The findings also provided some evidence of substitution effects. The analytic technique used here may be useful for examining potential long-term effects of nonmedical marijuana laws on adolescent marijuana use and substitution or spillover effects in future studies.

%B Subst Abus %V 37 %P 330-5 %8 2016 Apr-Jun %G eng %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26252354?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1080/08897077.2015.1071723 %0 Journal Article %J J Soc Social Work Res %D 2015 %T Adherence and dosage contributions to parenting program quality %A Gross, Thomas J %A Mason, W A %A Parra, Gilbert %A Oats, Robert %A Ringle, Jay %A Haggerty, Kevin P %X

OBJECTIVE: The 3 most frequently examined elements of treatment fidelity are adherence, dosage, and quality. The relationships between these fidelity elements are complex, and additional research is needed to provide clarity. Improving clarity may be especially relevant to parenting programs, which tend to include direct explicit instruction (DEI) elements (i.e., instruction, modeling, and practice). The adherence to and dosage of these DEI elements are frequently assumed to improve program quality; however, little information is available to determine if such adherence and dosage affect program quality. This study examines whether adherence to and dosage of DEI elements predict quality ratings for a widely disseminated, manualized parenting program.

METHOD: Adherence is defined as the percentage of intervention tasks completed for each DEI element. Dosage is defined as the number of minutes and seconds spent in each intervention DEI element. Treatment fidelity is assessed for 36 of 144 sessions across 10 program facilitators. A hierarchical linear regression analysis examines the contributions of adherence and dosage in the prediction of session quality ratings.

RESULTS: The analysis indicates that adherence accounts for a significant proportion of the variance (26%), whereas dosage contributes a nonsignificant proportion of variance (11%). Adherence to skill practice was the strongest individual predictor (β = .445, p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that ensuring a high degree of adherence can contribute to quality program delivery. However, more exploration is needed to better understand the ways in which adherence and dosage of DEI elements affect program quality.

%B J Soc Social Work Res %V 6 %P 467-489 %8 2015 Dec %G ENG %N 4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26726301?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1086/684108 %0 Journal Article %J Assessment %D 2015 %T Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-9: Longitudinal measurement invariance across parents and youth during the transition to high school %A Gross, Thomas J %A Fleming, Charles B %A Mason, W A %A Haggerty, Kevin P %X

The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire nine-item short form (APQ-9) is an often used assessment of parenting in research and applied settings. It uses parent and youth ratings for three scales: Positive Parenting, Inconsistent Discipline, and Poor Supervision. The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal invariance of the APQ-9 for both parents and youth, and the multigroup invariance between parents and youth during the transition from middle school to high school. Parent and youth longitudinal configural, metric, and scalar invariance for the APQ-9 were supported when tested separately. However, the multigroup invariance tests indicated that scalar invariance was not achieved between parent and youth ratings. Essentially, parent and youth mean scores for Positive Parenting, Inconsistent Discipline, and Poor Supervision can be independently compared across the transition from middle school to high school. However, comparing parent and youth scores across the APQ-9 scales may not be meaningful.

%B Assessment %8 2015 Dec 15 %G ENG %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26671892?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1177/1073191115620839