Parental permissiveness toward alcohol use is associated with increased drinking among college students. In the U.S., Greek-affiliated students drink more and experience more negative consequences than other students. This study explored associations among student Greek affiliation, parental permissiveness toward heavy episodic drinking (HED), and alcohol use outcomes among first-year college students. Parent-student dyads (n = 294) completed surveys during high school and the first semester of college at a large public university in the U.S. Paired- and independent-samples t-tests and regression analyses were conducted. Parental permissiveness toward HED was higher among Greek-affiliated students than non-Greek-affiliated students, from parent and student perspectives, before and during college. In regression analyses, student Greek affiliation and perceived parental permissiveness were associated with greater alcohol use and HED. Greek status moderated associations between perceived parental permissiveness of HED and alcohol use (but not HED) such that the relationship was less pronounced for Greek-affiliated students compared to non-Greek-affiliated students. Our results suggest that interventions that aim to reduce perceived parental permissiveness toward HED, such as parent-based normative feedback interventions, may be an effective strategy to reduce drinking among first-year Greek-affiliated students.

Mentoring programs are popular interventions to support holistic development for young people. One specific model of mentoring that has emerged over the past few decades in the United States is professional mentoring. Research has illustrated that this model of mentoring may be particularly helpful for young people who could benefit from extra support in their lives that a volunteer mentoring program does not have the capacity to provide. Despite the emerging utilization of professional mentoring programs, little is known about the ideal characteristics of a professional mentor and young people’s experiences in these professional mentoring programs. This study interviewed 12 young people who participated in the same professional mentoring program in different regions of the United States. The participants discussed their ideal characteristics in a mentor, highlighted factors that made the professional mentoring program impactful to them, and shared their ideas on how to improve the overall program.

(1) Background: Social and emotional learning (SEL) practices in schools endeavor to support wellbeing and emotional intelligence in young people; they work best when implemented well. Educational leaders in K-12 settings need to have capacities to provide SEL implementation support. Surveying SEL implementation capacity can identify specific strengths and areas for improvement and monitor progress. The current study assesses the validity and reliability of a 15-item self-report scale of capacities to support SEL implementation.

(2) Method: A sample of 507 county-, district-, and school-level K-12 educational SEL leaders completed the scale in Fall 2023. Confirmatory factor analysis was used.

(3) Results: The SEL capacities scale contains four unique dimensions with high internal reliability: mindsets (5 items), knowledge (3 items), skills (6 items), and efficacy (1 item). The SEL capacities scale also showed consistency (e.g., factor structure invariance) across school seasons, different educational settings, roles in the education system, years of experience among leaders, and recent levels of SEL supports received.

(4) Conclusions: Data generated by the SEL capacities scale can be used to inform practice decisions, make comparisons across people and over time, and unearth specific mechanisms of change related to developing adult SEL capacities to provide SEL implementation support.

The objective of this study is to examine cross-over effects of the Raising Healthy Children universal childhood preventive intervention on adult suicide behaviors and related mental health. A nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted in elementary schools serving higher-risk areas in Seattle, Washington (during ages 6-13, grades 1-6) and followed up at ages 21-39. The panel originated in Seattle but was followed in and out of state. This study examines participants who had been in the intervention (n = 156) vs. control (n = 220) conditions in grades 1-6. The intervention provided teachers with methods of classroom management, parents with family management skills, and children with social-emotional skills training. Outcomes examined were ever suicide ideation, attempt, or completion, and DSM-IV-based criterion counts for depression, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and social phobia across 6 waves, ages 21-39. At follow-up, the intervention group showed significantly lower suicide ideation and behavior, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and social phobia than the control group. Universal childhood preventive intervention can reduce suicide ideation and behaviors and related mental health problems in adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the costs of starting up diverse interventions for preventing opioid misuse in young people aged 15 to 30. Interventions were to be delivered in the context of research trials funded under the National Institutes of Health HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term®) Prevention Initiative. Start-up activities were conducted in systems and settings across the United States from 2019 to 2023. Start-up costs were estimated using activity-based costing from a provider perspective and common methods and data collection procedures across projects (n = 8). Descriptive statistics were used to understand the magnitude of and variability in start-up costs, cost drivers, and staff time. Factors explaining variability were identified from project activity descriptions. Start-up activities cost $37,541 on average, and $33,492 at the median (2020 USD). Labor drove costs (89% on average). Training, project management, and partner engagement accounted for 78% of start-up costs on average. There was considerable variability in total and activity costs. Start-up activities provide an essential foundation for successful intervention delivery and sustainability, yet the resources needed and associated costs for this phase of intervention implementation do not receive much attention. We found that interventions faced unique start-up challenges and leverage points, resulting in differences in total cost and activity cost burden.

PURPOSE: Despite theoretical frameworks linking loneliness with substance use and misuse, there is little longitudinal research on this relationship. This study examined lagged associations of loneliness with subsequent frequency and problematic use of alcohol and cannabis among young adults.

METHODS: Data were from 4,407 young adults participating in the Community Youth Development Study. A four-item loneliness measure was assessed at ages 21 and 23 years, and alcohol and cannabis use outcomes were assessed at ages 23 and 26 years. Past-month alcohol and cannabis use frequency were treated as ordinal categorical outcomes, and past-year hazardous alcohol use and cannabis use disorder diagnosis were treated as dichotomous outcomes. Marginal structural modeling was used to account for multiple time-fixed and time-varying confounders, including depressive symptoms, substance use, and other psychosocial factors.

RESULTS: Combined across lagged intervals, there was a statistically significant association of standardized loneliness score with greater cannabis use frequency (odds ratio = 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06, 1.20) but not alcohol use frequency (odds ratio = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.06) at the following study wave. Loneliness was also associated with increased likelihood of hazardous alcohol use (prevalence ratio = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.17) and cannabis use disorder (prevalence ratio = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.29).

DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that loneliness may play a role in increased cannabis use frequency and problematic alcohol and cannabis use. Strategies to reduce loneliness and increase social connection may have downstream effects on reducing the risk of problematic alcohol and cannabis use among young adults.

PURPOSE: Economic factors are an important social determinant of health. Financial hardship in young adulthood is particularly concerning, given current inflation rates, high housing prices, and rising cost of living. Yet, we know remarkably little about the socioecological factors in adolescence that influence later risk for financial hardship in young adulthood above and beyond family socioeconomic circumstances.

METHODS: Multivariable ordered logistic regression analyses using cross-national longitudinal data from the International Youth Development Study explored associations between a range of socioecological factors in adolescence and financial hardship in young adults. Participants from Washington State (the United States) and Victoria (Australia) were surveyed at ages 13, 14, 15 (2002-2004), and 25 years (2014-2015; N = 1,945; 51% female).

RESULTS: At least two indicators of financial hardship were reported by 25% of young adults. Multivariable predictors of financial hardship in young adulthood included higher levels of family conflict, a history of school suspension, and academic underperformance. Early family economic disadvantage was no longer significant after adjustment for adolescent influences.

DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that there are modifiable adolescent socioecological factors that influence young adult financial hardship beyond the economic position of the family unit. Exploring when these factors emerge from childhood to adolescence is recommended as this could inform the development of prevention and intervention strategies that respond to these risks at the earliest point in the life course, with the goal of shifting the rate of financial hardship in young adults, and ultimately improving their health and well-being.

INTRODUCTION: Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use has become nearly as prevalent among young adults as cigarette use. Although a growing body of literature investigates the reasons young adults initiate ENDS use, little is known about how these reasons relate to subsequent nicotine use. Understanding how reasons for trying ENDS relate both to prior cigarette use and to subsequent patterns of cigarette and ENDS use may help to identify future higher- and lower-risk nicotine use.

METHODS: Using data from a community longitudinal study, we examined lifetime cigarette use prior to age 23, reasons for trying ENDS reported at age 23, and cigarette and ENDS use at age 26 among 977 young adults who had tried ENDS by age 23.

RESULTS: Compared to those who had never or infrequently smoked cigarettes, current and former smokers were more likely to try ENDS to quit or cut down on cigarette use, to try a safer alternative to cigarettes, and/or out of curiosity. Participants who reported trying ENDS to quit cigarettes or to try a safer alternative (vs. those who didn’t) were more likely to use cigarettes and ENDS 3 years later and use in higher quantities. Trying out of curiosity was associated with less cigarette and ENDS use, while trying for the available flavors was related to more ENDS but not cigarette use.

CONCLUSIONS: Young adults’ reasons for trying ENDS indicate risk for future cigarette and ENDS use and could have clinical utility in identifying young adults who might benefit from preventive interventions.

Background:Hispanic/Latinx people comprise 19% of the total United States population and are one of the fastest growing groups in the country. This growth has been particularly notable among youth from rural and small-town communities. Understanding mental health during adolescence in this population can have a significant impact on public health.

Objective: To compare depressive symptoms during adolescence among Latinx Children of Immigrants (COI), Latinx Children of Non-Immigrants (CONI), and non-Latinx White CONI from small towns in the United States.

Methods: We used longitudinal data from Grades 6–12 from 1520 youth from 12 rural and small-town communities in seven states. The three study groups were defined by Latinx ethnicity, race, and immigrant generational status based on the child’s and their parents’ country of birth. Using a negative binomial form of the generalized linear mixed model, we evaluated differences in depressive symptoms among the groups and group-by-time interactions to assess whether differences varied across developmental age. Additional models were estimated stratified by sex.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences in depressive symptoms comparing adolescent Latinx CONI and non-Latinx White CONI to Latinx COI. However, Latinx CONI had significantly elevated depressive symptoms and a steeper decline in symptoms compared to White CONI. Among males, Latino CONI had higher symptom scores than Latino COI and White CONI; however, there were no notable differences among groups in female youth.

Conclusions: Findings from this study highlight the importance of immigrant generational status when assessing rural and small-town U.S. Latinx youth’s mental health.

Intergenerational studies have identified relations between adolescents? and their future offspring?s cannabis and alcohol use, but rarely have examined the association for other illicit drug use. Given the low prevalence of such use in community populations, we pooled data from three prospective intergenerational studies to test this link. Participants were 1,060 children of 937 parents who had been repeatedly assessed since early adolescence. Children and parents reported on their use of cocaine, stimulants, hallucinogens, sedatives/tranquilizers, and opiates/narcotics from ages 10 to 18?years. Intergenerational similarities in any versus no use of these drugs were formally modeled using logistic regression. Patterns also were descriptively analyzed. Parent illicit substance use was associated with significantly higher odds of child use (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval]?=?2.682 [1.328?5.416], p?=?0.006). However, intergenerational continuity was modest; 87% of children whose parent used illicit drugs in adolescence did not use such drugs, and 77% of parents of children who used illicit drugs had not themselves used these drugs during adolescence. The use of illicit substances by parents during their teenage years poses a risk for their offspring?s similar behaviors. However, the discontinuity of these behaviors across generations implies children are largely resilient to or protected from this risk, and conversely that other aspects of parents? and children?s experiences or characteristics may be more powerful risks for children?s illicit drug use than this transgenerational influence. (a) Parents? use of illicit drugs during adolescence significantly increased risk that their adolescent children would use such drugs. (b) However, most parents who used illicit drugs did not have children who used illicit drugs, and conversely, the majority of adolescents who used illicit drugs did not have parents who had used such drugs in their adolescence. (c) Distinct prevention strategies may be needed to disrupt intergenerational continuities in illicit drug use via selective prevention, and also to avert drug use by offspring of parents who abstained in adolescence through universal approaches.