Assessment of refusal skill in minority youth

Self-instruction to prevent HIV infection among African-American and Hispanic-American adolescents

This study tested the efficacy of self-instruction intervention to reduce avoidable risks for HIV infection associated with drug use and unsafe sexual activity among African-American and Hispanic adolescents (N = 60). After completing pretests, adolescent participants in the study were randomly divided into three conditions. Participants in one condition received a self-instructional guide about AIDS and its transmission along with group instruction in using the guide. Adolescents in another condition received the guide without group instruction. Participants in the third condition received neither the guide nor group instruction. Outcome findings indicate that participants in the two self-instruction conditions improved more between pretest and posttest assessments on measures of HIV infection risk compared with adolescents in the control condition.

Reducing onset of habitual smoking among women

More women smoke cigarettes than ever before. The untoward health consequences of habitual smoking for women are well documented. The authors argue that, for developmental and social reasons, females may initiate and continue smoking for reasons that differ from the conditions that promote and maintain smoking among males. This article outlines the case for and potential content of a female-specific approach to reducing smoking among women. Gender differences in responsiveness to clinical programs to reduce or deter smoking, findings from social and clinical psychology that suggest explanations for female-specific patterns in cigarette use, data from a smoking prevention trial with adolescents showing differential effects for females, and implications for improving clinical interventions to prevent smoking initiation and habitual smoking among women are discussed.

Skills enhancement to prevent substance abuse among American Indian adolescents

Skills enhancement programs to prevent drug abuse have shown promise in tests with majority-culture adolescents. To date few applications of this preventive strategy have been evaluated with American Indian youth. A culturally tailored 10-session skills enhancement program was delivered in reservation and nonreservation settings in the Pacific North west. At 6-month follow-up, compared with test-only control condition subjects, intervention condition subjects had better knowledge of drug effects, better interpersonal skills for managing pressures to use drugs, and lower rates of alcohol, marijuana, and inhalant use. Intervention condition subjects were also less likely to label or consider themselves users of these substances. The findings suggest that behavioral skills training approaches hold promise for reducing substance use and abuse among American Indians.