PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Dembo

Publications and source records attributed to R Dembo.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Factors in the drug involvement of inner city junior high school youths: a discriminant analysis.

Data from a survey of youths attending an inner city junior high school were examined to learn how their demographic characteristics, socio-cultural experiences and the drug use existing among their neighbourhood peers related to their involvement with substances. Discriminant analysis uncovered two important factors that were associated with the youths' drug taking: (1) a street scene, social/recreational drug use factor and (2) a cluster reflecting friends' use of alcohol/marijuana and other drugs. The implications of these results for drug abuse prevention programming are explored.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Testing a causal model of environmental influences on the early drug involvement of inner city junior high school youths.

The present study examines a causal model explaining inner city youths' drug involvement using environmental variables which previously have been investigated singly or in various combinations and shown to influence drug use: the availability of drugs in the neighborhood and at school, a view of the neighborhood as tough, the esteem given to drug using, gang-involved persons by peers, friends' substance use, and participation in drug/street culture spare-time activities. The results show friends' use of alcohol and marijuana and participation in drug/street culture out-of-school activities have strong direct effects on personal drug involvement for the Black and Puerto Rican junior high school males and females who were studied; further, friends' use of alcohol and marijuana and the status peers give to drug using, gang-involved persons have respectable indirect effects on drug involvement for the four groups. In addition to these common features, a number of differences in the factors relating to drug involvement are found in the four groups. Implications of the results for alternative methods of drug abuse prevention and treatment are discussed, as is the necessity of utilizing an environmental, sociocultural view of drug use to adequately explain youth drug taking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Self-concept and drug involvement among urban junior high school youths.

Relationships between self-concept and drug involvement were examined through a survey given to 1,100 urban junior high school youths from mixed socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The students were presented with 14 descriptions of "types" of youth, which they rated in terms of similarity to themselves. Factor analyses produced three "self-image" factors each for both males and females. "Gang" and "drug culture" self-images were positively associated with self-reported drug use (r's for .35 to .46), while an "educational" self-image was negatively associated with drug involvement (r's from -.20 to -.30). Implications for further research and for drug abuse prevention planning are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

A survey of students' awareness of and attitudes toward drug abuse prevention programs in New York State, winter 1974/75.

The present paper reports some results from a winter 1974-1975, New York State survey of junior and senior public high school youths' awareness of and attitudes toward the drug prevention efforts their schools had undertaken. The findings indicate that most youths are not aware of community resources available for assistance with a drug problem. Substantial discrepancies were found between student ratings of the effectiveness of prevention programs and the programs which they were most frequently exposed. Finally, the data highlight the peer context and drug culture aspect of the youths' substance taking, emphasizing that the sociocultural backgrounds of students need to be taken into account in prevention program development.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Ethnicity and drug use among urban junior high school youths.

Data from a survey of youths attending a New York City junior high school were used to examine three perspectives of their drug involvement: (1) ethnic subculture, (2) social class, and (3) social adjustment. The results support the social adjustment view, although important differences were found in the demographic, attitude, and value correlates of drug involvement for the Black, Puerto Rican, and White students who were studied.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Drug information source credibility among junior and senior high school youths.

Analysis was made of data gathered in a winter 1974/75 survey of 7th through 12the grade youngsters attending public schools in New York State to learn the credibility of various sources of information on drugs. The results showed important relationships to hold between the youth's involvement with substances and their belief in the media and nonmedia information sources that were probed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

A survey of substances use among junior and senior high school students in New York state, Winter 1974-75.

A survey designed to assess drug and alcohol use among the 1,600,000 students in Grades 7 through 12 who attend New York State public schools was administered in 10i schools during the winter of 1974-75. Findings indicate that over 80% of the students have used alcohol and that almost one-third of the students have used marijuana at least once. In addition, 60% of the marijuana users have used no other substance, with the possible exception of alcohol. Also, if a student has used a substance, he is likely to have used it within the last 6 months. Finally, multiple substance use is not predominant among marijuana users, but is predominant among users of other substances.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

The believability of the media as sources of information on drugs.

Based on an analysis of data gathered by a school drug survey given to junior and senior high school students in a middle-class community in the spring 1974, important differences were found to exist in the believability of various sources of drug information. Overall, comparisons indicate that friend, expert (e.g., doctor, staff member of a drug program), and ex-user drug information sources are perceived to be more credible than pamphlets, newspapers/magazines, radio, and television. Among the media, pamphlets were felt to be most believable. Examination of the believability in the media as sources of drug information by youngsters with varying substance use behavior found that the more students are involved with substances, the less credible they percieve the media to be.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Evaluation of drug prevention programs by youths in a middle-class community.

Based on an analysis of data fron a survey of middle-class junior and senior high school youths in a New York City surban community, this paper examines: (1) young peoples' reaction to various drug prevention programs in which they have involved and (2) the program topics they would like to see discussed. Important relationships are found to exist between substance use, prevention program evaluations, and desired program topics. The results suggest that the youths selectively relate to and want prevention experiences that confirm their substance relationships.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Testing a model of the influence of family problem factors on high-risk youths' troubled behavior: a three-wave longitudinal study.

Using data collected in a study of arrested youths processed at a juvenile assessment center who entered a home-based family intervention project, the authors test a three-stage longitudinal model. The model reflects a developmental damage view of the relationships of the youths' family problems (including their physical abuse and sexual victimization experiences) to their drug use and delinquent behavior over time. The hypothesized model is supported by the data. Research, theoretical, and policy implications of the results are drawn.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceived environmental drug use risk and the correlates of early drug use or nonuse among inner-city youths: the motivated actor.

The extent to which youth perceive their neighborhood to be at risk was found to be directly related to a series of life-style and drug use context variables. Further, the extent of drug use (nonuse, only alcohol, both alcohol and marijuana) was directly related to two of these variables, but inversely related to the extent their friends used "hard" drugs. These results indicate the critical importance of incorporating a measure of perceived risk into drug studies of adolescents, and highlight the need to view youth as motivated actors, guiding their own behavior in an attempt to actualize self-defined values. This is in direct contrast to most theoretical perspectives which regard this age group as merely responding to powerful external influences.

Adolescent↗