The nitrous oxide problem in Swedish prohibitionist drug policy: a WPR analysis of N2O intoxication and legitimizing values

Substance use among youth is a significant public health concern with far-reaching implications for individual health and societal well-being. This review provides a comprehensive review of public health strategies aimed at preventing youth substance use, focusing on the examination of prevention programs and conceptual approaches. Prevention programs targeting youth substance use vary widely in their approaches, ranging from school-based interventions to community-wide initiatives. This review evaluates the effectiveness of different prevention programs, considering factors such as program structure, content, and duration. It highlights evidence-based programs that have demonstrated success in reducing substance use initiation and promoting healthy behaviors among youth. Moreover, the review discusses various conceptual approaches underpinning youth substance use prevention efforts. These approaches encompass socio-ecological models, which emphasize the influence of multiple levels of factors including individual, interpersonal, community, and societal influences on substance use behavior. Additionally, the socio-cultural perspective underscores the significance of cultural norms, beliefs, and values in shaping youth attitudes towards substance use. Furthermore, this review examines the role of policy interventions and regulatory measures in preventing youth substance use, emphasizing the importance of creating supportive environments and implementing evidence-informed policies to curb access to substances and minimize risk factors associated with youth substance use. In conclusion, effective prevention of youth substance use requires a multifaceted approach that integrates evidence-based programs, conceptual frameworks, and policy interventions. By addressing risk factors at various levels and promoting protective factors, public health strategies can play a pivotal role in reducing the prevalence of youth substance use and fostering healthier communities.

The present study examined whether parental monitoring buffers the negative effects of communtity violence exposure on probation youth's substance use and sexual risk behaviors. Among a sample of 347 Chicago youth on probation, ages 13-17 years, parental monitoring did not moderate the relationship between community violence exposure and probation youth's sexual risk and substance use. However, parental monitoring was independently associated with less engagement in sexual risk and substance use, and community violence exposure was independently associated with more risk behavior among probation youth. The present study contributes to the growing literature on the impact of community violence exposure and parenting on adjudicated youth risk.

Problem representations in Swedish youth substance use treatment: staff views on what is treatable and less treatable.

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Risk of Youth Substance Use

Structural oppression affects health behaviors through residence in suboptimal neighborhoods and exposure to community violence. Youth and parents report perceptions of neighborhood factors that can affect youth substance use behaviors. Given that Latinx youth report higher levels of perceived community violence than other racial and ethnic groups, it is imperative to examine how youth- and parent-perceived neighborhood-level factors may relate to youth substance use. Data were collected using clinical interviews with family triads (fathers, mothers, and youth) and parent-child dyads (father or mother and youth) enrolled in the Seguimos Avanzando study of 344 Mexican-origin families in Indiana. Neighborhood measures, including perceptions of exposure to violence, neighborhood characteristics, and neighborhood collective efficacy, were included in parent and youth surveys. Self-report measures for past year alcohol and drug use were included in the youth survey only. T-tests were conducted to estimate differences in neighborhood reports among the sample triads. A series of linear regression models were used to estimate the associations between youth-, mother-, and father-reported perceptions of neighborhood factors and youth substance use. Preliminary results indicate that fathers reported higher levels of exposure to violence than mothers [t(163) = 2.33, p = 0.02] and youth [t(173) = 3.61, p < 0.001]. Youth reported lower negative neighborhood characteristics than mothers [t(329) = 6.43, p < 0.001] and fathers [t(169) = 3.73, p < 0.001]. Youth reported significantly better neighborhood collective efficacy than mothers [t(296) = 3.14, p = 0.002], but not statistically different from fathers. Results from the primary analysis showed that youth exposure to violence was positively associated with youth substance use (b = 0.24, SE = 0.06, p < 0.0001), but the youth's neighborhood characteristics and collective efficacy were not significantly associated with youth substance use. None of the parent-reported neighborhood variables were associated with youth substance use. The discrepant findings between parent and youth reports of perceived neighborhood characteristics and substance use have important implications for researchers and community stakeholders, and for developing targeted interventions and prevention strategies. Our study highlights the need to address youth experience of community violence and to prioritize creating safe and inclusive neighborhood environments. Potential strategies include improving community resources, strengthening social support networks, promoting open communication about neighborhood risks, and fostering collaborative efforts to address substance use behaviors.

Taking stock of youth substance use portrayals: A critical content analysis of Canadian news media, 2016-2024.

Utilizing SBIRT as a Framework for Transforming How We Think About Prevention and Early Intervention for Youth and Young Adults

The current study assessed bidirectional relationships between supportive parenting behaviors (i.e., involvement, positive parenting), parental control strategies (i.e., parental monitoring, effective discipline), and youth substance use in a sample of aggressive youth during the transitions to middle and high school. Participants were drawn from the control group of a larger longitudinal study and were followed from 4th through 9th grade. Cross-lagged developmental models were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Youth substance use at 6th, 7th, and 8th grade influenced positive parenting at 7th, 8th, and 9th grade, but did not influence parental involvement or monitoring at any grade. Parental involvement, monitoring, and positive parenting at earlier grades did not influence youth substance use at later grades. Reciprocal relationships were observed between effective discipline and youth substance use at all grades. Results are consistent with models of bidirectionality that suggest that parents and children adjust their behavior based on the response of the other. Findings may impact our understanding of the development of youth substance use across time and improve interventions designed to reduce this behavior during periods of transition.

Officially, Swedish drug policy is proclaimed to be successful. The success, it is claimed, depends on the implementation of a “restrictive” – in comparison to the 1960s and 1970s – drug policy in Sweden today. The question addressed in the article is whether the strict drug policy has led to less harm from narcotics than earlier. The analysis of the development of drug use is based upon case-finding studies, time series on sentenced persons, drug use among young people, and deaths as a result of drug use, among other things. According to available data, the success of the Swedish drug policy cannot be established by counting the number of drug abusers; the number increased during the 1980s. When it comes to the number of new drug users, a decrease was especially noticeable during the less strict 1970s. Whether there is a decrease also during the 1980s is a matter of interpretation, since different data sets give partly different answers. The uncertain and limited decrease in the costs of drug consumption since the beginning of the 1980s must be seen in relation to the clearly increased costs for the control of drugs. Such costs are connected to the disregard for law, increased use of limited law enforcement resources, increased use of compulsory treatment, more and longer prison sentences, and, possibly, increased mortality among drug abusers. The repressive features have become clearer. The conclusion must therefore be that the official description of Swedish drug policy as a restrictive and successful model hardly is supported by neither the terminology nor data.

Misleading News Coverage of Research Findings Poses a Risk to Youth Mental Health and Safety

BackgroundAge is a critical factor in substance use and related outcomes, with adolescence being a particularly sensitive period. Early initiation of substance use has been linked with higher risk for developing substance use disorders. In Ontario, Canada, substance use is common among youth, yet treatment is underutilized, suggesting the potential for an unmet need in terms of substance use care. Despite these challenges, there is limited research examining factors that contribute to youth substance use and youth-specific barriers to substance use care. To fill this knowledge gap, this study sought to include the unique perspectives of service providers who work directly with youth to examine these issues.MethodsWe used a cross-sectional mixed-methods design to examine factors that contribute to substance use among youth and identify youth-specific barriers to substance use among a sample of 54 Ontario-based youth service providers. Data collection included an online survey completed by all study participants followed by qualitative interviews of a subsample of 16 participants. Data analysis included basic frequency tabulations for survey results and thematic qualitative analyses to identify common themes.ResultsLicit substances were identified as the most commonly used among youth, where 94% of respondents identified cannabis use and 81% identified alcohol use. Thematic analyses identified the role of dominant substance use discourses in normalizing certain substances (i.e., cannabis and alcohol) while also endorsing stigmatizing beliefs and sentiments. According to youth service providers, the intersection of these two discourses simultaneously lead to an increase in substance use while deterring youth from seeking substance use care.ConclusionsNormalization and stigmatization are two dominant discourses around youth substance use, with important implications for public health interventions. Key public health strategies, as identified by participants, to reduce the overall negative effect of these factors include the need to reframe substance use discourse, from a moral failing to a public health issue and to educate youth about the impacts of use. To accomplish this goal educational campaigns to raise awareness around the health effects of use and address stigmatization are needed. Educational reforms are also needed to ensure that these programs are integrated into the school system.

The aim of this study is to evaluate how the impact of social capital on youth behaviour varies by mediating factors and to suggest evidence-based policy interventions. The type of activities adolescents participate in, the time and type of intra-familial interactions between parents and adolescents and the type of peer groups adolescents interact with were employed as indicators of social capital. The study examined the variation in substance use among youth by age, gender, ethnicity, income level and mobility. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2007 was employed and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for hypothesis testing. Findings show that there is a relationship between youth substance use and social capital. While peer influence is positively correlated with substance use, family attachment and youth activities have a negative relationship with substance use. The impact of social capital varies by age, gender, ethnicity, mobility and income level. Furthermore, those mediating factors have strong relationships with the creation of social capital.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are at disproportionate risk for poor mental health outcomes, in part due to experiences and expectations of anti-SGM bias including from their own parents. We examined explicit anti-SGM and implicit antisexual minority bias in parents of SGM youth and associations with parenting and parent and youth psychosocial functioning. Heterosexual/cisgender parents (N = 205, Mage = 46.9 years, SD = 8.5) of SGM youth (≤ 29 years old, Mage = 19.4, SD = 4.7) completed an online study including measures of explicit anti-SGM and implicit anti-SM bias, parental acceptance and psychological control, parent-child unfinished business (unresolved negative feelings related to their child's identity), parental depression and anxiety, and youth anxiety, depression, substance use, and exposure to bullying. In models including both explicit anti-SGM and implicit anti-SM bias as predictors of parent and youth outcomes, explicit bias was uniquely associated with lower parental acceptance and greater parental psychological control, parent-child unfinished business, parental anxiety and depression, and youth substance use and exposure to bullying, whereas implicit bias was uniquely associated with greater parent-child unfinished business and parental depression. Further, the combination of high levels of both explicit and implicit bias was associated with the highest levels of parent-child unfinished business, parental depression, and youth anxiety, depression, and exposure to bullying. Results suggest that both types of bias jointly contribute to parenting and parent and youth psychosocial functioning and can help identify families at greatest risk for maladjustment. Findings can inform the development of interventions designed to reduce anti-SGM bias in parents of SGM youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

African American adolescents in poorer neighborhoods experience significant sanctions related to drug use and delinquency. Parental stress (i.e. substance use, mental distress, and incarceration) is associated with youth drug use and delinquency. We examined whether high self-esteem and positive future orientation mediated parental stress and youth substance use and delinquency. Demographic, family stress, future orientation, self-esteem, and drug use data were collected from 578 youths. Major findings indicated that self-esteem mediated the relationship between family stress and both drug use and delinquency. Future mediated the relationship between family stress and delinquency. Resiliency factors may promote positive development for low-income youth.

Swedish drug policy has according to official declarations been successful. The picture has recently been challenged through rising drug use and rising drug related mortality. This development has taken place in spite of the restrictive Swedish policy with further penalization of drug consumption, increasing number of police officers working with drug crime and rising number of persons sentenced to prison for drug offences. The question to be explored here is then what strategies the Swedish Government has chosen in the light of the development and how these strategies should be explained. The analysis is based on central Government documents as well as statements from Government ministers, public authorities and voluntary organizations. The picture that emerges is a denial of the failure of the old Swedish model but at the same time an alarmist stand with demands for increases of resources for information, treatment and control. The strategies chosen can be derived from two central themes in Swedish drug debate: ‘a drug‐free society’ and ‘total rehabilitation’. The two in turn seem to be aspects of an underlying vision—the vision of the good and integrative welfare society.