Posttreatment Drug Use Research Articles

The Effects of Time in Drug Abuse Treatment and Employment on Posttreatment Drug Use and Criminal Activity

The impact of length of stay in drug abuse treatment on follow-up drug use and criminal behavior has important clinical and policy implications. In this paper we use longitudinal data from the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study to estimate the simultaneous effects of time in treatment and employment outcomes--weeks worked and total earnings--on posttreatment drug use and criminal activity. The drug use/criminal activity variables include four indexes measuring the severity of use, drug-related problems, predatory illegal acts, and overall criminal behavior. The results show that time in treatment had a negative and statistically significant impact on these outcome variables for every modality with residential clients experiencing the largest relative impact. The time-in-treatment effect was robust even when employment outcomes were modeled jointly with drug use and criminal activity outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of length of stay in treatment in the recovery and rehabilitation of drug abusers.

The Effects of Skills and Intentions to Use Drugs on Posttreatment Drug Use of Adolescents

The present study examines the relationship between (a) social, cognitive, and behavioral skills; (b) self-reported intentions to use drugs and alcohol following treatment; and (c) later drug and alcohol use for a sample of 130 adolescents. Social, problem solving, self-control, and drug and alcohol avoidance skills were significantly related to marijuana use, variety and severity of drug use, and to the number of drug-free months for female subjects at 12-month follow-up. These skills did not have a statistically significant direct effect on any measured drug outcomes for males. However, skills did lower male subjects' intentions to use drugs or alcohol. Decreased intentions to use, in turn, were associated with less drug and alcohol use, suggesting an indirect relationship between skills and reductions in drug and alcohol use among males at 12-month follow-up. Implications for the treatment of adolescents who engage in drug and alcohol use are discussed.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

General versus drug-specific coping skills and posttreatment drug use among adults.

Drug Use, Drug-Use Attitudes, and the Authoritarianism-Rebellion Dimension

This article examines the relationships between drug use and drug-use attitudes on the one hand, and sociopolitical ideology on the other. The latter was assessed by the recently developed Authoritarianism-Rebellion Scale (ARS). It was found that more rebellious respondents are generally more permissive about drugs and more likely to use drugs, notably marijuana, than their more authoritarian peers. Some theoretical, psychometric, and social-policy implications of these findings are discussed.