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Program 1addresses the need to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the role of social cognition and self-regulation in children and adolescents' use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. The investigators in this program are examining what kinds of situations are most likely to trigger drug use among middle-school and high-school children, how individual differences in personal goals and styles of pursuing goals influence the likelihood that children/adolescents will experiment with drugs, and how to develop interventions to reduce risk through these psychological and social mechanisms.
The knowledge gained from this line of research will then be applied to create and test innovative, practical approaches to prevention that are developmentally appropriate as well as gender and culture-appropriate. The development of these novel preventive interventions may include curriculum materials for parents and teachers that provide accurate information about the effects of drugs on adolescents; universal prevention curricula and computer simulations to help adolescents develop and practice strategies for resisting drug use; and interventions that help adolescents learn more effective ways of interacting with peers and pursuing their goals.
GOALS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Program 1addresses three main research questions:
- What types of social situations most commonly elicit adolescent drug use?
- What self-regulatory, cognitive-emotional, and executive-function processes mediate decisions to use drugs?
- How can these processes be modified in both universal and indicated interventions to prevent adolescent drug use?
PROJECTS
Adult Identity Mentoring (AIM): One of the main projects of Program 1is to enhance the AIM curriculum, as originally designed and tested by Dr. Leslie Clark. Modifications to the original curriculum included three main objectives:
• emphasize prevention of substance use and other risky behaviors such as initiation of sexual behavior
• strengthen the aspects of the AIM curriculum that were based on social cognition research (e.g., the use of possible selves theory)
• incorporate the basic elements of regulatory focus theory, paying particular attention to individual differences in motivational style
Researchers have tested the effectiveness of the AIM curriculum in three different settings with middle school students – an alternative school for long term suspended youth and two more normative settings - a summer camp and a charter school. Students in all settings reported a lower intent to use alcohol and drugs in the future. Additionally, they were more likely to report a greater intent to study regularly and to have a job.
Individual Differences
Another series of studies examines the role of individual differences such as sensation seeking and regulatory focus in relation to experimentation with substance use. Cross-sectional and longitudinal survey research is used to determine whether these individual differences predict drug use attitudes and behavior, either directly or in combination with other variables.
The Social Contexts of Adolescent Substance Use:
Program 1 uses focus groups to determine a taxonomy of substance-use problem situations for use with middle- and high-school students. Focus groups are conducted with numerous populations affected by adolescent substance use, including substance abuse counselors, parents, teachers, both young and old adolescents in an alternative school, "normative" high school adolescents, and young adults currently in a substance abuse treatment facility . The goal of these sessions is to produce both qualitative and quantitative data regarding the situations in which adolescents may be at particular risk for experimenting with alcohol, tobacco, or drugs. Influences by type of drug, race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and developmental level have also been examined.
PEOPLE
Timothy Strauman, Ph.D, Principal Investigator, Co-Chair of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Janis Kupersmidt, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, CEO and President of iRT
For more information about Program 1, contact Tim Strauman at tjstraum@duke.edu.
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