Suchergebnisse

The authors assess the impact of training school versus alternative program placements for a 12-year period on 266 youths remanded to the Texas Youth Commission in 1983. A proportional-hazards model is used to predict time until recidivism as a function of individual characteristics, criminal history, family environment, program placement, and delinquency risk. Being male, of younger age at the time of commitment, and in an institutional program prior to parole are found to significantly increase the hazard of recidivism. Although program experience does not affect the overall incidence of recidivism, it does affect the timing of subsequent criminal acts. Youth placed in alternative programs have significantly longer survival time until recidivism compared to youth who have been in institutions. In addition, these effects are greatest for the youngest offenders. An important benefit of alternative programs may be to lengthen a window of opportunity for additional rehabilitative efforts and interventions during parole.

We examined the potential prevalence Impact of differences In consent procedures, mode of administration, and editing protocols in the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the Monitoring the Future study, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, limiting analyses to 10th and 12th graders. NHSDA's high level of compliance with federal regulations regarding human subjects research, including thorough parental permission prior to adolescent participation, may in part be responsible for the relatively low prevalence rates obtained in this study. Key mode effects which contribute to observed differences across surveys are survey setting and privacy. The two school-based surveys produce higher prevalence estimates than the NHSDA. Although NHSDA prevalence rates Increase with increased interview privacy, the increase Is not enough to account for discrepancies with the school surveys. The procedures used to handle Inconsistent survey responses and to Impute missing data are very different across the three surveys. These differences In editing procedures, however, are unlikely to be responsible for the observed differences in prevalence rates. Based on these analyses, we conclude that the field would benefit from a well-designed experimental study evaluating school vs. household effects as well as the impact of variation In consent procedures. Increased methodological research on the validity of school based drug surveys is also needed.

With a growing interest in using drug testing as part of standard survey procedures for drug use prevalence estimation, we undertook an examination of national surveys of attitudes towards and experience with employment-related drug testing. After identifying 102 questions from 20 different surveys administered from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s, we found a trend suggesting that the population has become increasingly favorable toward drug testing. Although drug-testing policies are highly prevalent, personal experience with drug testing is not normative. Personal experience also varies with race, gender, age, and occupational group. Implications for epidemiological research incorporating testing are addressed.