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Underage Substance Use

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Journal Article
Which Teenagers Benefit Most From a Brief Primary Care Substance Use Intervention?
A brief primary care intervention can be effective over the long-term for adolescents who report problems from alcohol and marijuana use.
Aug 16, 2019
Journal Article
The Kids Aren't Alright: The Effects of Medical Marijuana Market Size on Adolescents
Combining a novel measure of market size with two shocks to U.S. federal enforcement policy, researchers find that legal medical market growth increases youth cannabis use and alcohol-involved car accidents, suggesting complementarities for youths. It’s unclear whether these results apply to cannabis legalization for nonmedical purposes.
Dec 9, 2022

Explore Underage Substance Use

Blog
RAND Turns 75: A Look Through the Decades At World-Changing Research
From anticipating the Space Age in the 1940s to studying gun policy and COVID-19 responses in the 2020s, RAND is celebrating 75 years of research that has made a difference.
May 8, 2023
Journal Article
Volunteer Recovery Support for Adolescents: Using Propensity Score Based Methods to Understand Dosage Effects Within a Randomized Controlled Trial
The study used statistical methods designed to approximate RCTs when comparing more than two nonequivalent groups that include an assessment of the potential impact of omitted variables in order to address potential dosage effects for a commonly used evidence based substance use treatment program for adolescents.
Jun 24, 2022
Journal Article
Comparative Effectiveness of Individual Versus Family-Based Substance Use Treatment on Adolescent Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors
We compared the effectiveness of individual- and family-based substance use treatments in reducing youth self-injurious thoughts and behaviors.
Jun 21, 2022
Blog
Responding to Russia, Sex Trafficking, Anti-Bias Education: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the false choice between responding to Russia or deterring China, how substance use and sex trafficking are connected, providing anti-bias education in U.S. schools, and more.
Feb 25, 2022
Journal Article
Mental Health Conditions and Substance Use Disorders Among Youth Subsequently Diagnosed With Opioid Use Disorder or Opioid Poisoning
This study examined receipt of services for mental health conditions and non-opioid substance use disorders among privately insured adolescents and young adults (ie, youth) with subsequent clinically diagnosed opioid use disorder or opioid poisoning.
Jul 21, 2021
Journal Article
What Influences Evidence-Based Treatment Sustainment After Implementation Support Ends? A Mixed Method Study of the Adolescent-Community Reinforcement Approach
Our findings lend empirical support for implementation theories in that multiple factors appear to be associated with long-term delivery of an evidence-based treatment.
May 27, 2021
Project
What Do We Know About the Health and Well-Being of U.S. Service Members?
RAND experts have analyzed data from the Department of Defense's flagship survey for understanding the health, health behaviors, and well-being of service members. The results provide valuable insights across various health-related topics and about personnel by service branch.
Apr 28, 2021
Journal Article
Opioid Misuse During Late Adolescence and Its Effects on Risk Behaviors, Social Functioning, Health, and Emerging Adult Roles
We examined the association of opioid misuse from ages 18 to 20 with four domains at age 21–22: risk behaviors and consequences; health; social functioning; and emerging adult roles.
Apr 28, 2021
Journal Article
Sustaining an Evidence-Based Program Over Time: Moderators of Sustainability and the Role of the Getting to Outcomes® Implementation Support Intervention
This randomized controlled trial advances the literature by testing the effects of Getting To Outcomes, an after-school evidence-based program for preventing substance use among middle-school students.
Jan 5, 2021
Journal Article
Practical Factors Determining Adolescent Substance Use Treatment Settings: Results from Four Online Stakeholder Panels
This study aimed to identify practical factors that stakeholders find most critical to consider when planning adolescent substance use treatment.
May 12, 2020
Journal Article
Cost Analysis of a Randomized Trial of Getting to Outcomes Implementation Support of CHOICE in Boys and Girls Clubs in Southern California
This study estimates the societal costs of implementing CHOICE, a voluntary after-school alcohol and other drug prevention program for adolescents, in Boys and Girls Clubs across Southern California with and without an implementation support system called Getting To Outcomes.
Mar 11, 2020
Journal Article
Advancing LGBTQ Health Equity Via Human-Centered Design
Human-centered design (HCD; also known as user-centered design) is well-suited to advance the field of substance use prevention interventions for LGBTQ youths by designing interventions that simultaneously target several the complex, multilevel factors that drive health disparities.
Feb 4, 2020
Journal Article
Associations of Tobacco Advertising Appeal With Intentions to Use Alternative Tobacco Products Among Young Tobacco Users Experiencing Homelessness
The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between the appeal of advertising for five classes of tobacco product and future intentions to use those products, among youth experiencing homelessness who had some level of experience with it.
Dec 12, 2019
Journal Article
Roll-your-own Cigarette Smoking Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness
Roll-your-own cigarettes may encourage continued tobacco use among youth experiencing homelessness and pose additional health risks, despite users' beliefs to the contrary.
Dec 12, 2019
Journal Article
Early Alcohol and Smoking Initiation: A Contributor to Sexual Minority Disparities in Adult Use
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults report higher rates of smoking and alcohol use than heterosexual peers. Prior studies have not examined whether disparities in early initiation among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth contribute to adult disparities.
Dec 11, 2019
Journal Article
Early Evidence of the Impact of Cannabis Legalization on Cannabis Use, Cannabis Use Disorder, and the Use of Other Substances: Findings from State Policy Evaluations
Understanding effects of cannabis laws requires greater attention to differences in short- versus long-term effects of the laws, nuances of policies and patterns of consumption, and careful consideration of appropriate control groups.
Oct 30, 2019
Journal Article
Long-term Associations Between Substance Use-Related Media Exposure, Descriptive Norms, and Alcohol Use from Adolescence to Young Adulthood
This study uses advances in longitudinal modeling to extend our understanding of how exposure to substance-related media content, quantity of alcohol use, and perceived descriptive norms about alcohol use are reciprocally related over time.
Sep 19, 2019
Journal Article
Associations Between Driving Under the Influence or Riding with an Impaired Driver and Future Substance Use Among Adolescents
In this article, we examined characteristics of adolescents who reported DUI and RWID in the past year using a baseline survey and then assessed associations between baseline reports of DUI and RWID with reports of alcohol and marijuana use and consequences 6 months later.
Aug 6, 2019

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RAND Topic:
Underage Substance Use

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Eric R. Pedersen

Adjunct Behavioral Scientist

Eric R. Pedersen is an adjunct behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. His primary affiliation is with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. His research interests are primarily in the areas of young adult/adolescent alcohol use and comorbid mental health…
Steven C. Martino

Senior Behavioral Scientist

Steven Martino is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. He is an expert in the application of psychological and measurement theory to understand decisions and actions related to health and health care. His recent research focuses on health care disparities, vulnerable patient…

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