This study reports secondary outcome analyses from a past study of the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP), a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program for middle-school aged children. Middle school students (N = 697) were randomly assigned to PRP, PEP (an alternate intervention), or control conditions. Gillham et al., (2007) reported analyses examining PRP's effects on average and clinical levels of depression symptoms. We examine PRP's effects on parent-, teacher-, and self-reports of adolescents' externalizing and broader internalizing (depression/anxiety, somatic complaints, and social withdrawal) symptoms over three years of follow-up. Relative to no intervention control, PRP reduced parent-reports of adolescents' internalizing symptoms beginning at the first assessment after the intervention and persisting for most of the follow-up assessments. PRP also reduced parent-reported conduct problems relative to no-intervention. There was no evidence that the PRP program produced an effect on teacher- or self-report of adolescents' symptoms. Overall, PRP did not reduce symptoms relative to the alternate intervention, although there is a suggestion of a delayed effect for conduct problems. These findings are discussed with attention to developmental trajectories and the importance of interventions that address common risk factors for diverse forms of negative outcomes.

Mitigating and preventing substance use among adolescents requires approaches that address the multitude of factors that influence this behavior. Such approaches must be tested, not only for evidence of empirical effectiveness, but also to determine the mechanisms by which they are successful. The aims of the present study were twofold: 1) To determine the effectiveness of a school-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) program, (), in reducing substance use (SU) among a sample of U.S. youth living in a low-income, urban environment, and 2) to test one mechanism by which the program achieves its success. We used longitudinal mediation analysis to test the hypotheses that: 1) students attending intervention schools engage in significantly less SU than students attending control schools, 2) students attending intervention schools show significantly better change in SECD than students attending control schools, and 3) the effect of the intervention on SU is mediated by the change in SECD. Analyses revealed program effects on both SECD and SU, a relationship between SECD and SU, and the effects of on SU were completely mediated by changes in SECD. Future research directions and implications for school-based social-emotional and character development efforts and substance use prevention are addressed.

The current study examines indicators of emotional distress and coping that may define sub-populations of adolescents at risk for two potential affect-related mechanisms underlying substance misuse: self-medication and mood-related drinking consequences. Although theory and empirical evidence point to the salience of affect-related drinking to current and future psychopathology, we have little knowledge of whether or for whom such mood-related processes exist in adolescents because few studies have used methods that optimally match the phenomenon to the level of analysis. Consequently, the current study uses multilevel modeling in which daily reports of negative mood and alcohol use are nested within individuals to examine whether adolescents with more emotional distress and poorer coping skills are more likely to evidence self-medication and mood-related drinking consequences. Seventy-five adolescents participated in a multi-method, multi-reporter study in which they completed a 21-day experience sampling protocol assessing thrice daily measures of mood and daily measures of alcohol use. Results indicate that adolescents reporting greater anger are more likely to evidence self-medication. Conversely, adolescents displaying lower emotional distress and more active coping are more likely to evidence mood-related drinking consequences. Implications for identifying vulnerable sub-populations of adolescents at risk for these mechanisms of problematic alcohol use are discussed.

The literature indicates that the quality of affective relationships between youth and parents is associated with lower levels of a range of problem behaviors during childhood, early and late adolescence. While the protective effect of parental monitoring on substance use in the high school and post high school years has been demonstrated, there is a knowledge gap concerning effects of parent-child affective quality (PCAQ) during the same periods. We tested a conceptual theoretical model to examine the effects of PCAQ on substance use following high school. The sample was from a RCT that assessed adolescents in rural Iowa from the seventh grade through two years after high school (N=456). We specified direct effects of PCAQ in 12th grade on drunkenness, smoking and illicit drug use during the two years immediately following high school graduation. We also specified the effects of early substance use initiation (alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use reported at baseline) on later use. The direct effect of PCAQ in 12th grade on substance use was significant for all substances during at least one of the two years past graduation (ypg). Results were: drunkenness 1 ypg, β=-.126, p<.05; smoking 1 ypg, β=-.119, p<.05; 2 ypg, β=-.146, p<.05; illicit drug use 2 ypg, β=-.165, p<.05. Some significant indirect effects of PCAQ at baseline, via PCAQ at 12th grade, were found. Results also indicated significant direct effects of early initiation on two of the three substances, albeit with a different pattern of effects over time for each substance by years post high school. Importantly, while early initiation remains the strongest predictor of long-term tobacco and illicit drug use, results show how PCAQ might reduce its harmful effects.