José Luis Carballo Crespo

Family predictors of parent participation in an adolescent drug abuse prevention program

Low participation rates constitute a serious problem faced by family drug abuse prevention programs. In this study we analyse the factors related to participation in a Life Skills Training program implemented in three schools in Spain. Participants in the study were 485 pupils aged 12 - 14 years and their respective parents. The variables that predicted participation in the program were: number of children and educational level of parents, childrens drug use, family conflict, parental rearing style, relationships between parents and children and family communication. The results from Spain are similar to those found in international studies, and indicate that the families most at risk of drug use are those least likely to participate in prevention programs. There is a need for strategies to increase participation in prevention programs of the families most at risk.

Recruitment Characteristics Influencing Parental Participation in Family-Based Drug-Abuse Prevention Programs : The Spoth and Redmond Model in Spain

Low rates of participation constitute a serious problem for family-based drug-use prevention programs. This study analyzes the characteristics of calls for parents participation in such programs through manipulation of the variables indicated by the model as involved in the process (severity of the drug problem, susceptibility of the familys own children and existence of barriers to participation). Participants were 485 school pupils ages 12 to 14 years and their respective parents. Results show that the attempt to manipulate such variables did not have behavioral consequences in relation to participation in the family-based prevention program. There is a need for strategies that increase attendance of high-risk families in this type of intervention. The studys limitations are noted.

Rendimiento académico y cognitivo en el uso problemático de Internet

Only few studies have examined the relationship between problematic Internet use (PIU) and cognitive and academic performance in adolescents. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in academic and cognitive performance (perception, attention, memory, verbal fluency and abstract reasoning) between adolescents with and without PIU. A total of 575 students from different high schools of the region of Alicante participated. Students were divided into two groups: adolescents with and without PIU (PIU and NPIU, respectively). Several questionnaires were administered to assess problematic Internet use, as well as students academic performance. Substance use (alcohol / cannabis) was also assessed as exclusion criteria. A battery of neuropsychological tests was used to assess cognitive abilities. On the one hand, PIU users group obtained poorer academic results than NPIU, in terms of lower marks and more failed subjects. On the other hand, PIU group had a better hit ratio in the perception test than NPIU group. However, PIU adolescents got higher error rates for the abstract reasoning test. This greater number of errors, plus a similar number of hits compared to the NPIU group, could indicated a higher response rate for the PIU group, which may might be associated with greater impulsivity. As occurs in other addictive and non-substance-related problems studies, these results could mean difficulties in impulse control and regulation of response inhibition circuits in PIU users group. Future research is needed to analyze in depth the results presented in this paper.