Steven J. Danish

Relationship between Drug Use and Other Problem Behaviors in Urban Adolescents.

This study tested the generality of Jessor and Jessors (1977) problem behavior theory, which states that a variety of problem behaviors constitute a behavioral syndrome in normal adolescents. Relationships among 5 adolescent problem behaviors (cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, delinquency, and sexual intercourse) were examined in 7th-grade boys (n = 556) and girls (n = 715), and 9th-grade boys (n = 481) and girls (n = 485) in an urban school system in which the majority of students were African American and from low-income families. Measures of problem behavior frequency were positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with several measures of conventional behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses replicated findings of previous studies that a single common factor underlies adolescent problem behaviors.

Enhancing youth development through sport.

Abstract It is commonly believed that through sports, children and adolescents learn values and skills that will serve them well as they prepare for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, many youth sport programs are neither properly structured nor implemented in a manner that these life skills can be learned in sport and later transferred to other life domains. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of positive youth development, to describe the role sport can play in preparing youth to learn essential “life lessons,” to discuss why so few programs achieve this goal, and to provide examples of several sport-based programs designed to achieve these goals. In addition, various issues relating to the design, implementation and evaluation of these programs and future sport programs are discussed.

New Roles for Sport Psychologists: Teaching Life Skills Through Sport to At-Risk Youth

Following a discussion of the need to expand the definition of sport psychology to include the use of sport to enhance both sport and life skills, two sportrelated programs designed to enhance life skills are described. The focus of these programs is to promote both life and sport skills for adolescents, especially for those who are underserved. The conceptual framework for these programs is described as is the contents of the programs. The procedures for implementing the programs are delineated. Additionally, the roles played by sport psychologists, including a review of the necessary training to implement such programs, are detailed. Finally, a brief summary of the evaluation data and its connection to similar physical education programs is presented.

Peer Drug Associations and Emotional Restraint: Causes or Consequences of Adolescents' Drug Use?

A 3-wave longitudinal design was used to examine the relationships among emotional restraint, peer drug associations, and gateway drug use in a sample of 1,256 middle school students. Structural equation modeling was used to compare 3 models: (a) One model viewed drug use as a consequence of emotional restraint and peer variables; (b) 1 viewed drug use as a cause of restraint and peer variables, and (c) 1 included reciprocal effects. All 3 models fit the data fairly well. However, the reciprocal model fit the data significantly better than either of the others. Within this model, low emotional restraint was significantly related to subsequent increases in gateway drug use among boys. In contrast, peer drug models and peer pressure were not related to subsequent changes in gateway drug use. Changes in peer drug models were, however, predicted by previous levels of gateway drug use.

Risk factors for drug use in urban adolescents: Identification and cross-validation

Examined the relationship between 26 dichotomous risk factors and drug use in derivation (N = 1,352) and cross-validation (N = 1,309) samples of seventh graders in the public school system of a large southeastern city. The majority of students was African American, many came from low-income, single parent families. A total of 20 risk factors representing a variety of variables was significantly related to at least one category of drug use in both samples. Regression analyses identified a subset of 11 risk factors with minimum overlap. The simple sum of these 11 risk factors was significantly associated with prevalence of use for cigarettes, beer and wine, hard liquor, marijuana, and other drugs. The total number of risk factors also showed a curvilinear relationship with the frequency of 30-day use for each category of drug. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Development and Reproducibility of a Brief Food Frequency Questionnaire for Assessing the Fat, Fiber, and Fruit and Vegetable Intakes of Rural Adolescents

OBJECTIVE To describe the systematic development and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) designed to meet the specific research requirements of the Goals for Health cancer prevention intervention program for rural middle school children. DESIGN A 4-step process was used to develop a brief FFQ for scoring intakes of total fat, fiber, and fruits and vegetables. The resulting questionnaire consisted of 25 food frequency items and 10 supplemental questions. Reproducibility of the questionnaire was determined by comparing responses at the beginning and end of a 4-month interval. SUBJECTS Study subjects were sixth- and seventh-grade students attending middle schools in rural areas of Virginia and upstate New York. Seventh-grade students participated in the pilot study, and sixth-grade students participated in the reproducibility study. The final version of the FFQ was completed twice by 539 sixth graders. After exclusions for missing and unreliable data, the usable sample size was 415. Boys were somewhat more likely than girls to be excluded for missing data. African-American students comprised 32% of the population. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED Each food frequency item was associated with 3 scores--a fat score, a fiber score, and a combined score for the number of servings of fruits and vegetables. Means and standard deviations were determined for nutrient variables, differences between repeat administrations were tested for significance by paired t test, and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated for nutrients and for individual food items. RESULTS Correlation coefficients for nutrient scores were 0.58 for fat, 0.49 for fiber, and 0.51 for fruits and vegetables. For individual food items, correlations ranged from 0.24 to 0.59 (mean=0.41). APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS Using a systematic approach to developing a study-specific FFQ for rural adolescents is feasible. Further, the reproducibility of the Goals for Health questionnaire was demonstrated for the 3 nutrient scores it was designed to measure. This developmental approach may be readily adapted to other populations, study designs, and nutrients of interest. The validity of the questionnaire remains to be tested.

Developing a Conceptual Framework for Life Skills Interventions

The purpose of the article is to outline a comprehensive conceptual framework for life skills interventions by integrating aspects of Basic Needs Theory (BNT) and Life Development Intervention (LDI). In particular, we advocate the integration of (a) the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness and (b) the needs-supportive motivationalclimate from BNT with the LDI framework. When these basic psychological needs are satisfied, people experience positive psychological development and optimal psychological well-being—the stated outcome goals of most life skills programs. Without the development of a conceptual framework, it is difficult to determine whether individual life skills interventions achieve optimal psychological well-being. By developing this framework, we seek to identify and articulate the key underlying psychological mechanisms (i.e., basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness) that contribute to optimal human functioning and positive psychosocial development in all life skill programs. The implications for counseling psychologists’ research and practice are also considered.

The effectiveness of teaching a life skills program in a physical education context

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a life skills training program taught as part of physical education lessons. Seventy three, seventh grade students were assigned either in an experimental or in a wait-list control replication group and received an abbreviated version of GOAL, a school-based intervention designed by Danish and colleagues to teach life skills. The program focused on setting goals, making plans for achieving goals and on positive thinking. Students were assessed on physical fitness tests, knowledge about life skills, and beliefs about effective use of life skills. Results showed gains and retention on physical fitness, knowledge and self-beliefs regarding goal setting. These results show that life skills training can be effectively implemented within a school physical education context.RésuméLe but de cette étude était d’examiner l’efficacité d’un programme pour exercer des capacités de vie qui a été enseigné comme part de cours de l’éducation physique. Soixante-dix trois élèves de la septième classe ont étaient distribués soi qu ’à un groupe expérimental soi qu ’à un groupe du contrôle répliqué et reçus une version brève de GOAL, une intervention éducative développée par Danish et collaborateurs pour enseigner des capacités de vie à l’école. Le programme contenait mettre des objectifs, tracer des plans pour obtenir les buts et développement de la pensée positive. Les élèves ont étés examinés aux épreuves de la condition physique, connaissance des capacités de vie et convictions relativement à employer effectivement des capacités de vie. Les résultats indiquent des profits et du maintien de la bonne santé physique, de la connaissance et des convictions de soi-même en ce qui concerne mettre des objectifs. Ces résultats indiquent que l’entraînement des capacités de vie peut se pratiquer effectivement dedans l’éducation physique scolaire.

Effectiveness of Abbreviated CBT for Insomnia in Psychiatric Outpatients: Sleep and Depression Outcomes

OBJECTIVE To test the efficacy of cogntive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as a supplement treatment for psychiatric outpatients. Comorbid insomnia is prevalent among individuals with varied psychiatric disorders and evidence indicates that CBT-I may be effective for reducing insomnia and other psychiatric symptoms. METHOD The present study randomly assigned 30 psychiatric outpatients (mean duration of treatment = 3.6 years) with low sleep quality and residual depressive symptoms to two sessions of CBT-I or a treatment as usual control group. Assessment included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for insomnia and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression at pretreatment and 4 and 8 weeks posttreatment. RESULTS Patients who received CBT-I demonstrated within group changes in PSQI and the PHQ-9 scores at both 4 and 8 weeks posttreatment, but did not show between-group differences. Additionally, 38% of the treatment participants achieved normal sleep at follow-up compared with none in the control condition. CONCLUSIONS This study provides preliminary evidence that abbreviated behavioral treatment has beneficial effects on residual insomnia and depression in long-term psychiatric outpatients.

Evaluation of data screening methods in surveys of adolescents' drug use

This study evaluated methods to identify adolescents who inaccurately report drug use in school surveys. Two samples of seventh graders (N=2,710) completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of drug use. Subjects classified as random responders, subjects with a relatively large number of inconsistent responses, and subjects who reported using a fictitious drug all reported higher rates of drug use than did other subjects. For random responders and fictitious drug users, the rate of reported drug use was inconsistent with other subject data. Implications of these findings for the use of exclusionary criteria in surveys of adolescent drug use are discussed