Substance use among college students can result in serious academic and safety problems and have long-term negative repercussions. This state-of-the-art volume draws on the latest research on students' alcohol and drug use to provide useful suggestions for how to address this critical issue on college campuses. Leading researchers from multiple disciplines examine the prevalence and nature of substance use by students; biological and neuropsychological considerations; psychological and social aspects; prevention; and policy. Exemplary programs are presented -- including brief interventions, comprehensive prevention programs, and recovery support programs -- enhancing the utility of the book for campus-based clinicians and administrators. This title is part of The Duke Series in Child Development and Public Policy, edited by Kenneth A. Dodge and Martha Putallaz.

This instructive manual presents a pragmatic and clinically proven approach to the prevention and treatment of undergraduate alcohol abuse. The BASICS model is a nonconfrontational, harm reduction approach that helps students reduce their alcohol consumption and decrease the behavioral and health risks associated with heavy drinking. Including numerous reproducible handouts and assessment forms, the book takes readers step-by-step through conducting BASICS assessment and feedback sessions. Special topics covered include the use of DSM-IV criteria to evaluate alcohol abuse, ways to counter student defensiveness about drinking, and obtaining additional treatment for students with severe alcohol dependency. Note about Photocopy Rights: The Publisher grants individual book purchasers nonassignable permission to reproduce selected figures, information sheets, and assessment instruments in this book for professional use. For details and limitations, see copyright page.

Drinking is recognized as one of the most important problems confronting students on campus today, with major impacts on health and safety.This book answers crucial questions about why students drink, examines its complex links to campus crime and sexual assault, and offers new insights on how to address the issue.It differs from other studies of college drinking by dispelling the myth that the problem is universal. Dowdall’s research reveals that the incidence of alcohol abuse varies enormously between colleges, and in doing so identifies interventions and policies that have been effective, and those that have failed. His study is also unique in looking “upstream” at the broader cultural, organizational and social forces that shape this behavior, where most studies focus only on “downstream” behaviors, well after students have selected their college and have started drinking. Students and parents can take action to lower the risk of binge drinking by following the book’s recommendations, and consulting the data it provides about alcohol violations and crime at thousands of colleges. For administrators and student affairs personnel, it both defines and illuminates the issue, and outlines effective interventions.

Substance Abuse Recovery in College explains in authoritative detail what collegiate recovery communities are, the types of services they provide, and their role in the context of campus life, with extended examples from Texas Tech University’s influential CSAR (Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery) program. Using data from both conventional surveys and end-of-day daily Palm Pilot assessments as well as focus groups, the book examines community members’ experiences. In addition, the importance of a positive relationship between the recovery community and the school administration is emphasized. Topics covered include: The growing need for recovery services at colleges. How recovery communities support abstinence and relapse prevention. Who are community members and their addiction and treatment histories. Daily lives of young adults in a collegiate recovery community. Challenges and opportunities in establishing recovery communities on campus. Building abstinence support into an academic curriculum. This volume offers clear insights and up-close perspectives of importance to developmental and clinical child psychologists, social workers, higher education policymakers, and related professionals in human development, family studies, student services, college health care, and community services.

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Over a dozen appendices feature reproducible assessment instruments and other indispensable tools."--Jacket.

The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse offers educators, counselors, and clinicians a handbook for understanding and implementing a new and highly successful alternative to traditional methods for preventing substance abuse among young people. The proven "social norms" approach outlined in this book identifies young people's dramatic misperceptions about their peer norms and promotes accurate public reporting of actual positive norms that exist in all student populations. The contributors to this important book are the originators, pioneers, and active proponents of this new approach. Many of them have successfully applied the social norms approach in secondary and higher education settings and as a result have promoted healthier lifestyles among adolescents and young adults across the United States.