We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Personal Network Characteristics of Youth in Substance Use Treatment: Motivation for and Perceived Difficulty of Positive Network Change
Tammy Chung , Lauren Sealy , Margaret Abraham , Cynthia Ruglovsky , Jacqueline Schall , Stephen A. Maisto
Substance Abuse
Vol. 36, Iss. 3, 2015

Friends and family can have an important impact in supporting youth recovery from substance abuse. Noteworthy study findings are that treated youth with a goal of temporary abstinence reported lower motivation for positive network change, and that adolescents’ report of closer ties among peers was associated with greater perceived difficulty of network change. Personal network interventions that address adolescents’ motivation for positive network change and perceived difficulty of positive network change are needed in order to activate a social environment that supports an adolescent’s ability to maintain treatment gains over time.

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Organizational Predictors and Use of Evidence-Based Practices in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
Maria Paino , Lydia Aletraris , Paul M. Roman
Substance Abuse
Vol. 36, Iss. 4, 2015

The findings from this paper address treatment quality in settings where adolescents receive SUD treatment. When treatment centers serve adolescents, the adolescent clients are likely to receive care in adolescent-only tracks, thus meeting a minimum threshold of quality for adolescent SUD treatment. Despite evidence that medications for SUD can be used for adolescent clients, they are less likely to receive treatment in centers that offer a variety of Medication-Assisted Treatments, but they are more likely to receive treatment in centers with more extensive psychosocial evidenced based practices. These data were drawn from a nationally representative sample which enhances confidence in generalizability.

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

A Review on Attachment and Adolescent Substance Abuse: Empirical Evidence and Implications for Prevention and Treatment
Andreas Schindler , Sonja Bröning
Substance Abuse
Vol. 36, Iss. 3, 2015

Attachment theory holds great explanatory power with regard to the massive emotional and relational changes occurring during adolescence. Thus far, its influence on the development of SUD during adolescence has been understudied. This paper reviews and structures existing evidence linking attachment and SUD development in order to guide future research in the field. Though we still face a lot of unknowns in the relation between attachment and SUD, there is strong evidence for a general link between SUD and insecure attachment. Data on connections between different patterns of attachment and different pathways towards SUD mainly point to disorganized and externalizing pathways. Evidence suggests that fostering attachment security might improve the outcome of state-of-the-art approaches in both early interventional treatment and prevention.

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.
Enrollment in Hispanic Serving Institutions as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Drinking Norms and Quantity of Alcohol Use Among Hispanic College Students
Ellen L. Vaughan , Tiffany K. Chang , Oscar S. Escobar , Marcel A. de Dios
Substance Abuse
Vol. 36, Iss. 3, 2015

Colleges and universities are tasked with understanding the prevention needs of various student populations. Research on Hispanic college students growing, but questions remain regarding the extent to which known correlates of drinking apply in this population. Further, the literature on drinking by Hispanic students at Hispanic Serving Institutions is particularly scarce. The results provide a starting point for understanding differences between institution type and the correlates of drinking. Implications for prevention include that while there were differences in the relationships between norms and personal consumption, norms interventions may be an important part of prevention on both types of campuses. Still, other prevention strategies may need to be quite different for Hispanic students attending predominantly White institutions. Finally, the results also underscores the need for more research that identifies important correlates of drinking for Hispanic students at all types of institutions of higher education.