The measurement of substance use among adolescents: When is the ‘bogus pipeline’ method needed?

doi:10.1016/0306-4603(87)90032-3

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 12, Issue 3, 1987, Pages 225-233

https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4603(87)90032-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The use of objective measures to assess cigarette smoking among adolescents has become commonplace in research studies in recent years. This trend is based on evidence that this so called pipeline methodology can increase the disclosure of socially proscribed behaviors in a setting where adolescents might otherwise feel pressure to deny that they smoke. This paper examines the effects of the pipeline methodology alone and in combination with procedures designed to ensure anonymity on the disclosure of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use by young adolescents. The data indicate that the pipeline procedures significantly increase disclosure of tobacco and marijuana use when students are promised confidentiality but not anonymity. However, when anonymity was assured, disclosure of cigarette use was just as high without the pipeline; for marijuana use, disclosure was higher without the pipeline. No effects were observed for alcohol disclosure. These data are interpreted for their implications for prospective and cross sectional studies.

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To examine the efficacy of a smoking prevention program which aimed to address smoking related cognitions and smoking behavior among Saudi adolescents age 13 to 15.
A randomized controlled trial was used. Respondents in the experimental group (N = 698) received five in-school sessions, while those in the control group (N = 683) received no smoking prevention information (usual curriculum). Post-intervention data was collected six months after baseline. Logistic regression analysis was applied to assess effects on smoking initiation, and linear regression analysis was applied to assess changes in beliefs and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess intervention effects. All analyses were adjusted for the nested structure of students within schools.
At post-intervention respondents from the experimental group reported in comparison with those from the control group a significantly more negative attitude towards smoking, stronger social norms against smoking, higher self-efficacy towards non-smoking, more action planning to remain a non-smoker, and lower intentions to smoke in the future. Smoking initiation was 3.2% in the experimental group and 8.8% in the control group (p < 0.01).
The prevention program reinforced non-smoking cognitions and non-smoking behavior. Therefore it is recommended to implement the program at a national level in Saudi-Arabia. Future studies are recommended to assess long term program effects and the conditions favoring national implementation of the program.
Proactive telephone counseling for adolescent smokers: Comparing regular smokers with infrequent and occasional smokers on treatment receptivity, engagement, and outcomes
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Adolescent smoking cessation efforts to date have tended to focus on regular smokers. Consequently, infrequent and occasional smokers’ receptivity and response to smoking cessation interventions is unknown. To address this gap, this study examines data from the Hutchinson Study of High School Smoking—a randomized trial that examined the effectiveness of a telephone-delivered smoking cessation intervention for a large, population-based cohort of adolescent smokers proactively recruited in an educational setting.
The study population included 1837 proactively identified high school smokers. Intervention receptivity, engagement, and outcomes were examined among adolescent infrequent (1-4 days/month) and occasional (5-19 days/month) smokers and compared with regular smokers (20 or more days/month).
With regard to treatment receptivity, intervention recruitment did not differ by smoking frequency. For engagement, intervention completion rates were higher for infrequent smokers (80.5%) compared with occasional (63.8%) and regular smokers (61.5%, p < 0.01). Intervention effect sizes were not statistically different across groups.
Adolescent infrequent and occasional smokers are at least as receptive to a proactively delivered smoking cessation intervention as regular smokers and can benefit just as much from it. Including these adolescent smokers in cessation programs and research—with the goal of interrupting progression of smoking before young adulthood—should help reduce the high smoking prevalence among young adults.
Early onset of cannabis use: Does personality modify the relation with changes in perceived parental involvement?
2015, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
The present study examined (1) the association between changes in perceived parental control and support from age 13 to 15 and early onset of cannabis use (before age 16), and (2) whether personality modifies the association between a decline in perceived parental control and support and early onset of cannabis use.
Objectives were studied using data (three waves covering two years) from 444 Dutch adolescents participating in the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR) study. Adolescents had a mean age of 13 years at baseline, and reported at each wave about perceived parental control and support. Big Five personality traits and past year cannabis use were also measured by self-report. Joint latent growth curve–discrete-time survival analyses were used to answer the research questions.
Early onset of cannabis use was reported by 19.4% of the sample. Overall, a decline in perceived parental control or support from age 13 to age 15 was unrelated to the risk of early onset of cannabis use. In adolescents with low levels of emotional stability and extraversion, a stronger decline in perceived parental control was associated with an increased risk of early cannabis use.
Experiencing a decline in parental control from age 13 to 15 is associated with early onset of cannabis use in adolescents characterized by low emotional stability and low extraversion.
Is parental socio-economic status related to the initiation of substance abuse by young people in an English city? An event history analysis
2012, Social Science and Medicine
Citation Excerpt :
Participants were asked about a range of substances as stated at the outset, but the focus in the following is on alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use. While self-report has its limits (see e.g., Stanton, McClelland, Elwood, Ferry, & Silva, 1996) which may be exacerbated with cannabis because of its effect on recall (Solowij, 1998), all responses were recorded confidentially and stored in anonymous records, which has been shown to improve the veracity, if not the accuracy, of reporting (Murray & Perry, 1987). As might be expected from a random sample, the gender ratio is 50:50 male-to-female, which is representative of the general population.
This paper aims to examine the relationship between parental socio-economic status (SES) and adolescent substance use. The central question posed in the title is approached in two stages. First, theoretical and empirical research in this area is reviewed. Second, data from an ongoing longitudinal study of young people in England (the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study – PADS+) are used to highlight the nature of this relationship in one city. Results from discrete-time event history analyses show that when examining what predicts initiation of substance use, familial and demographic factors emerge as important predictors, but SES does not appear to be relevant. The concluding discussion focuses on whether support is found for hypotheses derived from the existing literature and implications for future research.
DRD2 and DRD4 in relation to regular alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents: Does parenting modify the impact of genetic vulnerability? The TRAILS study
2011, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Citation Excerpt :
Second, although confidentiality of the study had been emphasized, self-reports of substance use may be subject to over- or underreporting of alcohol and cannabis use. However, previous research has concluded that, when anonymity is assured, self-report measures of substance use have acceptable reliability (Murray and Perry, 1987). Third, the parenting scales that were used in this study were only available at T1, on average 5 years before the assessment of regular alcohol and cannabis use.
The aims of the present study were to determine the direct effect of DRD2 and DRD4, as well as their interaction with parenting (i.e. rejection, overprotection and emotional warmth), on the development of regular alcohol and cannabis use in 1192 Dutch adolescents from the general population.
Information was obtained by self-report questionnaires. Perceived rejection, overprotection and emotional warmth were assessed at age 10–12. Regular alcohol and cannabis use were determined at age 15–18 and defined as the consumption of alcohol on 10 or more occasions in the past four weeks, and the use of cannabis on 4 or more occasions in the past four weeks. Models were adjusted for age, sex, parental alcohol or cannabis use, and externalizing behavior.
Carrying the A1 allele of the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism, or the 7 repeat DRD4, was not directly related to regular alcohol or cannabis use. In addition, adolescent carriers of these genetic risk markers were not more susceptible to the influence of less optimal parenting. Main effects for parenting indicated that overprotection increased the risk of regular alcohol use, whereas the risk of cannabis use was enhanced by parental rejection and buffered by emotional warmth.
Our findings do not support an association between DRD2/DRD4 and regular alcohol and cannabis use in adolescents. Given the substance-specific influences of rejection, overprotection and emotional warmth, these parenting factors might be promising candidates for prevention work.
Motivational interviewing for smoking cessation in college students: A group randomized controlled trial
2010, Preventive Medicine
To examine the efficacy of four individually-delivered Motivational Interviewing counseling sessions for smoking cessation versus a matched intensity comparison condition.
From 2006–2009, students attending college in the Midwest smoking at least 1 of 30 days were recruited regardless of their interest in quitting. 30 fraternities and sororities were randomized, resulting in 452 participants.
No significant differences were found for 30-day cessation between treatment and comparison at end of treatment (31.4% vs 28%, OR = 1.20, 95% CI 0.72,1.99) or at follow-up (20.4% vs 24.6%, OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.50,1.22). Predictors of cessation at follow-up, regardless of condition, included more sessions attended (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1,1.8) and more cigarettes smoked in 30 days at baseline (OR 4.7, 95% CI 2.5,8.9). The odds of making at least one quit attempt were significantly greater for those in the smoking group at end of treatment (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.11,2.74) and follow-up (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.11,2.47). Modeling showed reduction in days smoked for both groups. At end of treatment, more frequent smokers in the treatment condition had greater reductions in days smoked.
Motivational Interviewing for smoking cessation is effective for increasing cessation attempts and reducing days smoked in the short run.

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^☆: This research was supported through grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA-03205 and R01-DA-03044) and the National Cancer Institute (R01-CA-38275).

^∗: The authors thank the students and staff of Minnesota Independent School District 281 for their cooperation in this research. In addition we thank Linda Schmid, Lisa Roche, and Catherine O'Connell who assisted in the analysis of the data; Jan Whitebeck who directed the school survey; Laurie Zurbey who prepared the manuscript; and Maurice Mittlemark who critiqued an earlier draft.

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The measurement of substance use among adolescents: When is the ‘bogus pipeline’ method needed?☆

Abstract

Addictive Behavior

Preventive Medicine

Addictive Behaviors

Are self-reports of adolescent deviance valid? Biochemical measures, randomized response, and the bogus pipeline in smoking behavior

Social Forces

Influence of an objective measure on self-reports of behavior

Journal of Applied Psychology

Validity of self-reports of adolescent cigarette smoking

The International Journal of the Addictions

Adolescents' self-reports of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use: examining the comparability of videotape, cartoon, and verbal bogus pipeline procedu res

Psychological Reports

Increasing the validity of self-reports of drug use: Generalizability of a bogus pipeline procedure used to study cigarette smoking

BMDP Statistical Software. 1983 Revised printing