New Article: Isralowitz & Reznik, Binge Drinking and Risk Taking Behavior Among Adolescent Females

Isralowitz, Richard, and Alexander Reznik. “Binge Drinking and Risk Taking Behavior Among Adolescent Females in Israel.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcap.12126

Abstract

Purpose
This prospective study examined binge drinking and alcohol-related problem behavior among Israeli adolescent females attending public school or a residential facility for substance abuse treatment.

Problem
Scant information is known about adolescent females, especially those with high-risk (e.g., school dropout and immigrant origin) characteristics.

Methods
The authors hypothesized that school, residential treatment, and mothers’ country of origin status are associated with binge drinking and problem behavior.

Findings
Females in residential treatment reported higher levels of binge drinking and problem behavior as expected. However, country of origin was not a significant factor differentiating the female adolescents in school or a residential facility. Logistic regression points to current cigarette smoking, ease of purchasing alcohol, unsupervised night activity, low religiosity, and being physically threatened as predictors of binge drinking and problem behavior.

Conclusion
The lack of differences based on country of origin status points to acculturation as a possible reason for the homogeneity. Further research is needed to study the impact of acculturation as well as monitor the alcohol use patterns and problems of adolescents over time and across locations to address prevailing needs.

 

 

New Article: Isralowitz et al, Quality of Life among Former Soviet Union and Israeli Origin Methadone Users

Isralowitz, Richard, Alexander Reznik, and Itay Pruginin. “Quality of Life among Former Soviet Union and Israeli Origin Methadone Users.” Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse (early view; online first)
 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2015.1046009
 
Abstract

A common treatment intervention for heroin addiction is methadone maintenance. In recent years a wider perspective has been adapted to understand and evaluate addiction through quality of life. This article examines quality of life conditions of 170 male former Soviet Union and Israeli origin drug users in methadone maintenance and provides an understanding of conditions linked to the World Health Organization Quality of Life project’s best available techniques reference document. Having a partner or spouse and less chronic illness are positive factors affecting quality of life regardless of country of origin. Israeli born drug users reported better quality of life based on their psychological health and environment domain responses; no difference was found for the physical health and social relationship domains of the Israeli and former Soviet Union origin males. Because heroin addiction is a chronic and relapsing illness, one of the goals of methadone maintenance is to address patients’ health status from a broad perspective. Based on clinical observations, the treatment of special populations may be enhanced if their particular needs are considered and met. Quality of life factors are relevant for assessing high risk groups, including those from different ethnic origins, in poor physical and psychological health, their treatment and personal adjustment, and their service personnel training needs.

 

 

New Article: Slone and Mayer, Gender Differences in Mental Health Consequences of Exposure to Political Violence

Slone, Michelle, and Yael Mayer. “Gender Differences in Mental Health Consequences of Exposure to Political Violence among Israeli Adolescents.” Children and Youth Services Review 58 (2015): 170-178.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.09.013

 

Abstract

This study examined the role played by gender differences in the relation between political violence exposure and mental health during adolescence. Understanding these differences is particularly pertinent during the period of adolescence characterized as it is by processes of identity formation and gender role consolidation. Participants were 154 high school students recruited from two high schools in central Israel (78 males, 76 females; average age 16.54), who completed the Political Life Events Scale for measurement of political violence exposure, the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 for assessment of psychological symptoms and disorders, a risk-taking behavior scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Scale — Interview (PSS-I) for assessment of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results reflected high levels on many psychological indicators. The dose–response hypothesis was partially confirmed with adolescents’ higher reported political violence exposure related only to higher levels of somatization and greater severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Contrary to the literature, only a few gender differences emerged and these showed mixed patterns. Females showed higher levels of anxiety than males, and males showed higher levels of risk-taking behavior. Females exposed to low political violence exposure showed significantly less substance abuse than males but those with high exposure reported significantly higher levels of substance abuse, equivalent to those of males. Findings show a complex constellation of gender effects on relations between political violence exposure and different psychopathological outcomes. Findings of this study indicate the necessity for more refined examination of gender differences in psychological processes in reaction to living in conditions of protracted conflict and war.

 

 

New Article: Gueta & Chen, Discourse Analysis of Israeli Women Offenders

Gueta, Keren, and Gila Chen. “‘I Wanted to Rebel, But There They Hit Me Even Harder’: Discourse Analysis of Israeli Women Offenders’ Accounts of Their Pathways to Substance Abuse and Crime.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306624X15595421

 

Abstract

This study examined women offenders’ accounts of their pathways to substance abuse and crime and the intersection between them, to reach a holistic understanding that captures the dynamics of victimization, agency, and gender. Discourse analyses of the accounts of 11 Israeli women offenders indicated differential use of two discourses. Five participants used the victimization discourse, which viewed substance abuse as an attempt to medicate the self that was injured following victimization experiences; two used the agency discourse, which viewed substance abuse as a way to experience pleasure, leisure, and control over their destiny. Four of the participants used these two contradictory discourses simultaneously. The findings indicate the absence of a cultural discourse that encompasses women’s complex experience of gender, victimization, and agency. Possible implications for intervention are discussed.

 

 

New Article: Rosca et al, The Recent Legal Approach to New Psycho-Active Substances Regulation in Israel

Rosca, Paula, Arie Bauer, Razek Khawaled, Ety Kahana, and Keren Goldman. “The Recent Legal Approach to New Psycho-Active Substances Regulation in Israel: Does it Work?” Civil & Legal Sciences 4.2 (2015).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2169-0170.1000140

 
Abstract

Background: New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), rapidly spreading on the global drug market have become a major concern in different Countries. The drug control systems did not allow a prompt and effective response to this phenomenon, due to the slow and complicated procedures to declare a substance dangerous and illegal. Aims: To briefly describe to legal background of drug control in Israel and illustrate the characteristics of the novel legislation. Method: The Authors summarize the legal approach to NPS control in Europe and in New Zealand, the first Country to opt for a pre-market approval regime for NPS, describing the legal alternative sad opted and describe the Israeli Law for the Fight against the Phenomenon of the Use of Dangerous Substances. Findings: The new legislation succeeded to close kiosks and retailers, marketing NPS to youth and young adults in the Country. The law is unique in that it includes both an urgent temporary declaration, whose violation is penal, banning a substance as dangerous with its inclusion after 12 months into the First Schedule of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, and the empowerment of the police forces to search, seize and destroy the dangerous substance, constituting an administrative procedure. The law is enforced using a novel, integrated model of enforcement, providing the cooperation of different control agencies, and avoiding to criminalize the consumers. Conclusions: The effectiveness of this legislation, although promising short-term results have been registered, has still to be ascertained and more time is needed in order to perform a scientific evaluation of its results but meanwhile its impact is already noticed in the Court decisions, which make a difference between NPS and other drugs such as Cannabis in the severity of the penalties.

 

 

New Article: Garyn-Tal & Shahrabani, Type of Army Service and Risky Behavior among Young People in Israel

Garyn-Tal, Sharon and Shosh Shahrabani. “Type of Army Service and Decision to Engage in Risky Behavior among Young People in Israel.” Judgment and Decision Making 10.4 (2015): 342-54.

 

URL: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron/journal/15/15320a/jdm15320a.pdf [pdf]

 

Abstract

Previous studies have examined the impact of military service on the decision to engage in risky behavior. Yet most of these studies focused on voluntary recruits, did not distinguish between legal and illegal risky activities and did not compare combat and non-combat soldiers during and after service according to gender. The current study is unique because of the nature of Israeli compulsory army service. It examines the relationship between type of army service and five legal and illegal risky behaviors for three groups: non-combat, combat without fighting experience, and combat with fighting experience. We also examine differences in the propensity for risky behavior between men, most of whom are assigned to combat units due to the army’s needs, and women, who serve in combat units on a voluntary basis only. A questionnaire survey was randomly distributed at train stations and central bus stations in Israel among 413 soldiers and ex-soldiers between the ages of 18-30. The predictor variables include type of service or battle experience, the Evaluation of Risks scale and sociodemographic characteristics. In general, we found that high percentages of young people engage in risky behavior, especially illegal behavior. The results indicate that fighting experience is significantly and positively correlated with the consumption of illegal substances for currently serving men soldiers (but not for women) and this effect is mitigated after discharge from the army. Importantly, the use of illegal substances is not a result of the individual’s preferences for engaging in various risky behaviors. Thus, our results suggest that the effect of the increased propensity toward risky behavior following the experience of fighting overrides the combat unit’s discipline for men when it comes to the consumption of illegal substances. In addition, our findings indicate that serving in a combat unit as opposed to a non-combat unit affects the tendency of women ex-combat soldiers to travel to risky destinations, though this is probably related to their original higher risk attitude, since women must volunteer for combat units.

New Article: Walsh et al, Discrimination and Delinquency Among Immigrant Adolescents

Walsh, Sophie D., Haya Fogel-Grinvald, and Sabrina Shneider. “Discrimination and Ethnic Identity as Predictors of Substance Use and Delinquency Among Immigrant Adolescents From the FSU and Ethiopia in Israel.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022115588951

 

Abstract

The current study explores perceived discrimination and ethnic identity as predictors of delinquency and substance use among adolescent immigrants in Israel. Theoretically, the study draws from strain theory, immigration-related theories of ethnic identity formation in adolescence, bi-dimensional theories of acculturation, and the rejection-identification model. The study involved 250 adolescents, 140 from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and 110 from Ethiopia, aged 15 to 18 years (M = 16.7 years). Adolescents were assessed on substance use (cigarettes, marijuana, binge drinking, drunkenness), delinquent behavior, parental relationships (support, limit setting), perceived discrimination, host identity (Jewish Israeli), and ethnic identity (Russian/Ethiopian). Results from structural equation modeling showed that delinquency was predicted directly by greater discrimination, a weaker ethnic (Russian/Ethiopian) identity, and greater substance (alcohol and cigarette) use. Higher levels of parental limit setting and lower levels of parental support predicted higher levels of substance use, but only predicted delinquency indirectly through their impact on substance use. Findings support the hypotheses that perceived discrimination and a weaker ethnic identity predict involvement in delinquency and partially support a hypothesis that higher levels of a positive host identity are related to lower levels of substance use and delinquency among immigrant adolescents. A perceived lack of equal opportunities may lead to stress, anger, and frustration toward society leading to delinquent behavior, whereas difficulties in consolidating a positive cultural identity may lead the young adolescent to fill a void through substance use.

 

New Article: Rosca et al, The Israeli National Substance Abuse Treatment Registry

Rosca, Paula, Alexander Grinshpoon, Keren Goldman, Anatoly Margolis, and Alexander M. Ponizovsky. “The Israeli National Substance Abuse Treatment Registry (INSATR): A Review of the Registry-based Research Findings and Future Implications.” Frontiers in Clinical Medicine 2.1 (2015): 20-27.

 
 

URL: http://www.vkingpub.com/UploadFiles/2015-01/374/2015012009354888839.pdf [PDF]

 
 

Abstract

Substance-related disorders are a major public health problem, requiring the development of primary and secondary prevention programs. The Department for the Treatment of Substance Abuse in the Israeli Ministry of Health maintains an administrative database that includes information on all patients enrolled in substitution programs for substance-related disorders. The Israel National Substance Abuse Treatment Registry (INSATR) was introduced in 1996 to ascertain demographic and clinical characteristics of patients, treatment details and legal data that can contribute to the improvement of care coordination, improved population health outcomes and more robust research data for epidemiological, clinical and service policy research. The aim of this report is to describe the INSATR and illustrate its benefits through a review of the findings of INSATR-related clinical trials and linkage studies to other national registries: the National Psychiatric Hospitalization Registry, National Cancer Registry and National AIDS Registry. The INSATR has demonstrated meaningful use in the assessment of quality of care and quality assurance, and in public health service policies research directed to the development of secondary prevention programs for individuals with substance-related problems in the community.