%0 Journal Article %J Health Educ Behav %D 2012 %T The impact of school suspension on student tobacco use: a longitudinal study in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States. %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Heerde, Jessica A %A Herrenkohl, Todd I %A Toumbourou, John W %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Continental Population Groups %K Family %K Female %K Health Behavior %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Peer Group %K Risk Factors %K Schools %K Sex Factors %K Smoking %K Substance-Related Disorders %K Victoria %K Washington %X

CONTEXT: School suspension may have unintended consequences in contributing to problem behaviors, including dropping out from school, substance use, and antisocial behavior. Tobacco use is an early-onset problem behavior, but prospective studies of the effects of suspension on tobacco use are lacking.

METHOD: Longitudinal school-based survey of students drawn as a two-stage cluster sample, administered in 2002 and 2003, in Washington State, United States, and Victoria, Australia. The study uses statewide representative samples of students in Grades 7 and 9 (N = 3,599).

RESULTS: Rates of tobacco use were higher for Victorian than Washington State students. School suspension remained a predictor of current tobacco use at 12-month follow-up, after controlling for established risk factors including prior tobacco and other drug use for Grade 7 but not Grade 9 students.

CONCLUSIONS: School suspension is associated with early adolescent tobacco use, itself an established predictor of adverse outcomes in young people. Findings suggest the need to explore process mechanisms and alternatives to school suspensions as a response to challenging student behavior in early adolescence.

%B Health Educ Behav %V 39 %P 45-56 %8 2012 Feb %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1177/1090198111406724 %0 Journal Article %J J Adolesc Health %D 2011 %T Risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use in washington state, the United States and Victoria, Australia: a longitudinal study. %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Heerde, Jessica A %A Herrenkohl, Todd I %A Patton, George C %A Toumbourou, John W %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Cross-Cultural Comparison %K Female %K Harm Reduction %K Health Behavior %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Parent-Child Relations %K Peer Group %K Social Environment %K Substance-Related Disorders %K Victoria %K Washington %X

PURPOSE: To compare the levels of risk and protective factors and the predictive influence of these factors on alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use over a 12-month follow-up period in Washington State in the United States and in Victoria, Australia.

METHOD: The study involved a longitudinal school-based survey of students drawn as a two-stage cluster sample recruited through schools, and administered in the years 2002 and 2003 in both states. The study used statewide representative samples of students in the seventh and ninth grades (n = 3,876) in Washington State and Victoria.

RESULTS: Washington State students, relative to Victorian students, had higher rates of cannabis use but lower rates of alcohol and tobacco use at time 1. Levels of risk and protective factors showed few but important differences that contribute to the explanation of differences in substance use; Washington State students, relative to Victorian students, reported higher religiosity (odds ratio, .96 vs. .79) and availability of handguns (odds ratio, 1.23 vs. 1.18), but less favorable peer, community, and parental attitudes to substance use. The associations with substance use at follow-up are generally comparable, but in many instances were weaker in Washington State.

CONCLUSIONS: Levels of risk and protective factors and their associations with substance use at follow-up were mostly similar in the two states. Further high-quality longitudinal studies to establish invariance in the relations between risk and protective factors and substance use in adolescence across diverse countries are warranted.

%B J Adolesc Health %V 49 %P 312-20 %8 2011 Sep %G eng %N 3 %R 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.12.017