Williams, Robert

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https://opus.uleth.ca/handle/10133/367

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Browsing Williams, Robert by Author "Davis, R. Meghan"

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    Mental health status of infrequent adolescent substance users
    (Haworth Press, Inc., 2004) Williams, Robert J.; Zolner, Theresa; Bertrand, Lorne D.; Davis, R. Meghan
    Frequent substance use has a strong association with poor mental health. The relationship between infrequent substance use and mental health is less clear. The present study investigated this relationship in a large group (n = 2118) of 12-19-year-olds from Alberta, Canada. Results indicated that adolescents who used tobacco or alcohol once a month or less tended to have equivalent mental health status to abstainers. Using cannabis 3-5 times/year or less had no adverse mental health associations. However, poorer mental health was associated with single time use of hallucinogens or other drugs. In general, substance usage tended to have more negative mental health associations for younger compared to older adolescents.
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    Parental awareness of adolescent substance use
    (Elsevier, 2003) Williams, Robert J.; McDermitt, Dale R.; Bertrand, Lorne D.; Davis, R. Meghan
    Parental awareness of adolescent substance use was investigated in a high school sample of 985 adolescents and their parents. Only 39% of parents were aware their adolescent used tobacco, only 34% were aware of alcohol use, and only 11% were aware of illicit drug use. There were no variables that differentiated aware from unaware parents for all substances. Greater parental awareness of alcohol and tobacco use occurred with older adolescents. High adolescent ratings of family communication combined with low parental ratings of family communication were also associated with greater parental awareness of alcohol and tobacco use. Better school grades predicted greater awareness of alcohol and illicit drug use. Single parents and blended families were more aware of tobacco and illicit drug use.
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    Program findings that inform curriculum development for the prevention of problem gambling
    (National Association for Gambling Studies (Australia), 2004-05) Williams, Robert J.; Connolly, Dennis; Wood, Robert T.; Currie, Shawn; Davis, R. Meghan
    The development of effective problem gambling prevention programs is in its infancy. The present paper discusses results of randomized control trials of two programs that have been implemented in Alberta, Canada. The first is a 10 session program delivered to several classes of university students taking Introductory Statistics. This program focused primarily on teaching the probabilities associated with gambling and included several hands-on demonstrations of typical casino table games. The second is a 5 session program delivered to high school students at several sites in southern Alberta. This program was more comprehensive, containing information and exercises on the nature of gambling and problem gambling, gambling fallacies, gambling odds, decision-making, coping skills, and social problem-solving skills. Data concerning gambling attitudes, gambling fallacies and gambling behaviour at 3 and 6-months post-intervention are presented. The findings of these studies are somewhat counter-intuitive and have important implications for the design of effective prevention programs.