The relationship between risky substance use and friends’ use of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs in an adolescent sample

s / Drug and Alcohol Dependence 156 (2015) e102–e182 e107 suggesting AAS-induced neurotoxicity. Since sI is known to inhibit neurotoxicity induced by ®-amyloid and other neurotoxic proteins, an AAS-induced dose-related sI depletion might represent a mechanism by which cognitive deficits may arise in long-term AAS abusers. Given that 2.9–4.0 million Americans have abused AAS, these findings should be pursued in a larger study. Financial support: NIDA grants R01DA029141 (HP, GK, JH) and K01DA029645 (AJ). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.295 The relationship between risky substance use and friends’ use of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs in an adolescent sample Sharon M. Kelly1, Kevin O’Grady2, Jan Gryczynski1, Shannon G. Mitchell 1, Arethusa Kirk3, Robert P. Schwartz1 1 Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States 2 University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States 3 Total Health Care, Baltimore, MD, United States Aims: To examine the relationship between adolescents’ use and their friends’ use of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs in a sample of primary care patients. Methods: 525 adolescents 12–17 years old awaiting primary care appointments in Baltimorewere recruited for a study evaluating a substance use screening tool. Participants were administered the Brief Screener for Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs (BSTAD), which is NIAAA’s alcohol screening tool for youth expanded to include tobacco and drug use. The screening tool asks patients to report their substance use in the past year as well as their friends’ use (friends questions are asked first for younger patients as a less threatening topic entree). The current study used contingency tables and joint frequencydistributions for eachsubstance toexamine friends’ use (no, yes) against patients’ personal use risk level (low, high) based on previously validated BSTAD cutpoints. Results: Of the 37 adolescents with high risk nicotine use, 36 (97%) reported having friends who used nicotine in the past year. Similarly, 83 of 98 (85%) adolescents with high risk alcohol use and 73 of 77 (95%) adolescents with high risk use of other drugs had friends who used these substances. Conversely, 239 of 487 (49%) adolescents with lower risk for nicotine, 169 of 427 (40%) adolescents with lower risk for alcohol, and 156 of 445 (35%) adolescentswith lower risk for other drugs had friendswho used these substances in the past year. Conclusions: Adolescents with high risk use of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs are likely to report having friends who also use these substances. However,many adolescentswho are not currently at risk based on personal use also have friends who use substances. Future research should evaluate the ability of the questions about friends’ substance use delivered in pediatric settings to identify youth at risk of future problems, as well as its utility in guiding preventive interventions. Financial support: NIDA: R01 DA026003-S1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.296 Positive association between cingulate brain volume and sensation seeking in young adults T.H. Kelly1, M.J. Wesley1, C.E. Emurian1, C.A. Martin1, J.E. Joseph2, J.A. Lile1 1 University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States 2 Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston,