This study assessed the efficacy of a brief smoking cessation intervention in a light and intermittent smoking Hispanic sample. Two hundred fifty light (≤10 cigarettes per day) and intermittent smokers (nondaily smokers) (LITS) were recruited from a family health clinic and a border-region university; data from Hispanic participants (n = 214; 52.8% female) were analyzed for the purposes of the present study. Participants completed baseline measures assessing demographics, tobacco use/history, stage of change (SOC), perceived competence to quit smoking, and expired carbon monoxide (CO). Participants were randomly assigned to an immediate (II) or delayed (DI) brief cessation intervention. Psychology graduate students provided the intervention, which primarily addressed motivation, self-efficacy, and trigger management; blinding to condition was not feasible at follow-up. At the 3-month follow-up, smoking status, SOC, and perceived competence score (PCS) were assessed and analyzed via logistic and linear regression models by intervention assignment. Results indicated that intervention assignment was not associated with past 30-day smoking cessation (5.6% immediate condition vs. 4.7% delayed condition) or PCS. Nevertheless, participants in the II were more likely to increase readiness to quit smoking relative to those in the DI. Future efforts should focus on capitalizing on motivation change to promote smoking cessation.

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Aims This study assessed the factor, concurrent and predictive validity of the revised Readiness to Change Questionnaire [Treatment Version] (RCQ[TV]) among non-treatment-seeking individuals. Methods Non-treatment-seeking patients (Mage = 34.8, SD = 12.4) who screened positive for alcohol misuse were recruited from three urban Level I Trauma Centers and completed the RCQ[TV] (Heather et al. [(1999) Development of a treatment version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire. Addict Res7, 63–83]). Results A confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of the RCQ[TV]. Observed scores for precontemplation, contemplation and action demonstrated concurrent validity, as they were correlated with drinking and alcohol-related problems prior to baseline assessment. Finally, RCQ[TV] scores at baseline added to the predictability of an alcohol consumption composite score at a 3-month follow-up after controlling for baseline alcohol consumption and randomization to treatment arm. Conclusions The results of the present study suggest that the RCQ[TV] has desirable psychometric properties and supports the use of the RCQ[TV] among non-treatment-seeking patients with alcohol misuse.

Illicit substance use has increased in Hispanics. Recent trends also warrant focus on prescription drug misuse, given its increased prevalence among college students. The aims of this study were to assess prescription drug misuse and illicit drug use in Hispanic students, as well as potential theoretically and empirically based risk and protective factors. Hispanic students (n = 435; 59% female) from a U.S. university located on the border with México completed a sociodemographic survey, licit, illicit, and prescription drug use frequency questionnaires, an attitudes and beliefs about prescription drugs survey, the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales, the Collectivist Coping Styles Measure, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. A hierarchical logistic regression assessed prescription drug misuse predictors including demographics, licit/illicit substance use, attitudes toward prescription drug use, acculturation, distress symptoms, coping style, perceived social support, and the interaction between distress symptoms and acculturation. A negative binomial regression assessed predictors of past 30-day illegal drug use (the same predictors as the previous model except illicit drug use). Results indicated that positive attitudes toward prescription drugs, higher anxiety, and lower depressive symptomatology increased the odds of prescription drug misuse. Past 30-day alcohol use, positive attitudes toward prescription drugs, and higher acculturation predicted past 30-day illicit drug use. Prescription drug misuse was differentially associated with distress symptoms, whereas the convergence model of acculturation was supported regarding illegal drug use. Inconsistent with hypotheses, protective factors were not significantly associated with substance use.