Substance use prevention and treatment outcomes for emerging adults in non-college settings: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

Emerging adults have the highest prevalence rate of alcohol and drug use and represent a large proportion of treatment admissions in the United States. Those who do not attend college experience higher rates of use and may not have similar advantages as those attending college. A systematic review included studies investigating prevention and treatment outcomes among emerging adults in non-college settings. We included studies reporting an average age between 18 and 25 conducted outside of college settings. We extracted data for experimental effects (experimental group compared to control), and contrasted treatments with active and no intervention controls. We also examined several moderators. Fifty studies were meta-analyzed, including 32 prevention and 18 treatment studies. Overall, our experimental weighted mean effect size was d = .17 for both prevention and treatment studies. Comparisons across treatment types typically yielded nonsignificant results. Across prevention and treatment studies, smaller effects existed for studies delivering personalized feedback interventions. For treatment studies only, the percent of students included in the sample was a significant moderator. Overall effects were similar to current meta-analyses on college drinking. However, personalized feedback may be a less effective prevention strategy in non-college settings, and the field should prioritize increasing the effectiveness of treatments targeting non-college students. (PsycINFO Database Record

Motivational interviewing technical process and moderated relational process with underage young adult heavy drinkers.

“…The extant literature argues that developmental context indeed differs between college and non-college young adults, but heterogeneity also exists within these groups (Arnett & Tanner, 2011). From an intervention standpoint, a recent meta-analysis examined 18 clinical trials with non-college or mixed college and noncollege samples, and reported a small but statistically significant effect size in contrast to minimal or no treatment (Davis, Smith, & Briley, 2017). While the close to 20 studies targeting this population is a somewhat heartening number, substance use outcomes and modalities of intervention were variable in the sample.…”

Age related medication for addiction treatment (MAT) use for opioid use disorder among Medicaid-insured patients in New York

“…Existing studies in New York have focused on older beneficiaries [19] and young adults are an understudied population. [20, 21] Access to substance use disorder treatment services have been challenging, especially for young adults who prefer buprenorphine and naltrexone compared to methadone [22, 23], as limited access to buprenorphine providers have been an ongoing problem [24]. Age effects of the current epidemic have been understudied, especially research on MAT [25].…”

Examining the Prospective Associations Between Mindfulness Facets and Substance Use in Emerging Adulthood

“…This research has important clinical implications. Many empirically supported evidencebased treatments (e.g., motivational interviewing) aimed at reducing alcohol and cannabis use in emerging adults have positive outcomes (Davis et al, 2017;Laporte et al, 2018;Stein et al, 2018). A review of the literature shows that interventions which incorporate aspects of mindfulness, such as mindfulness-based relapse prevention or mindfulness meditation, are effective in reducing alcohol and cannabis use in subclinical (de Dios et al, 2012;Vinci et al, 2014) and clinical populations (Bowen et al, 2014;Enkema & Bowen, 2017;von Hammerstein et al, 2019).…”