Given the rising rates of insufficient sleep and the popularity of marijuana, we investigated using marijuana as a sleep aid, marijuana use frequency, problematic marijuana use, and sleep problems. ...Participants: Participants included a convenience sample of college students who endorsed using marijuana in the past year from May to December 2013 (N = 354; 68% female, 57% White). Methods: Path analyses investigated if using marijuana to sleep predicted: (1) marijuana use outcomes and (2) sleep problems; and if sleep problems predicted marijuana use outcomes. Results: Using marijuana to sleep was related to increased use and problematic use, as well as worse sleep efficiency. Daytime dysfunction related to sleepiness was associated with elevated levels of marijuana use and problematic use. Similar associations were found across sex and race. Conclusions: College students should be informed of the potential misconceptions between marijuana and improved sleep and provided with evidence-based alternatives to improve their sleep.
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DOBA, FSPLJ, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The current study examined bidirectional relations between anxious symptoms and two forms of peer victimization (i.e., overt and relational) within an underrepresented sample of urban adolescents ...during key transition periods (i.e., elementary to middle school; middle school to high school) and the following 2 years. A predominantly African American sample (91%) of 358 adolescents (56% female, mean age = 12.10 years) living in low-income urban areas were assessed annually across 4 years. Using self-report measures, adolescents reported on their past year experiences of anxiety and peer victimization. Longitudinal path analyses tested progressively complex models for each type of victimization. Anxious symptoms predicted both overt and relational victimization at the time of transition (Wave 1 to Wave 2) and the following year (Wave 2 to Wave 3). Furthermore, whereas previous levels of victimization and future anxious symptoms were positively correlated over time, only relational victimization at Wave 1 predicted anxious symptoms at Wave 2. Prior levels of each construct were the strongest predictor of future outcomes (e.g., anxious symptoms at Wave 1 predicting anxious symptoms at Wave 2). Overall, there was little support for bidirectional relations between anxiety symptoms and peer victimization. Intervention and prevention programs seeking to reduce peer victimization or anxiety should start by targeting the symptom/behavior of interest. Interventions that target anxious thoughts and feelings during these key transition times in adolescence should be assessed as areas of priority.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that spread across the world, bringing with it serious mental health problems for men and women. Women in Pakistan are infected with COVID-19 ...at a much lower rate than men, yet report worse mental health. To explain this paradox, we surveyed 190 participants (46% male) shortly following the country lockdown, focusing on perceptions of the COVID-19 impact and positive adjustment. Measures used in this study included the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and Distress Tolerance Scale. Factor analysis revealed five distinct areas related to COVID-19, which did not differ by sex. However, men reported higher levels of both distress tolerance and well-being than women. High endorsement of actions to protect against COVID-19 was related to lower distress tolerance scores, but in different ways for men and women. Men, but not women, who endorsed more protective measures to stop the pandemic reported higher DTS absorption scores, and therefore being more consumed by distress; women who endorsed more protective measures to stop the pandemic reported less acceptance of distress than men, as reflected in DTS appraisal scores. An in-depth analysis of women’s beliefs and behaviors related to COVID-19 is warranted to understand why Pakistani women who are infected with COVID-19 at lower rates than men show more mental health symptoms.
While sleep problems are positively associated with both peer victimization and substance use, previous studies largely have ignored the indirect role sleep problems may play in this association. ...This three-wave longitudinal study aimed to determine whether sleep problems might link peer victimization to subsequent substance use. Participants were 986 youth (53.7% female, M
age
= 12.32 SD = 0.54 years, 55.6% White, 24.4% Latinx, 22.8% African American/Black, 11.1% Multiracial/Multiethnic, 13.4% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 6.4% Native American) from three U.S. public middle schools. A structural equation model controlling for multiple potential confounds revealed an indirect effect of peer victimization on substance use through sleep problems. Multiple group analyses indicated that the indirect effect was larger for females than for males. Effects did not differ across school socioeconomic level. The results provide further support to include peer victimization when considering factors that may influence adolescent sleep issues and subsequent substance use.
This study examined associations between two forms of peer victimization, physical and relational, and externalizing behaviors including drug use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors among a sample ...of 276 predominantly African American eighth graders attending middle school in an urban public school system. Regression analyses indicated that physical victimization was significantly related to cigarette and alcohol use but not to advanced alcohol and marijuana use; relational victimization contributed uniquely to all categories of drug use after controlling for physical victimization. Physical victimization was also significantly related to physical and relational aggression and delinquent behaviors, and relational victimization made a unique contribution in the concurrent prediction of these behaviors. Physical victimization was more strongly related to both categories of alcohol use, aggression, and to delinquent behaviors among boys than among girls. In contrast, relational victimization was more strongly related to physical aggression and marijuana use among girls than among boys, but more strongly related to relational aggression among boys than among girls. These findings provide information about the generalizability of prior research and have important implications for intervention efforts.
Associations between urban adolescents’ victimization experiences and biological stress responses were examined, as well as emotion regulation as a moderator of these associations. Data from a 4-wave ...longitudinal study with a low-income, community-based sample (
n
= 242; 91 % African American; 57 % female;
M
= 11.98,
SD
= 1.56 years at baseline) revealed that victimization, assessed over 3 study waves, was associated with an attenuated cortisol response to a stress interview at the final study wave, indicating that responses of the Hypothalamus–Pituitary–Adrenal (HPA) axis were dysregulated. Cortisol responses were moderated by caregiver-reported adolescent emotion regulation, suggesting that this modifiable protective factor that is taught in many school-based prevention programs could help reduce harm associated with HPA axis dysregulation linked to victimization.
Childhood adversity is linked to shortened telomere length (TL), but behavioral indicators of telomere attrition remain unclear. This study examined the association between adverse childhood ...experiences (ACEs) and child TL, and if ACEs were indirectly associated with TL through children’s self‐regulatory abilities (i.e., effortful control and self‐control). Hypotheses were tested using national data from teachers, parents, and their children (N = 2,527; Mage = 9.35, SD = .36 years). More ACEs were uniquely associated with short TL, and low self‐control mediated the association between more ACEs and short TL. While longitudinal studies are needed to strengthen claims of causation, this study identifies a pathway from ACEs to TL that should be explored further.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract Purpose To identify the prevalence of substance use and problems with use, and risk and protective factors at different levels of the adolescent’s ecology associated with substance use among ...adolescents in selected Central American countries. Methods Results of a survey of 17,215 students from Panama, Costa Rica, and Guatemala conducted in 2000–2001 served as the basis for the analyses. Lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and five other drugs (inhalants, tranquilizers, cocaine, crack, and ecstasy), and problems with drugs and alcohol were the outcome variables. Risk factors included dysregulation, family problems with drugs/alcohol, negative family interactions, school disengagement, peer deviance, and exposure to community violence. Protective factors included a personal belief in God, positive family interactions, parent religiosity, and positive student-teacher interaction. Both hierarchical linear regression and logistic regression analyses were used to model main and interaction effects of risk and protective factors. Results There was a linear association between number of risk and protective factors and substance use, however, risk factors were more strongly associated with substance use than were protective factors. There were significant risk-by-protective-factor interactions for alcohol and marijuana use, and for problems with drugs and alcohol. Risk interacted most consistently with a personal belief in God, but also with parent religiosity and with student-teacher communication. Conclusions It is important to consider risk and protective factors at different levels of an adolescent’s ecology. Prevention and intervention efforts should focus on interactions adolescents have in different microsystems (e.g., with parents, teachers, and peers).
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Although the Qatari government has invested significantly in education over the past two decades, little research has comprehensively assessed factors associated with high school adjustment and ...academic success in the country. The present study addressed this gap with a sample of 576 students attending high school in Qatar (M age = 16.32, SD = 1.09; 63.7% male). Students self-reported their school adjustment and perceived academic performance as well as positive and negative indicators of health, including well-being and emotional and behavioral problems. Path models revealed that both well-being and problems contributed to school adjustment. Well-being and problems also contributed to academic performance, but these paths differed for males and females. For females, but not males, well-being was directly related to better performance; for males, but not females, problems contributed directly to worse performance and also operated through school adjustment to affect performance. Implications for promoting optimal school adjustment are discussed.
Abstract Non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) by adolescents is a significant public health concern. The present study investigated the profile of NMUPD in 1349 adolescent offenders from the ...Pathways to Desistance project, and whether NMUPD predicted future delinquency using longitudinal data. Results indicated that increased frequency and recency of NMUPD in adolescent offenders are related to some demographic factors, as well as increased risk for violence exposure, mental health diagnoses, other drug use, and previous delinquency, suggesting that severity of NMUPD is important to consider. However, ANCOVA analyses found that NMUPD was not a significant predictor of drug-related, non-aggressive, or aggressive delinquency 12 months later beyond other known correlates of delinquency. Age, sex, exposure to violence, lower socioeconomic status, more alcohol use, and having delinquency histories were more important than NMUPD in predicting future delinquency. These findings suggest that although NMUPD is an important risk factor relating to many correlates of delinquency, it does not predict future delinquency beyond other known risk factors.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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