Research from other addiction-related domains have reported identity-related constructs to be positively associated with substance use-related outcomes (e.g., frequency, quantity, and/or problems). ...Moreover, substance use identity has also been found to be predictive of unique variance in substance use-related outcomes. Given the similarities between substance use and behavioral addictions, it may also be the case that gambling identity is predictive of unique variance in negative gambling-related outcomes (e.g., frequency, expenditure, and gambling problem severity). The current study was conducted to examine whether gambling identity was predictive of negative gambling-related outcomes above and beyond the variance explained by other known risk factors of problem gambling (e.g., motives, social norms, and protective behavioral strategy PBS use). Moreover, gambling identity was examined as a moderator of the relationship between known risk factors of problem gambling and negative gambling-related outcomes. The current online study consisted of 270 U.S. participants who were predominantly male (90%), White (82%) and 33 years of age. The results from the negative binomial regression analyses indicated that gambling identity was predictive of unique variance in all of the negative gambling-related outcomes assessed. Moreover, gambling identity was found to moderate the relationship between motives, social norms, and PBS use in the prediction of negative gambling-related outcomes. Taken together, the results from the current study replicate and extend the extant body of gambling research and are used to highlight the importance of assessing gambling identity in future studies.
Background and Aims
Recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) is often narrowly defined by abstinence from alcohol and improvements in functioning (e.g. mental health, social functioning, employment). ...This study used latent profile analysis to examine variability in recovery outcomes, defined by alcohol use, alcohol‐related problems and psychosocial functioning at 3 years following treatment. Secondary analysis investigated pre‐treatment, post‐treatment and 1‐ and 3‐year post‐treatment covariate predictors of the latent profiles.
Design
Secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial.
Setting
United States.
Participants
We used data from the out‐patient arm of Project MATCH (n = 806; 29.7% female, 22.2% non‐white).
Measurements
Recovery was defined by latent profile analyses including measures of psychosocial functioning and life satisfaction (Psychosocial Functioning Inventory), unemployment and mental health (Addiction Severity Index), alcohol and other drug use (Form 90) and alcohol‐related consequences (Drinker Inventory of Consequences) 3 years following treatment. Mixture modeling was used to examine correlates of profiles.
Findings
We identified four profiles at 3 years following treatment: (1) poor functioning frequent heavy drinkers, (2) poor functioning infrequent heavy drinkers, (3) high functioning occasional heavy drinkers and (4) high‐functioning infrequent non‐heavy drinkers. There were relatively few differences on indicators of functioning and treatment‐related variables between the high functioning infrequent non‐heavy drinkers and the high‐functioning occasional heavy drinkers, other than high‐functioning occasional heavy drinkers having lower alcohol dependence severity odds ratio (OR) = 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.90, 0.98, fewer post‐treatment coping skills (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.32, 0.90) and lower 3‐year post‐treatment abstinence self‐efficacy (OR = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.49) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) involvement (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.85, 0.99). The two high‐functioning profiles showed the greatest improvements in functioning from baseline through the 3‐year follow‐up, whereas the low‐functioning profiles showed the least amount of improvement. High‐functioning occasional heavy drinkers had higher purpose in life than the poor‐functioning profiles.
Conclusions
Some individuals who engage in heavy drinking following treatment for alcohol use disorder may function as well as those who are mostly abstinent with respect to psychosocial functioning, employment, life satisfaction and mental health.
Objective: Research indicates that a substance user identity (i.e., drinking, smoking, and marijuana identity) is positively correlated with substance use-related outcomes (e.g., frequency, quantity, ...consequences, and disorder symptoms). The current study aimed to meta-analytically derive single, weighted effect size estimates of the identity-outcome association as well as to examine moderators (e.g., substance use type, explicit/implicit assessment, demographic characteristics, and research design) of this association. Method: Random effects meta-analysis was conducted on 70 unique samples that assessed substance user identity and at least one substance use-related outcome (frequency, quantity, consequences, and/or disorder symptoms), and provided the necessary information for effect size calculations. Results: Substance user identity was found to be a statistically significant moderate-to-large correlate of all substance use-related outcomes examined in the current study (r
w = .365, p < .001, r
w
2 = .133). The strongest associations were observed between identity and disorder symptoms (alcohol) and frequency of substance use (tobacco or marijuana). In terms of moderators of the identity-outcome association, the link between explicit drinking identity and alcohol use-related outcomes appeared to be stronger in magnitude than the relationship between implicit drinking identity and alcohol use-related outcomes; however, this difference appears to be largely due to the finding that implicit measures have lower reliability. The strongest identity-outcome association was observed among younger individuals. Conclusions: Substance user identity is clearly an important correlate of substance use-related outcomes and this association is stronger among younger individuals. Additional theoretical, empirical, and intervention research is needed to utilize knowledge gleaned from the current study on the identity-outcome association.
Public Health Significance Statement
This meta-analytic study highlights the moderate-to-large associations between substance user identity and substance use-related outcomes (frequency, quantity, consequences, and/or disorder symptoms (rw = .365, p < .001, rw2 = .133). This study identified moderators of the association between substance user identity and substance use-related outcomes (i.e., age). Future intervention and clinical work should examine demographic characteristics of studies that contributed lower and upper bound effect size estimates of the identity-outcome association to gain insight on the potential protective and risk factors that may be related to the weakening or strengthening of the identity-outcome association.
Outcome expectancies have been found to be predictive of substance use. While development of expectancies may be dynamic during adolescence, it is unknown whether the rate of change (slope) in ...substance use expectancies is a risk factor for use onset across multiple substance use domains. The present study tested the hypothesis that the slope of positive and negative alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use expectancies during mid-adolescence (9th-10th grade) would predict use onset of each respective substance during late adolescence (11th-12th grade). Data from 3,396 ethnically diverse high school students were collected across eight waves of assessment and analyzed within a latent growth modeling framework. Results revealed that the slopes of positive substance use expectancies among never-users of each respective substance predicted increased odds of onset (Alcohol: ORB = 7.73, p < .001; Tobacco: ORB = 5.58, p < .001; Marijuana: ORB = 2.49, p = .001). Only the slope of negative marijuana expectancies predicted increased odds of onset (Marijuana: ORB = .44, p = .04). Baseline level of positive and negative substance use outcome expectancies were also generally found to be associated with onset. For three common drugs used by adolescents, change in substance use expectancies during the first two years of high school may be a marker of risk propensity for substance use onset. Change in expectancies may be an important target in substance use prevention, with research indicating that expectancy challenge and life skills interventions being potentially efficacious.
•College students overestimated descriptive/injunctive marijuana norms.•Developed and tested a novel measure of norms, Marijuana Norms Grid (MNG)•Norms measured using the MNG were predictive of ...marijuana outcomes.•Injunctive norms measured using the MNG predicted unique variance in outcomes.
Descriptive and injunctive norms are traditionally assessed using different metrics. Following an innovation in the alcohol field, we examined a novel measure of perceived descriptive and injunctive marijuana norms (i.e., Marijuana Norms Grid, MNG) to characterize how these normative perceptions relate to one’s own use of marijuana. The present study addressed three research questions: (1) Do college students overestimate descriptive/injunctive marijuana norms of typical college students and close friends? (2) Are descriptive/injunctive norms uniquely related to marijuana frequency and quantity? (3) Are injunctive norms related to marijuana frequency and quantity above and beyond how injunctive norms are traditionally assessed? College students (n = 7000) were recruited from 9 universities throughout the US, including 2077 past month marijuana users. Participants completed an online, cross-sectional survey that included measures assessing marijuana use, marijuana consequences, and descriptive and injunctive marijuana norms using traditional and novel assessments, among other assessments. The results revealed robust self-other discrepancies using the MNG such that participants overestimated how often and how much college students use marijuana. We also found that both descriptive and injunctive norms related uniquely to one’s own marijuana use. The MNG injunctive norms explained about 19% of additional variability in marijuana outcomes beyond injunctive norms assessed using the traditional method. The findings of the present study support the utility of the novel assessment of injunctive marijuana norms. Implications for norms-based interventions are discussed.
Research suggests that the perceived hookup attitudes of close referents are generally a poor predictor of hookup behavior and likely a poor direct predictor of negative hookup consequences. The ...current study aimed to examine three intervening variables as mediators of the relationship between the perceived hookup attitudes of college students' close friends and negative hookup consequences (e.g., regret, embarrassment). Self-report data were collected from 589 heavy-drinking college students from three midsized universities. The results indicated that students' own attitudes toward hooking up, motivation to hook up, and self-reported number of hookup partners significantly mediated the relationship between the perceived hookup attitudes of close friends and negative hookup consequences. The perceived hookup attitudes of close friends were positively associated with participants' attitudes toward hooking up. Participants' attitudes toward hooking up were positively associated with social-sexual motivation to hook up. Elevated social-sexual motivation to hook up was positively associated with hooking up with multiple partners, with hooking up with multiple partners positively associated with negative hookup consequences. A better understanding of the predictors and mediators of negative hookup consequences has the potential to inform prevention and intervention efforts.
Background and aims
There is evidence that low‐risk drinking is possible during the course of alcohol treatment and can be maintained following treatment. Our aim was to identify characteristics ...associated with low‐risk drinking during treatment in a large sample of individuals as they received treatment for alcohol dependence.
Design
Integrated analysis of data from the Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Intervention (COMBINE) study, Project MATCH (Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity) and the United Kingdom Alcohol Treatment Trial (UKATT) using repeated‐measures latent class analysis to identify patterns of drinking and predictors of low‐risk drinking patterns during treatment.
Setting
United States and United Kingdom.
Participants
Patients (n = 3589) with alcohol dependence receiving treatment in an alcohol clinical trial were primarily male (73.0%), white (82.0%) and non‐married (41.7%), with an average age of 42.0 (standard deviation = 10.7).
Measurements
Self‐reported weekly alcohol consumption during treatment was assessed using the Form‐90 and validated with biological verification or collateral informants.
Findings
Seven patterns of drinking during treatment were identified: persistent heavy drinking (18.7% of the sample), increasing heavy drinking (9.6%), heavy and low‐risk drinking (6.7%), heavy drinking alternating with abstinence (7.9%), low‐risk drinking (6.8%), increasing low‐risk drinking (10.5%) and abstinence (39.8%). Lower alcohol dependence severity and fewer drinks per day at baseline significantly predicted low‐risk drinking patterns e.g. each additional drink prior to baseline predicted a 27% increase in the odds of expected classification in heavy drinking versus low‐risk drinking patterns; odds ratio = 1.27 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10, 1.47, P = 0.002. Greater negative mood and more heavy drinkers in the social network were significant predictors of expected membership in heavier drinking patterns.
Conclusions
Low‐risk drinking is achievable for some individuals as they undergo treatment for alcohol dependence. Individuals with lower dependence severity, less baseline drinking, fewer negative mood symptoms and fewer heavy drinkers in their social networks have a higher probability of achieving low‐risk drinking during treatment.
Background
The present study sought to quantify the relationship between alcohol use and alcohol‐related consequences in both college student and clinical samples.
Methods
We gathered 33 college ...student datasets comprising of 15,618 participants and nine clinical sample datasets comprising of 4,527 participants to determine the effect size of the relationship between alcohol use and alcohol‐related consequences. We used random‐effects meta‐analytic techniques, separately in college and clinical samples, to account for a distribution of true effects and to assess for heterogeneity in effect sizes.
Results
Results demonstrated that the clear majority of the variability in alcohol‐related consequences is not explained by alcohol use (ie, >77% in college samples; >86% in clinical samples), and that there was significant heterogeneity in all effect sizes.
Conclusions and Scientific Significance
Experiencing alcohol‐related consequences results from factors that extend beyond frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed suggesting a need to examine other predictors of alcohol‐related consequences beyond alcohol use. (Am J Addict 2018;27:116–123)
Background: There is relatively little research examining the relationship between identity and marijuana-related outcomes (e.g., marijuana use and consequences). Identity may both directly help ...shape marijuana use behaviors and moderate the influence of other risk factors on marijuana outcomes. Objectives: The current study examines the relationship between marijuana identity and marijuana-related outcomes among emerging adults and explores whether identity moderates the relationships between nonidentity correlates (e.g., perceived norms and negative affect) of marijuana-related outcomes. Methods: College students who reported marijuana use in the past 12 months completed measures of marijuana identity, perceived norms, negative affect, frequency of marijuana use, and marijuana consequences. Conclusions/Importance: The results indicated that marijuana identity is associated with marijuana use frequency and moderates the relationship between perceived norms and marijuana consequences. The findings have implications for both identity-based and social norms-based interventions targeting problematic marijuana use among emerging adults.
Hooking up is a normative behavior among college students that is associated with a range of positive and negative consequences. While previous research has primarily focused on women's negative ...experiences of hooking up, the current study explored the relationships among hooking up behaviors, psychological distress, and a broad range of negative effects of hooking up in both male and female college students. Using a multisite sample of college students, we developed the 14-item Negative Impact of Hookups Inventory (NIHI) to assess negative health outcomes, emotional responses, and social consequences associated with hooking up. Unprotected sex and having more hookup partners were associated with greater negative experiences of hooking up. Contrary to expectations, there were no gender differences in the total number of negative hookup effects, although men reported more frequent hookups. In addition, negative impacts of hooking up were positively associated with psychological distress regardless of gender. The NIHI may offer a useful tool to assess the negative impacts of hooking up. Understanding students' hookup experiences is an important step toward developing targeted health interventions related to hooking up behavior in young adult populations.
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