Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) are specific behaviors one can utilize to minimize the harmful consequences of alcohol consumption. Recently, there has been an increasing amount of interest in ...use of PBS among college students, especially as an intervention target. The purpose of the present comprehensive review of the PBS literature was to examine the measurement of PBS and summarize the quantitative relationships between PBS use and other variables. The review found inconsistency across studies in terms of how the use of PBS is operationalized and found only two PBS measures with good psychometric properties that have been replicated. Although several antecedents to PBS use were identified, most were only examined in single studies. Moderators of the predictive effects of PBS use on outcomes have similarly suffered from lack of replication in the literature. Of all 62 published reports reviewed, 80% reported only cross-sectional data, which is unfortunate given that PBS use may change over time and in different contexts. In addition, only two attempted to minimize potential recall biases associated with retrospective assessment of PBS use, and only two used an approach that allowed the examination of both within-subject and between-subject effects. In terms of the gaps in the literature, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies of PBS use, especially intensive longitudinal studies, which are integral to identifying more specifically how, when, and for whom use of PBS can be protective.
•Reviews studies on protective behavioral strategies (PBS) among college students•Measurement of alcohol PBS is inconsistent across studies.•Alcohol PBS is consistently negatively correlated with alcohol-related problems.•It is less clear what the antecedents to PBS are and moderators of its effects.•Gaps in the literature are identified to provide suggestions for future research.
Background and Aims
The terms ‘binge drinking’ and ‘heavy drinking’ are both operationalized typically as 4+/5+ standard drinks per occasion for women/men, and are used commonly as a proxy for ...non‐problematic (<4/<5) versus problematic (4+/5+) drinking in multiple research contexts. The Food and Drug Administration in the United States recently proposed the 4+/5+ criterion as a primary efficacy end‐point in their guidance for trials examining new medications for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Internationally, similar cut‐offs have been proposed, with the European Medicines Agency having identified reductions in the number of heavy drinking days (defined as 40/60 g pure alcohol in women/men) as a primary end‐point for efficacy trials with a harm reduction goal.
Analysis and evidence
We question the validity of the 4+/5+ cut‐off (and other similar cut‐offs) on multiple accounts. The 4+/5+ cut‐off has not been shown to have unique predictive validity or clinical utility. The cut‐off has been created based on retrospective self‐reports and its use demonstrates ecological bias. Given strong evidence that the relationship between alcohol consumption and problems related to drinking is at least monotonic, if not linear, there is little existing evidence to support the 4+/5+ cut‐off as a valid marker of problematic alcohol use.
Conclusions
There is little empirical evidence for the 4+/5+ standard drinks per occasion threshold for ‘binge’ or ‘heavy’ drinking in indexing treatment efficacy. Further consideration of an appropriate threshold seems to be warranted.
In the current climate of policy change regarding cannabis (i.e., decriminalization, medicalization, and legalization), various stakeholders have a strong interest in determining the associations ...between cannabis use and important outcomes. The present study sought to quantify the association between indicators of cannabis use and the experience of cannabis-related negative consequences. We found 19 unique studies that examined the associations between cannabis use and negative consequences as measured by 1 of 4 measures: the Marijuana Problems Scale, the Rutgers Marijuana Problem Index, the Cannabis Problems Questionnaire, or the Marijuana Consequences Questionnaire. We used random effects meta-analytic techniques to estimate the average strength of association between cannabis use and negative consequences, determine the level of heterogeneity in effect sizes, and examine possible moderators of these associations (measure of consequences, gender/sex distribution). We found that cannabis use had a medium-sized association with consequences, rw = .367, with high levels of heterogeneity that depended to some extent on the specific consequence measure used. Similar to a meta-analytic integration of the alcohol use-consequences association, we found that most of the variance in cannabis-related negative consequences was not explained by any single indicator of cannabis use, pointing to the fact that additional factors need to be examined to explain the experience of negative consequences from cannabis use and that additional indicators of cannabis use may be needed.
Background
The Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment (ANA), a framework for measuring heterogeneity in alcohol use disorder (AUD), focuses on 3 domains that reflect neurobiological dysfunction in ...addiction and correspond to the cycles of addiction: executive function, incentive salience, and negative emotionality. Kwako and colleagues (Am J Psychiatry 176:744, 2019) validated a 3‐factor model of the ANA with neuropsychological and self‐report indicators among treatment‐seekers and non–treatment‐seekers with and without AUD. The present analysis replicated and extended these findings in a treatment‐seeking sample, focusing on the negative emotionality domain.
Methods
Participants (n = 563; 58.8% male; mean age = 34.3) were part of a multisite prospective study of individuals entering AUD treatment. We examined the factor structure of the negative emotionality domain at the baseline, 6‐month follow‐up, and 12‐month follow‐up assessments. The Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory‐Trait Anger Subscale, and 3 Drinker Inventory of Consequences items assessing negative affective consequences were indicators in the model.
Results
Results indicated that a 1‐factor model was an excellent fit at all assessments and that the negative emotionality domain was time and gender invariant. Furthermore, negative emotionality was associated with drinking patterns and reasons for alcohol use (i.e., drinking because of negative emotions and urges/withdrawal) at all assessments.
Conclusions
This analysis provides evidence for the construct validity and measurement invariance of the ANA negative emotionality domain among AUD treatment‐seekers. Future studies are needed to evaluate prospective associations between negative emotionality and specific treatment modalities, and whether individuals with greater negative emotionality are more likely to respond to treatment that targets drinking to relieve negative affective states.
The Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment, a framework for characterizing and measuring heterogeneity in alcohol use disorder, focuses on three domains reflecting neurobiological dysfunction in addiction: negative emotionality, incentive salience, and executive function. The present analysis demonstrated that the negative emotionality domain was unidimensional, invariant across time and gender, and associated with drinking patterns and reasons for alcohol use among treatment‐seekers with alcohol use disorder. These findings can inform future research on the negative emotionality domain and clinical applications of this domain.
Abstract Background Marijuana is currently the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, and with the movement toward legalization of recreational marijuana, the country faces numerous ...issues regarding policy, prevention, and treatment of marijuana use. The present study examines the prevalence of marijuana use and consequences and compare users and non-users on a wide range of other marijuana-related constructs among college students across 11 universities. Method Participants included 8141 college students recruited from the psychology department participant pools of 11 universities throughout the US, including four major regions of the US (West, South, Midwest, Northeast) and states with varying policies regarding the legality of marijuana use. Results We observed marijuana use rates similar to representative samples of young adults and college students (i.e., 53.3% lifetime marijuana users, 26.2% past month marijuana users). About 1 in 10 past month marijuana users experienced no consequences from their use, whereas nearly 1 in 10 experienced 19 or more consequences. Lifetime marijuana users had more positive perceptions of marijuana compared to non-users on a wide-range of marijuana-related constructs. Conclusions We report descriptive statistics on a wide range of marijuana-related variables. We hope that these data provide a useful baseline prior to increased legalization of recreational marijuana use. Multi-site studies like this one are needed to study the risky and protective factors for problematic marijuana use. These findings can inform interventions and public policy.
•We used latent profile analysis to group college students based on mindfulness scores.•A 4-class solution was selected, leading to four subgroups of college students.•High mindfulness and ...non-judgmentally aware groups had adaptive outcomes.•Low mindfulness and judgmentally observing groups had maladaptive outcomes.•We discuss the implications of person-centered analyses for studying mindfulness.
In non-meditating samples, distinct facets of mindfulness are found to be negatively correlated, preventing the meaningful creation of a total mindfulness score. The present study used person-centered analyses to distinguish subgroups of college students based on their mindfulness scores, which allows the examination of individuals who are high (or low) on all facets of mindfulness. Using the Lo–Mendell–Rubin Adjusted LRT test, we settled on a 4-class solution that included a high mindfulness group (high on all 5 facets, N=245), low mindfulness group (moderately low on all 5 facets, N=563), judgmentally observing group (high on observing, but low on non-judging and acting with awareness, N=63), and non-judgmentally aware group (low on observing, but high on non-judging and acting with awareness, N=70). Consistent across all emotional outcomes including depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms (i.e., worry), affective instability, and distress intolerance, we found that the judgmentally observing group had the most maladaptive emotional outcomes followed by the low mindfulness group. Both the high mindfulness group and the non-judgmentally aware group had the most adaptive emotional outcomes. We discuss the implications of person-centered analyses to exploring mindfulness as it relates to important psychological health outcomes.
The assessment of marijuana use quantity poses unique challenges. These challenges have limited research efforts on quantity assessments. However, quantity estimates are critical to detecting ...associations between marijuana use and outcomes. We examined accuracy of marijuana users' estimations of quantities of marijuana they prepared to ingest and predictors of both how much was prepared for a single dose and the degree of (in)accuracy of participants' estimates. We recruited a sample of 128 regular-to-heavy marijuana users for a field study wherein they prepared and estimated quantities of marijuana flower in a joint or a bowl as well as marijuana concentrate using a dab tool. The vast majority of participants overestimated the quantity of marijuana that they used in their preparations. We failed to find robust predictors of estimation accuracy. Self-reported quantity estimates are inaccurate, which has implications for studying the link between quantity and marijuana use outcomes.
•We applied the Theory of Reasoned Action to cyberbullying perpetration.•Lower empathy toward victims predicted more favorable attitudes toward cyberbullying.•More positive cyberbullying attitudes ...predicted higher intentions to cyberbully.•Higher cyberbullying intentions predicted more frequent cyberbullying perpetration.
The present study tested the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as an explanation for cyberbullying perpetration among 375 (128 male, 246 female) college students. Empathy toward cyberbullying victims was also included in the models. Participants completed the cyberbullying perpetration scale of the Cyberbullying Experiences Survey (Doane, Kelley, Chiang, & Padilla, 2013) that assesses four types of cyberbullying (deception, malice, public humiliation, and unwanted contact). Across all four models, results showed that lower empathy toward cyberbullying victims predicted more favorable attitudes toward cyberbullying perpetration, more favorable attitudes toward cyberbullying predicted higher intentions to cyberbully, and higher cyberbullying intentions predicted more frequent perpetration of cyberbullying behaviors. Injunctive norms regarding cyberbullying (e.g., perception of peers’ approval of cyberbullying perpetration) predicted intentions to engage in malice and unwanted contact behaviors. The results demonstrate that the TRA is a useful framework for understanding cyberbullying perpetration.
There has been an increasing focus on determining the psychological mechanisms underlying the broad effects of mindfulness on psychological health. Mindfulness has been posited to be related to the ...construct of reperceiving or decentering, defined as a shift in perspective associated with decreased attachment to one’s thoughts and emotions. Decentering is proposed to be a meta-mechanism that mobilizes four psychological mechanisms (cognitive flexibility, values clarification, self-regulation, and exposure), which in turn are associated with positive health outcomes. Despite preliminary support for this model, extant studies testing this model have not examined distinct facets of mindfulness. The present study used a multidimensional measure of mindfulness to examine whether this model could account for the associations between five facets of mindfulness and psychological symptoms (depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety symptoms, alcohol-related problems) in a sample of college students (
N
= 944). Our findings partially support this model. We found significant double-mediated associations in the expected directions for all outcomes (stress, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms) except alcohol-related problems, and for each of the facets of mindfulness except observing. However, decentering and the specific mechanisms did not fully mediate the associations among mindfulness facets and psychological health outcomes. Experimental and ecological momentary assessment designs are needed to understand the psychological processes that account for the beneficial effects of mindfulness.
In order to overcome the difficulties in applying traditional time-of-arrival techniques for locating acoustic emission events in complex structures and materials, a technique termed ‘Delta-t ...mapping’ was developed. This article presents a significant improvement on this, in which the difficulties in identifying the precise arrival time of an acoustic emission signal are addressed by incorporating the Akaike information criteria. The performance of the time of arrival, the Delta-t mapping and the Akaike information criteria Delta-t mapping techniques is assessed by locating artificial acoustic emission sources, fatigue damage and impact events in aluminium and composite materials, respectively. For all investigations conducted, the improved Akaike information criteria Delta-t technique shows a reduction in average Euclidean source location error irrespective of material or source type. For locating Hsu–Nielsen sources on a complex aluminium specimen, the average source location error (Euclidean) is 32.6 (time of arrival), 5.8 (Delta-t) and 3 mm (Akaike information criteria Delta-t). For locating fatigue damage on the same specimen, the average error is 20.2 (time of arrival), 4.2 (Delta-t) and 3.4 mm (Akaike information criteria Delta-t). For locating Hsu–Nielsen sources on a composite panel, the average error is 19.3 (time of arrival), 18.9 (Delta-t) and 4.2 mm (Akaike information criteria Delta-t). Finally, the Akaike information criteria Delta-t mapping technique had the lowest average error (3.3 mm) when locating impact events when compared with the Delta-t (18.9 mm) and time of arrival (124.7 mm) techniques. Overall, the Akaike information criteria Delta-t mapping technique is the only technique which demonstrates consistently the lowest average source location error (greatest average error of 4.2 mm) when compared with the Delta-t (greatest average error of 18.9 mm) and time of arrival (greatest average error of 124.7 mm) techniques. These results demonstrate that the Akaike information criteria Delta-t mapping technique is a viable option for acoustic emission source location, increasing the accuracy and likelihood of damage detection, irrespective of material, geometry and source type.
PDF
