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Objective: The beginning of college is a period in which increased alcohol use often coincides with greater involvement in romantic relationships. Existing literature yields inconsistent findings regarding the influence of relationship types on drinking behavior, perhaps because these studies have not accounted for recent changes in the way college students engage in dating/sexual relationships., Methods: The present study sought to address this issue using a longitudinal study design by examining the effects of both relationship type and sexual activity on heavy episodic drinking (HED) among 1,847 college students over the course of the first 3 semesters of college., Results: Results indicated that the effects of relationship type depended on whether an individual was sexually active. Nondating but sexually active students reported rates of HED comparable to students who defined themselves as casual daters. Conversely, nondating students who were not sexually active reported drinking behavior similar to those involved in exclusive relationships. Further, transitions between low- and high-risk relationship/sexual activity types were associated with corresponding changes in HED. Transitioning into a high-risk relationship was associated with significant increases in levels of HED, whereas transitioning into a low-risk relationship was associated with significant decreases in HED., Conclusions: Together, results indicate that engaging in nonexclusive dating or casual sexual relationships may play an important role in the development of problematic patterns of alcohol use during the early college years. These findings have potentially important implications both for future research and for prevention and intervention efforts targeting high-risk college drinkers., (© 2020 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Rates of alcohol use disorders in individuals with bipolar disorder are 3 to 5 times greater than in the general population and exceed rates of alcohol use disorders reported in other affective and anxiety disorders. Despite this high rate of comorbidity, our understanding of the psychosocial and neural mechanisms that underlie the initiation of alcohol misuse in young adults with bipolar disorder remains limited. Prior work suggests that individuals with bipolar disorder may misuse alcohol as a coping mechanism, yet the neural correlates of coping drinking motives and associated alcohol use have not been previously investigated in this population., Methods: Forty-eight young adults (22 bipolar disorder type I, 26 typically developing; 71% women; average age ± standard deviation = 22 ± 2 years) completed the Drinking Motives and Daily Drinking Questionnaires, and a Continuous Performance Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Task with Emotional and Neutral Distracters. We calculated the relative difference in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) functional coupling with the anterior insula and amygdala in response to emotional distracters compared with neutral stimuli and investigated the relations with coping drinking motives and alcohol use., Results: Across all participants, coping drinking motives were associated with greater quantity of recent alcohol use. In individuals with bipolar disorder, greater ACC-anterior insula functional coupling was associated with greater coping drinking motives, and greater quantity and frequency of recent alcohol use. The relative difference in ACC-anterior insula functional coupling was not associated with coping drinking motives or alcohol use in the typically developing group. Greater ACC-anterior insula functional coupling in individuals with bipolar disorder was also associated with greater anxiety symptoms and recent perceived psychological stress. Exploratory analyses suggest that the relations between ACC-anterior insula functional coupling and coping drinking motives may be confounded by anticonvulsant use., Conclusion: Results suggest that a difference in ACC-anterior insula functional coupling during emotion processing may underlie alcohol use as a maladaptive coping mechanism in young adults with bipolar disorder., (© 2022 Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Alcohol-induced blackouts, or memory loss for all or portions of events that occurred during a drinking episode, are reported by approximately 50% of drinkers and are associated with a wide range of negative consequences, including injury and death. As such, identifying the factors that contribute to and result from alcohol-induced blackouts is critical in developing effective prevention programs. Here, we provide an updated review (2010 to 2015) of clinical research focused on alcohol-induced blackouts, outline practical and clinical implications, and provide recommendations for future research., Methods: A comprehensive, systematic literature review was conducted to examine all articles published between January 2010 through August 2015 that focused on vulnerabilities, consequences, and possible mechanisms for alcohol-induced blackouts., Results: Twenty-six studies reported on alcohol-induced blackouts. Fifteen studies examined prevalence and/or predictors of alcohol-induced blackouts. Six publications described the consequences of alcohol-induced blackouts, and 5 studies explored potential cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced blackouts., Conclusions: Recent research on alcohol-induced blackouts suggests that individual differences, not just alcohol consumption, increase the likelihood of experiencing an alcohol-induced blackout, and the consequences of alcohol-induced blackouts extend beyond the consequences related to the drinking episode to include psychiatric symptoms and neurobiological abnormalities. Prospective studies and a standardized assessment of alcohol-induced blackouts are needed to fully characterize factors associated with alcohol-induced blackouts and to improve prevention strategies., (Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Early onset drinking is associated with later heavy drinking and related consequences. Early drinking onset and binge drinking are also independently associated with blackouts, which are periods of amnesia for events during a drinking episode. The objective of this study was to examine how early onset drinking relates to changes in the frequency of experiencing blackouts across 3 years controlling for year-specific binge drinking., Methods: Participants (N = 1,145; 67.9% female) from a 6-year, longitudinal study are included in these analyses. Measures of self-reported age at drinking onset included ages at first drink, first high, and first drunk, which were used to create a latent early onset drinking factor. Frequency of binge drinking and blackouts were assessed annually during Years 4 to 6., Results: Overall, 69.2% of participants reported experiencing blackouts. After controlling for year-specific binge drinking, a growth curve model indicated that early onset drinkers reported more frequent blackouts at Year 4. There were, however, no significant effects of acceleration or deceleration in the frequency of blackouts across the 3 years. Early onset drinkers continued to experience more frequent blackouts compared with those who initiated alcohol use later, despite decreases in binge drinking over time., Conclusions: Early onset drinkers reported more frequent blackouts across all 3 years, indicating that early alcohol initiation predisposes those individuals to continue to experience more frequent blackouts, despite a decrease in their binge drinking. This may be due to various factors, such as altered hippocampal development and functioning resulting from early alcohol exposure., (Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

This article summarizes a symposium organized by Dr. Elizabeth D'Amico and presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Vancouver, Canada. The four presentations illustrate the importance of creating substance use interventions that are developmentally appropriate for youth. They represent innovative approaches to working with preteens, teenagers, and young adults. Dr. D'Amico's paper describes her research on the development of a voluntary brief intervention targeting alcohol use among middle school students. Findings indicated that by using school and community input, she was able to obtain a diverse a sample of youth across grades, sex, ethnicity, and substance use status. Dr. Ellickson's paper describes her research on Project ALERT, a school-based prevention program for middle school youth. Her findings indicate that Project ALERT worked for students at all levels of risk (low, moderate, and high) and for all students combined. Dr. Wagner's Teen Intervention Project was a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of a standardized Student Assistance Program for treating middle and high school students with alcohol and other drug problems. The study provided a unique opportunity to begin to examine how development may impact response to an alcohol or other drug intervention. Dr. Turrisi's paper examined processes underlying the nature of the effects of a parent intervention on college student drinking tendencies. Findings suggested that the parent intervention seems to have its impact on student drinking by reducing the influence of negative communications and decreasing the susceptibility of influences from closest friends. Dr. Kim Fromme provided concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes a symposium that was organized by Dr. Kim Fromme and presented at the 2003 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The four presentations illustrate the emerging technologies and methods that are now being used to investigate the genetic basis of differential sensitivity to alcohol and their behavioral manifestations. Combining human genotyping with laboratory measures of behavior and subjective reports, these presentations represent state-of-the-art approaches to crossing the bridge from the Decade of the Brain to the Decade of Behavior. Dr. De Wit's paper describes her research on the neurobiological basis for individual differences in sensitivity to the stimulant and sedative effects of alcohol. Evidence suggests that activity of the dopaminergic and GABAergic neurotransmitters underlie these stimulant and sedative effects, respectively. Both Drs. Hutchison's and Corbin's papers describe their research on polymorphisms for the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) as a determinant of the subjective effects of alcohol challenge. Dr. Hutchinson's and Ms. Ray's findings indicate that individuals with the short form of the SLC6A4 alleles (S) demonstrated a low level of response to alcohol, thus supporting previous research that the S allele may be associated with increased risk for alcohol dependence. In contrast, Dr. Corbin did not find a reliable association between the SLC6A4 genotype and subjective response to alcohol. Mr. Cook's and Dr. Wall's paper adds another dimension to this article by presenting research on both the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2) genetic variants and their association with the alcohol-related flushing response that is prevalent in Asian populations. Dr. David Goldman provides concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heavy drinking is common during transitions from high school to college. Optimal programs for diminishing risks for high alcohol consumption often tailor the approach to the specific needs of students. This study describes the results of an Internet-based prevention protocol that tailors the information to the risk associated with a pre-existing phenotype, the Low level of Response (Low LR) to alcohol., Methods: Using stratified random assignment, 454 freshmen with Low and High LR values were assigned to 2 education groups (LR-based where all examples were given the context of the Low LR model of heavy drinking or a State Of The Art (SOTA) Group where the same lessons were taught but without an emphasis on LR) or a no-intervention Control Group. Individuals in the 2 education groups viewed 50-minute online videos once per week for 4 weeks. Changes in drinking patterns were assessed at Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks using a 2 (LR status) by 3 (education group) by 3 (time points) analysis of variance, with additional tests for ethnicity and sex., Results: Low LR participants tended to decrease their usual (p < 0.06) and maximum (p < 0.05) drinks per occasion most prominently when assigned to the LR-based protocol, while those with High LRs improved more in the SOTA Group. The most robust differences were seen when controlling for ethnicity. The effect sizes were small to medium., Conclusions: These results support the advantages of carrying out prevention via the Internet and in tailoring the approach to a pre-existing phenotype., (Copyright © 2015 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background and Aims: ABC-training is a new intervention to encourage health behavior change that targets the automatic activation of adaptive beliefs (i.e. automatic inferences). The aim of this proof-of-principle study was to test the effectiveness of web-based ABC-training to change outcome expectancies of alcohol drinking in a sample of hazardous drinkers., Design: One exploratory and one confirmatory experiment with two between-subject conditions (online ABC- and control-training) and assessments at baseline and 1 week later (after three sessions of training)., Setting: Participants recruited on Prolific Academic completed the web-based study., Participants: Adults with self-reported hazardous alcohol drinking (Experiment 1: 193 adults, United Kingdom, age mean = 46.7 years; Experiment 2: 282 adults, different nationalities, age mean = 38.3 years)., Intervention and Comparator: ABC-training involved completing an online task that required choosing personally relevant alternative behaviors to drinking alcohol in personally relevant antecedent contexts to attain personally important outcomes. Comparator was control-training, in which participants selected both the alternative behaviors and alcohol drinking an equal number of times. Training was completed at baseline, after 3 days and after 1 week., Measurements: Primary outcome was change in automatic and self-reported (negative/positive) outcome expectancies of alcohol drinking from baseline to after 1 week. Secondary outcomes were change in weekly alcohol consumption, self-efficacy, craving and motivation (and approach-alcohol associations in Experiment 1). Moderators were baseline outcome scores, motivation, age and alcohol dependency., Findings: Findings of this study are as follows: stronger increase in negative outcome expectancies after ABC- than control-training (Experiment 1: self-report, 95% confidence interval of difference scores (CI diff ) = [0.04, Inf]; automatic, CI diff  = [0.01, Inf]; Experiment 2: self-report, CI diff  = [0.16, Inf]; automatic, CI diff  = [0.002, Inf]). Stronger reduction in self-reported positive outcome expectancies after ABC- than control-training (Experiment 1: CI diff  = [-Inf, -0.01]; Experiment 2: CI diff  = [-Inf, -0.21]) but mixed findings on automatic positive outcome expectancies (Experiment 1: CI diff  = [-Inf, 0.02]; Experiment 2: CI diff  = [-Inf, -0.001])., Conclusions: ABC-training may change outcome expectancies of alcohol consumption, but testing of clinically relevant effects in other samples is warranted., (© 2023 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Background: Using alcohol at an early age is a well-documented risk factor for heavy drinking and the experience of a range of negative social and health consequences. However, it remains unclear if early consumption of any alcohol or early drinking to intoxication confers the greatest risk., Methods: Age of onset (AO) and delay to first intoxication (delay) were examined as independent predictors of heavy drinking and the experience of alcohol-related problems (problems) in a sample of incoming college freshmen (n = 1,160) who completed biannual assessments from the summer following senior year of high school through senior year of college. The sample included more women (66%) than men and a majority were Caucasian (59%). We employed latent growth curve modeling to examine self-reported AO and delay to self-defined first intoxication as predictors of the frequency of heavy drinking and problems during year 4 of college, as well as changes in these alcohol-related outcomes from high school through college., Results: An earlier AO and/or a shorter delay was associated with increased frequency of heavy drinking and problems during senior year of college. Although individuals with a later AO and/or a longer delay were at lower risk overall, they showed larger increases in heavy drinking and problems over time., Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between AO and delay to first intoxication. Delay accounted for unique variance in drinking outcomes relative to AO, and the effects of AO were stronger when delay was included as a predictor variable. Results are discussed with regard to potential mechanisms through which an early age of intoxication may confer unique risk relative to AO. The implications for cross-cultural differences in risk for problems attributable to early drinking are also discussed., (Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: New approaches are needed to bolster the modest effects of campus drinking prevention programs. However, more definitive research on new paradigms is very expensive, and in the current economic climate, progress can be made by evaluating smaller pilot studies. This study describes one such approach., Methods: A sample of 18-year-old or older, healthy, drinking freshmen at our university was assigned to 2 groups stratified to be similar on demography, drinking histories, and their level of response (LR) to alcohol. In the spring quarter of the school year, the 32 subjects in each of 2 groups viewed four 45-minute Internet-based videotapes as part of 4 prevention sessions. All 8 modules were based on the same techniques and general content, but the 4 videos for the first group were structured around the validated model of how a low LR affects heavy drinking (the low level of response-based [LRB] Group), with partial mediation by heavier drinking peers, positive alcohol expectancies, and drinking to cope with stress. Videos for the state-of-the-art (SOTA) comparison group did not place the similar prevention messages into the low LR framework. Changes in drinking were evaluated at 3 times: before Module 1, before Module 4, and 1 month after Module 4., Results: Usual and maximum drinks per occasion decreased over time for both high and low LR subjects in both LRB and SOTA groups. As predicted, the low LR students showed greater decreases in the LRB Group, while high LR students showed greater decreases in the more generic SOTA Group., Conclusions: The results support the hypothesis that tailoring prevention efforts to address specific predisposing factors, such as a low LR, may be associated with beneficial effects on drinking quantity. We hope that these data will encourage additional efforts to validate the low LR-based prevention paradigm and test other interventions that are targeted toward predisposing phenotypes such as impulsivity and negative affect., (Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Contextual memory, or memory for source details, is an important aspect of episodic memory and has been implicated in alcohol-induced fragmentary blackouts (FBs). Little is known, however, about how neural functioning during contextual memory processes may differ between individuals with and without a history of FB. This study examined whether neural activation during a contextual memory task differed by history of FB and acute alcohol consumption., Methods: Twenty-four matched individuals with (FB+; n = 12) and without (FB-; n = 12) a history of FBs were recruited from a longitudinal study of alcohol use and behavioral risks and completed a laboratory beverage challenge followed by 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions under no alcohol and alcohol (breath alcohol concentration = 0.08%) conditions. Task performance and brain hemodynamic activity during a block design contextual memory task were examined across 48 fMRI sessions., Results: Groups demonstrated no differences in performance on the contextual memory task, yet exhibited different brain response patterns after alcohol intoxication. A significant FB group by beverage interaction emerged in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex with FB- individuals showing greater blood oxygenation level-dependent response after alcohol exposure (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Alcohol had differential effects on neural activity for FB+ and FB- individuals during recollection of contextual information, perhaps suggesting a neurobiological mechanism associated with alcohol-induced FB., (Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Individual differences in subjective response to alcohol, as measured by laboratory-based alcohol challenge, have been identified as a candidate phenotypic risk factor for the development of alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). Two models have been developed to explain the role of subjective response to alcohol, but predictions from the 2 models are contradictory, and theoretical consensus is lacking., Methods: This investigation used a meta-analytic approach to review the accumulated evidence from alcohol-challenge studies of subjective response as a risk factor. Data from 32 independent samples (total N = 1,314) were aggregated to produce quantitative estimates of the effects of risk-group status (i.e., positive family history of AUDs or heavier alcohol consumption) on subjective response., Results: As predicted by the Low Level of Response Model (LLRM), family history-positive groups experienced reduced overall subjective response relative to family history-negative groups. This effect was most evident among men, with family history-positive men responding more than half a standard deviation less than family history-negative men. In contrast, consistent with the Differentiator Model (DM), heavier drinkers of both genders responded 0.4 standard deviations less on measures of sedation than did the lighter drinkers but nearly half a standard deviation more on measures of stimulation, with the stimulation difference appearing most prominent on the ascending limb of the blood alcohol concentration curve., Conclusions: The accumulated results from 3 decades of family history comparisons provide considerable support for the LLRM. In contrast, results from typical consumption comparisons were largely consistent with predictions of the DM. The LLRM and DM may describe 2 distinct sets of phenotypic risk, with importantly different etiologies and predictions for the development of AUDs., (Copyright © 2011 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Aims: Even among those at risk for problematic alcohol use, there is variability in developmental trajectories of drinking and related problems. This prospective study examined the role of person-environment interactions in increased drinking during the transition to college., Design: The authors followed a sample of recent high school graduates to test whether protective environmental factors could delay increases in drinking among those high in trait-level risk factors., Setting: Participants completed web-based surveys., Participants: A sample of 1784 students in the incoming class of 2004 at a large public United States university completed high school and first-semester-of-college assessments., Measurements: Participants completed self-report measures of alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, perceived awareness and caring from parents and other adults, sensation seeking and impulsivity., Findings: In the transition to college, high sensation seekers from more protective high school parental environments increased their alcohol use and problems more than did other students. Increases in alcohol problems were also high among more impulsive students from less protective environments. Whereas high sensation seekers drank equivalently in college regardless of high school-perceived awareness and caring, those who had greater high school-perceived awareness and caring did not experience as many alcohol-related problems in college., Conclusions: Differences in drinking trajectories may be a function of person-environment interactions. Risk associated with high sensation seeking may be masked among adolescents in protective environments, but its emergence in the college transition predicts increases in alcohol use and related problems., (© 2011 The Authors, Addiction © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Background: Individual differences in subjective alcohol intoxication, as measured by laboratory-based alcohol challenge, have been identified as a phenotypic risk factor for alcohol use disorders. Further, recent evidence indicates that subjective alcohol response is also associated with event-level physiological consequences among college students, including blackouts and hangovers., Methods: The current investigation tested predictors of and outcomes associated with subjective intoxication in the natural drinking environment. In a preliminary laboratory alcohol-challenge study (n = 53), we developed a brief measure of subjective alcohol intoxication for use in event-level research. Participating students in the principal study (n = 1,867; 63% women; 54% Caucasian) completed 30 days of Web-based self-monitoring in each of the 4 college years., Results: In the principal study, generalized estimating equation analyses revealed that both lighter drinking and a family history of alcohol problems predicted greater subjective intoxication after accounting for estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC). Moreover, greater subjective intoxication during a given drinking episode was associated with negative alcohol-related consequences, illicit drug use, and unsafe sex, and at higher eBACs, was associated with aggression, sex, and property crime. Students who on average experienced greater subjective intoxication were also more likely to experience negative consequences and engage in illicit drug use, sex, unsafe sex, and aggression., Conclusions: These findings suggest that both within-person variability and between-person individual differences in subjective intoxication may be risk factors for adverse drinking outcomes at the event level. Intervention efforts aimed at reducing problems associated with collegiate drinking may benefit from consideration both of who experiences greater subjective intoxication and of the situations in which they are more likely to do so., (Copyright © 2010 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Aims: Heavy episodic drinking (HED) among Asian Americans is a growing concern. However, little is known about the etiology and developmental patterns of HED among Asian Americans, even though this group is one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States., Design: Three year longitudinal design., Participants: Sample included 404 Asian American college students transitioning from high school, through the college years., Measurement: Measures included heavy episodic drinking, parental and peer relationships, alcohol expectancies, drinking values, and alcohol-related problems., Findings: Results from growth-mixture models (GMM) identified two discrete latent classes of HED comprising 59% of our sample: these trajectory classes (high increasers and low increasers) corresponded to expected changes and stability in well-established correlates of drinking behaviour, including alcohol-related problems, personal drinking values and alcohol expectancies. Parental awareness and caring and quality of peer relationships during senior year of high school were associated directly and indirectly with HED class membership., Conclusion: These findings advance the literature by providing information about the developmental course of HED among Asian American young adults. The significant within-group variability in problematic drinking in this sample highlights the fact that subgroups of high-risk drinkers can be identified even in relatively low-risk groups such as Asian Americans., (© 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

It is a paradox that psychotomimetic drugs can relieve symptoms that increase risk of and cooccur with psychosis, such as attention and motivational deficits (e.g., amphetamines), pain (e.g., cannabis) and symptoms of depression (e.g., psychedelics, dissociatives). We introduce the ideas of psychotomimetic compensation and psychotomimetic sensitization to explain this paradox. Psychotomimetic compensation refers to a short‐term stressor or drug‐induced compensation against stress that is facilitated by engagement of neurotransmitter/modulator systems (endocannabinoid, serotonergic, glutamatergic and dopaminergic) that mediate the effects of common psychotomimetic drugs. Psychotomimetic sensitization occurs after repeated exposure to stress and/or drugs and is evidenced by the gradual intensification and increase of psychotic‐like experiences over time. Theoretical and practical implications of this model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fragmentary blackouts, or memory loss for intoxicated events that may be later recalled with the provision of cues, are common sequelae of heavy drinking, yet understanding of their characteristics, correlates, and consequences is limited. Consequently, this alcohol-administration study addressed questions regarding the etiology of fragmentary blackouts and their effect on alcohol outcome expectancies., Methods: A placebo-controlled design addressed the etiology of fragmentary blackouts through assessment of memory formation before and after alcohol consumption. The effect of fragmentary blackouts on prospective beliefs about alcohol was assessed by way of a self-report outcome expectancy questionnaire and a measure of response latency for alcohol concepts presented after beverage consumption., Results: Although participants performed similarly on memory indices before consuming beverages, those who reported past fragmentary blackouts and consumed alcohol displayed marked difficulty with recall of a narrative when this was attempted both during intoxication and after detoxification, as well as with a source memory task presented during intoxication. Those reporting fragmentary blackouts also endorsed stronger outcome expectancies for a range of alcohol effects and exhibited greater accessibility for positive alcohol concepts presented after beverage administration. Further, source recall contributed significantly to the episodic recall both during intoxication and after detoxification, as well as to positive outcome expectancies of those receiving alcohol., Conclusions: Findings suggest that fragmentary blackouts result from poor retrieval and that individual differences in retrieval emerge after alcohol is consumed. Further, one's recall of source aspects of material-its time and social context-is an important determinant of recall of stimuli and events encountered during intoxication, as well as of prospective expectations for positive alcohol effects. The collective findings expand our understanding of this complex yet common neuropsychological consequence of heavy drinking.

Aims: Despite widespread prevention efforts to decrease adolescent risk-taking, substance use and driving after drinking (DD) are prevalent in the United States. The current study compared the efficacy of an abbreviated version of Drug Abuse and Resistance Education (DARE-A) to a new Risk Skills Training Program (RSTP)., Design: Adolescent participation in drinking, drug use, DD and riding with a drunk driver was examined longitudinally. After baseline assessments, adolescents were randomly assigned to the RSTP. DARE-A or a no intervention control group and then completed 2-month post-test and 6-month follow-up assessments., Setting: Adolescents attended a mid-sized suburban high school., Participants: The sample (N = 300) was comprised of 58% females and the age range was 14-19 years., Intervention: The RSTP was developed to target several risk behaviors and to examine the feasibility of conducting a brief personalized prevention program in a group setting. DARE-A focused on increasing knowledge and understanding the deleterious effects of substance use., Measurements: Risk-taking behavior, perception of peer risk-taking and positive and negative alcohol expectancies were assessed., Findings: RSTP participants decreased participation in several risk behaviors at post-test, but reductions were not maintained at 6-month follow-up. The control and DARE-A groups increased their positive and decreased their negative alcohol expectancies. The control group increased their alcohol consumption., Conclusions: Results suggest that a brief, personalized, group prevention program is a feasible approach to reducing adolescent risk-taking. Strategies must be developed to solidify these positive changes so that they are longer-lasting.

Research is reviewed on the association between alcohol outcome expectancies and consumption which has led many to argue that manipulating expectancies might be a route to manipulating consumption for problem prevention and treatment. Studies indirectly and directly evaluating this latter position are reviewed. Expectancies predicting treatment outcome: two studies have shown that the more positive expectancies held at treatment, the poorer is treatment outcome, but five other studies have failed to find this. Three related studies have shown that the more negative expectancies held at treatment, the better the treatment outcome. This evaluation provides evidence inconsistent with the main position for positive expectancy and limited support for negative. Expectancy manipulations and ad libitum consumption: three studies in the laboratory have shown that increasing positive expectancies through word priming increases subsequent consumption and two studies have shown that increasing negative expectancies decreases it. A single study in the field showed a similar relationship. This evaluation provides evidence consistent with the main position but is limited by measuring consumption changes over only 1-2 hours. Prevention programmes with expectancy components: seven projects are reviewed in which positive expectancies were targeted, but only two report an expectancy change analysis and in both cases the expectancy change did not relate to subsequent consumption. This evaluation provides evidence inconsistent with the main position. Expectancy challenge: two related studies are reviewed in which positive expectancy challenges reduce subsequent consumption but changes in expectancy were not evaluated as predictors of consumption change. Two studies are reviewed which found a reduction in positive expectancy following expectancy challenge but no reduction in consumption. One study is reviewed in which when negative expectancy was increased in treatment there was a better treatment outcome at 3 months follow-up than when it was not. This evaluation provides evidence inconsistent with the main position for positive expectancy and limited consistent evidence for negative. It is concluded that the research has still to be done that securely links expectancy manipulations with subsequent changes in consumption, and fulfils the early promise from association studies.

Direct effects of modeling and indirect effects of social perception processes have been implicated in the acquisition and maintenance of alcohol use. Parental and peer drinking behavior (assessed from self-reports), and student perceptions about parent and peer drinking (assessed from student estimates of their parents' and friends' alcohol use) were examined through surveys of college students, their parents, and a same-sex best friend. Results showed that students' perceptions about their parents' drinking and parents' self-reported quantity of alcohol consumed were significant correlates of students' own drinking. Perceptions about their friends' alcohol use were found to mediate the strong correlation between student and friend drinking. Perceived similarity to parents, but not perceived similarity to their friend, moderated the relation between students' alcohol use and their perceptions about the alcohol use of significant others. When parents were asked to estimate the alcohol use of their sons, daughters, and the average college student, they consistently estimated lower consumption for their offspring than for the average student.

Background: Road Traffic injuries (RTI) are among the top ten leading causes of death in the world resulting in 1.35 million deaths every year, about 93% of which occur in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Despite several global resolutions to reduce traffic injuries, they have continued to grow in many countries. Many high‐income countries have successfully reduced RTI by using a public health approach and implementing evidence‐based interventions. As many LMICs develop their highway infrastructure, adopting a similar scientific approach towards road safety is crucial. The evidence also needs to be evaluated to assess external validity because measures that have worked in high‐income countries may not translate equally well to other contexts. An evidence gap map for RTI is the first step towards understanding what evidence is available, from where, and the key gaps in knowledge. Objectives: The objective of this evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing evidence from all effectiveness studies and systematic reviews related to road safety interventions. In addition, the EGM identifies gaps in evidence where new primary studies and systematic reviews could add value. This will help direct future research and discussions based on systematic evidence towards the approaches and interventions which are most effective in the road safety sector. This could enable the generation of evidence for informing policy at global, regional or national levels. Search Methods: The EGM includes systematic reviews and impact evaluations assessing the effect of interventions for RTI reported in academic databases, organization websites, and grey literature sources. The studies were searched up to December 2019. Selection Criteria: The interventions were divided into five broad categories: (a) human factors (e.g., enforcement or road user education), (b) road design, infrastructure and traffic control, (c) legal and institutional framework, (d) post‐crash pre‐hospital care, and (e) vehicle factors (except car design for occupant protection) and protective devices. Included studies reported two primary outcomes: fatal crashes and non‐fatal injury crashes; and four intermediate outcomes: change in use of seat belts, change in use of helmets, change in speed, and change in alcohol/drug use. Studies were excluded if they did not report injury or fatality as one of the outcomes. Data Collection and Analysis: The EGM is presented in the form of a matrix with two primary dimensions: interventions (rows) and outcomes (columns). Additional dimensions are country income groups, region, quality level for systematic reviews, type of study design used (e.g., case‐control), type of road user studied (e.g., pedestrian, cyclists), age groups, and road type. The EGM is available online where the matrix of interventions and outcomes can be filtered by one or more dimensions. The webpage includes a bibliography of the selected studies and titles and abstracts available for preview. Quality appraisal for systematic reviews was conducted using a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews, AMSTAR 2. Main Results: The EGM identified 1859 studies of which 322 were systematic reviews, 7 were protocol studies and 1530 were impact evaluations. Some studies included more than one intervention, outcome, study method, or study region. The studies were distributed among intervention categories as: human factors (n = 771), road design, infrastructure and traffic control (n = 661), legal and institutional framework (n = 424), post‐crash pre‐hospital care (n = 118) and vehicle factors and protective devices (n = 111). Fatal crashes as outcomes were reported in 1414 records and non‐fatal injury crashes in 1252 records. Among the four intermediate outcomes, speed was most commonly reported (n = 298) followed by alcohol (n = 206), use of seatbelts (n = 167), and use of helmets (n = 66). Ninety‐six percent of the studies were reported from high‐income countries (HIC), 4.5% from upper‐middle‐income countries, and only 1.4% from lower‐middle and low‐income countries. There were 25 systematic reviews of high quality, 4 of moderate quality, and 293 of low quality. Authors' Conclusions: The EGM shows that the distribution of available road safety evidence is skewed across the world. A vast majority of the literature is from HICs. In contrast, only a small fraction of the literature reports on the many LMICs that are fast expanding their road infrastructure, experiencing rapid changes in traffic patterns, and witnessing growth in road injuries. This bias in literature explains why many interventions that are of high importance in the context of LMICs remain poorly studied. Besides, many interventions that have been tested only in HICs may not work equally effectively in LMICs. Another important finding was that a large majority of systematic reviews are of low quality. The scarcity of evidence on many important interventions and lack of good quality evidence‐synthesis have significant implications for future road safety research and practice in LMICs. The EGM presented here will help identify priority areas for researchers, while directing practitioners and policy makers towards proven interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues: Knowledge on the development of alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) is relevant because AOE predict change in drinking behaviours. The present meta-analysis integrates results of longitudinal studies on change in AOE from childhood to emerging adulthood (age 23/24)., Approach: A systematic search in electronic databases identified 64 studies that were analysed with three-level meta-analyses., Key Findings: AOE about positive and social consequences tended to increase, on average, from childhood to middle or late adolescence, respectively. In contrast, negative AOE declined over time. Change in positive, social and tension reduction AOE were described as an inverted u-shaped curve. The strongest increase of more than two standard deviation units was observed with regard to social AOE between the age of 7 and 16, followed by small decline in the transition to emerging adulthood., Implications: The meta-analysis found evidence for strong increases of positive AOE from childhood to middle or late adolescence., Conclusions: The results inform about reasonable age-ranges for expectancy-challenging interventions. To obtain a clearer picture of change in AOE beyond adolescence, longitudinal research is needed on younger children and beyond college age., (© 2022 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Background and Aims: Research demonstrates that siblings, especially older siblings, make unique contributions to adolescents' substance use above and beyond shared genetics and shared parenting. Older siblings' influences on younger adolescent siblings' alcohol use operate through both direct and indirect pathways. Using three waves of longitudinal data, the present study tested an integrated model of sibling influence processes focused on the linkages between older adolescent siblings' earlier alcohol use and younger adolescent siblings' later alcohol use., Design: Longitudinal study using data collected from families on three occasions: Time 1 (March 2019-February 2020), Time 2 (July 2020-February 2021) and Time 3 (November 2021-February 2022) via online surveys., Setting: Families resided in five midwestern states in the US (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin)., Participants: Participants included two adolescent-aged siblings and one parent from 682 families (n = 2046 persons)., Measurements: Alcohol use by adolescents and parents was assessed at Time 1; younger siblings' social alcohol expectancies and perceptions of modeling were measured at Time 2; and younger siblings' alcohol use was measured at Time 3., Findings: Older siblings' earlier alcohol use predicted younger siblings' later drinking both directly [b = 0.15, standard error (SE) = 0.04, β = 0.17, P < 0.001] and indirectly through younger siblings' social alcohol expectancies [δ = 0.02, SE = 0.008, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.003, 0.03]. The direct (δ = -0.14, SE = 0.07, 95% CI = -0.27, -0.01) and indirect (δ = 0.03, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.0001, 0.06) links were further moderated by younger siblings' reports of sibling modeling, but not by gender composition of the sibling dyad or the interaction of modeling and gender composition., Conclusions: Older siblings' alcohol use appears to influence younger siblings' later alcohol use directly, as well as indirectly through younger siblings' expectancies about alcohol. The global context of the sibling relationship, in this case sibling modeling, may further amplify or dampen these pathways of influence., (© 2024 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Dr. John Schulenberg (1957-2023) was a brilliant and internationally recognized developmental scientist. In equal measure, he was an outstanding, dedicated, and generous mentor. Through his scholarship and mentorship, his impact on the fields of adolescent and substance use research will be deep and enduring. The overriding theme of his research was illuminating the importance of adolescence in the life course, which he referred to as "Taking the Long View" on adolescence. John's longstanding motivation for this was to answer the question: "Does adolescence matter?" This special issue, which (in addition to this introduction) includes 14 papers and 2 invited commentaries, is designed to honor his scholarship and impact. For this introduction to the special issue, we divide what it means to "Take the Long View" on adolescence into four major themes: (1) Turning points; (2) Developmental disturbances; (3) Continuity and long-term developmental connections; and (4) Heterogeneity in the age curve. We describe these four themes, consider how they connect with the overarching question "Does adolescence matter?," and discuss how the research papers included in this special issue are excellent examples of research inspired by these themes., (© 2024 Society for Research on Adolescence.)

Alcohol misuse ranks among the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. Therefore, discovering measures that can predict hazardous drinking is critical. The delay discounting paradigm-which assesses relative preference for immediate rewards over larger, later rewards-has frequently been used as a proxy for impulsive choice, but it does not capture how long someone is willing to wait for delayed rewards when the arrival time is uncertain. In contrast, a newer willingness-to-wait task measures how long someone is willing to wait for a delayed reward of uncertain timing before giving up. We hypothesized that performance in this willingness-to-wait task would be associated with drinking severity and that this task may even outperform delay discounting as a predictor of drinking severity. We pooled data from multiple studies of mostly college-aged adult participants. Drinking severity was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Willingness to wait under temporal uncertainty, but not delay discounting, was associated with severity of alcohol problems among participants who drank (n = 212). Individuals engaging in hazardous drinking were less willing to wait for rewards when delays were unknown than were individuals with low-risk drinking habits. Thus, willingness to wait under temporal uncertainty may be an important predictor of problematic drinking., (© 2024 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.)

Guided by General Theory of Crime and Psychosocial Maturity Hypothesis, we investigated co-development between short-term mindsets (impulsivity and future orientation) and risk behaviors (cannabis use and delinquency). Parallel process latent growth modeling on three-wave data from ethnically diverse Swiss adolescents (N = 1365; M age 13.67 years, 48.6% female), showed baseline-level associations between short-term mindsets and risk behaviors, and between the two risk behaviors. Additionally, correlated change (co-development) existed between short-term mindsets-particularly impulsivity-and delinquency, but not between short-term mindsets and cannabis use. These results support the above-mentioned theories and emphasize the importance of investigating the correlates of change in delinquency and cannabis use separately, as divergent findings might emerge. These divergent findings could partially stem from Switzerland's liberal views on cannabis use., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Research on Adolescence published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research on Adolescence.)

Background: Problems associated with alcohol use are multidimensional with psychiatric, psychological, physical, and social aspects, which makes it challenging to choose appropriate assessment scales. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of existing alcohol scales. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted for articles that assessed the psychometric properties of scales for alcohol use disorder on March 19, 2023, using Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Only scales whose original development papers were cited more than 20 times were included. The methodological quality and psychometric properties of the scales were evaluated using COnsensus‐based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments. The overall rating of the scales were assessed with a score ranging from 0 to 18. Results: In total, 314 studies and 40 scales were identified. These scales differ widely in measurement methods, target populations, and psychometric properties. The overall mean score was 6.3, and only the following three scales received >9 points suggesting a moderate level of evidence: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), and Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire (SADD). Measurement error and responsiveness were not evaluated or reported in the included scales. Conclusions: Although the AUDIT, ADS, and SADD were rated the highest among the 40 scales, they showed, at most, a moderate level of evidence. These findings underscore the need to accumulate further evidence to assure the quality of the scales. It may be advisable to select and combine scales to meet the purpose of the assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The multistage model of drug addiction posits that risk processes contributing to alcohol use change as individuals develop alcohol use disorders. However, few studies have tested this theory outside of the lab or at the event level. We assessed whether event‐level associations between positive reinforcement (e.g., positive affect, sociability expectancies) and negative reinforcement risk factors (e.g., negative affect, tension reduction expectancies) and same‐/next‐day alcohol consumption varied as a function of an individual's level of alcohol consequences. Given elevated alcohol use consequences among individuals with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disruptions in reward processing that affect this population, we also tested whether these processes differed based on the presence and severity of PTSD. Methods: We used data from a 30‐day ecological momentary assessment study with 174 undergraduate women who regularly engaged in heavy episodic drinking. A majority (78%) of the sample had experienced sexual assault and 44% had current PTSD. Analyses used Bayesian multilevel structural equation modeling with diffuse (non‐informative) priors. We used markov chain monte carlo (MCMC) algorithms to generate a series of 10,000 random draws from the multivariate posterior distribution of our sample for each model. Results: Results partially supported the multistage model. Event‐level negative reinforcement risk factors only predicted more alcohol consumption among individuals who experienced more alcohol consequences. Findings for positive reinforcement risk factors were partially consistent with hypotheses. Overall, findings appear to operate similarly across PTSD symptom severity. Conclusions: Results suggest that interventions for heavy episodic drinking could benefit from attending to an individual's level of alcohol consequences. For example, preventive interventions for individuals who tend to experience few consequences may benefit more from addressing positive reinforcement risk factors, while treatment interventions for those who experience more consequences may benefit from attending to both positive and negative reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face mask‐wearing is important for reducing COVID‐19 spread. Masking is a publicly visible behavior and thus, social factors such as descriptive and personal norms, risk images, and impression management concerns are salient and likely influential. Study 1 (N = 381) surveyed participants during the early stages of the pandemic, assessing correlational relationships between social factors and masking intentions. Study 2 (N = 778) replicated Study 1 at a later stage in the pandemic and experimentally manipulated the group to which norms and risk images referred—familiar, unfamiliar, or general others. Study 1 findings revealed that perceived descriptive norms, personal norms, and risk images, together strongly related to face mask‐wearing independent of COVID‐19 threat perception. Study 2 results revealed that people's impressions of non‐mask wearers were less negative and their perceptions of mask‐wearing less normative among familiar versus unfamiliar others. People were also less likely to wear masks among familiar versus unfamiliar others. These results indicate that specific care should be taken to develop interventions that will increase masking in the presence of familiar others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Eating disorders are associated with subsequent alcohol problems, but it is not known whether this association also extends to broader eating disorder symptoms not captured by clinical diagnoses. We assessed the longitudinal association of broad eating disorder symptoms with alcohol problems in a nationwide twin sample (FinnTwin16). Methods: Finnish women (N = 1905) and men (N = 1449) self‐reported their eating disorder symptoms using the Eating Disorder Inventory‐2 Bulimia, Drive for Thinness, and Body Dissatisfaction subscales at the mean age of 24.4 years in 2000–2003. A subsample of participants also completed items on drive for muscularity, height dissatisfaction, and muscle‐enhancing supplement use. Alcohol problems were assessed 10 years later at the age of 34.1 in 2010–2012 with the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. Results: Eating disorder symptoms were associated with later alcohol problems (odds ratio per point increase 1.02–1.18). Bulimia showed stronger associations among men than women (p for interaction.012). Drive for muscularity and height dissatisfaction were also associated with later alcohol problems, but supplement use was not. When accounting for baseline alcohol problems, only Bulimia (among women and men) and Drive for Thinness (among men) were significantly associated with later alcohol problems. Bulimia was also significantly associated with later alcohol problems in within‐twin‐pair analyses among dizygotic twins, but not among monozygotic twins. Discussion: In a longitudinal setting, eating disorder symptoms were associated with later alcohol problems. Bulimic symptoms were a stronger risk factor for men than women. These associations may be attributable to baseline alcohol problems, childhood environment and genetic liability. Public significance: This study found that both young adult women and men with broad eating disorder symptoms are at a higher risk of alcohol‐related problems than those without such symptoms. Men with bulimic symptoms were at a particularly high risk. These findings emphasize the need for better prevention and treatment of disordered eating, body image concerns and alcohol problems for both young adult women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol use disorders (AUD) are commonly occurring, heritable and polygenic disorders with etiological origins in the brain and the environment. To outline the causes and consequences of alcohol‐related milestones, including AUD, and their related psychiatric comorbidities, the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) was launched in 1989 with a gene‐brain‐behavior framework. COGA is a family based, diverse (~25% self‐identified African American, ~52% female) sample, including data on 17,878 individuals, ages 7–97 years, in 2246 families of which a proportion are densely affected for AUD. All participants responded to questionnaires (e.g., personality) and the Semi‐Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA) which gathers information on psychiatric diagnoses, conditions and related behaviors (e.g., parental monitoring). In addition, 9871 individuals have brain function data from electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings while 12,009 individuals have been genotyped on genome‐wide association study (GWAS) arrays. A series of functional genomics studies examine the specific cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying AUD. This overview provides the framework for the development of COGA as a scientific resource in the past three decades, with individual reviews providing in‐depth descriptions of data on and discoveries from behavioral and clinical, brain function, genetic and functional genomics data. The value of COGA also resides in its data sharing policies, its efforts to communicate scientific findings to the broader community via a project website and its potential to nurture early career investigators and to generate independent research that has broadened the impact of gene‐brain‐behavior research into AUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism (COGA) is a multi‐site, multidisciplinary project with the goal of identifying how genes are involved in alcohol use disorder and related outcomes, and characterizing how genetic risk unfolds across development and in conjunction with the environment and brain function. COGA is a multi‐generational family‐based study in which probands were recruited through alcohol treatment centers, along with a set of community comparison families. Nearly 18,000 individuals from >2200 families have been assessed over a period of over 30 years with a rich phenotypic battery that includes semi‐structured psychiatric interviews and questionnaire measures, along with DNA collection and electrophysiological data on a large subset. Participants range in age from 7 to 97, with many having longitudinal assessments, providing a valuable opportunity to study alcohol use and problems across the lifespan. Here we provide an overview of data collection methods for the COGA sample, and details about sample characteristics and comorbidity. We also review key research findings that have emerged from analyses of the COGA data. COGA data are available broadly to researchers, and we hope this overview will encourage further collaboration and use of these data to advance the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol‐induced blackouts (AIBs) are experienced frequently by college student drinkers and are more likely to occur on days with high‐intensity drinking (HID; 8+ for females/10+ for males) than non‐HID days. Research suggests that AIBs are associated with experiencing other alcohol‐related consequences (ARCs), including more serious ARCs (SARCs; e.g., legal and sexual consequences), but we do not know whether individuals experience more ARCs and more SARCs on occasions when they black out than when they do not black out. This study examines the associations between AIBs and the total number of both ARCs and SARCs. Methods: Students (N = 462, 51.7% female, 87.7% White, Mage = 20.1) were assessed across 6 weekends via e‐surveys (80%–97% response rate). Multilevel models were used to test for main effects, controlling for drinking (HID or estimated blood alcohol concentration; eBAC) and sex. Results: Drinking days when an AIB was experienced were associated with more total ARCs (b = 3.54, 95% CI: 3.10, 3.99) and more SARCs (b = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.95) per day than non‐AIB days. The more frequently a person experienced an AIB, the more total ARCs (b = 5.33, 95% CI: 4.40, 6.25) and SARCs (1.05, 95% CI: 0.80, 1.30) they reported on average. Conclusion: Alcohol‐induced blackout days were associated with higher levels of harm than non‐AIB days, even at the same levels of drinking. Interventions that focus on reducing the occurrence of AIBs and factors that contribute to them, in addition to reducing alcohol consumption, may help reduce total harm associated with drinking among college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to sociocognitive theories, aggression is learned and elicited through a series of cognitive processes, such as expectancies, or the various consequences that an individual considers more or less likely following aggressive behavior. The current manuscript describes a measurement development project that ultimately yielded a 16‐item measure of positive and negative aggression expectancies suitable for use in adult populations. Across two content generation surveys, two preliminary item refinement studies, and three full studies, we took an iterative approach and administered large item pools to several samples and refined item content through a combination of empirical (i.e., factor loadings, model fit) and conceptual (i.e., content breadth, non‐redundancy) considerations. The Aggression Expectancy Questionnaire displays a four‐factor structure, as well as evidence of convergent and divergent validity with self‐reported aggression and relevant basic (e.g., antagonism, anger) and complex (e.g., psychopathy) personality variables. It is posited that this type of cognitive mechanism may serve as an intermediary link between distal characterological predictors of aggression and its proximal manifestation, which is in line with several prominent theories of personality and may ultimately hold clinical utility by providing a framework for aggression interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intestinal barrier dysfunctions have been associated with liver steatosis and metabolic diseases. Besides nutritional factors, like a Western‐style diet (WSD), serotonin has been linked with leaky gut. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the role of serotonin in the pathogenesis of intestinal barrier dysfunctions and liver steatosis in mice fed high‐fat and high‐sugar diets. Methods: 6–8 weeks old male serotonin reuptake transporter knockout mice (SERT−/−) and wild‐type controls (SERT+/+) were fed either a WSD or a control diet (CD) ad libitum with or without fructose 30% (F) added to the drinking water for 12 weeks. Markers of liver steatosis and intestinal barrier function were assessed. Key Results: SERT−/− mice showed increased weight gain compared with SERT+/+ mice when fed a WSD ± F for 12 weeks (p < 0.05), whereby SERT−/− mice exhibited reduced energy (−21%) intake. Furthermore, SERT knockout resulted in a more pronounced liver steatosis (p < 0.05), enhanced levels of endotoxin in portal vein plasma (p < 0.05), and increased liver expression of Tnf and Myd88 (p < 0.05), when mice were fed a WSD ± F. Finally, SERT−/− mice, when compared with SERT+/+ mice, had a decreased mRNA expression of Muc2 (p < 0.01), Ocln (p < 0.05), Cldn5 (p = 0.054) and 7 (p < 0.01), Defa5 (p < 0.05) and other antimicrobial peptides in the ileum. On the protein level, ZO‐1 (p < 0.01) and DEFA5 protein (p < 0.0001) were decreased. Conclusion and Inferences: Our data demonstrate that SERT knockout causes weight gain, liver steatosis, and leaky gut, especially in mice fed a WSD. Therefore, SERT induction could be a novel therapeutic approach to improve metabolic diseases associated with intestinal barrier dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent and under what conditions do college graduates disengage from employment‐incompatible behaviors during the college‐to‐work (C2W) transition? Drawing from the life course perspective, we proposed a model highlighting considerable stability of employment‐incompatible behaviors during initial months of organizational socialization. Our model predicted that maturing out of such behaviors, which is expected by employers and beneficial to career adjustment, would be more likely to occur given a conducive transition context. Using a large dataset tracking graduates from their last semester in college to up to approximately 1.5 years after graduation and with alcohol use as our empirical referent, we demonstrated that a pattern of high‐risk drinking behavior may remain even after the transition into full‐time employment. We further showed that lower levels of perceived cohort drinking norms and higher levels of mentoring were associated with a higher probability of maturing out, manifesting in a transition from a high‐risk drinking profile before graduation to a moderate drinking profile after starting full‐time employment. Finally, we found that maturing out was associated with lagged outcomes including lower levels of sleep problems and depression and fewer workdays lost to absenteeism, thus underscoring the consequential nature of behavior profile shifts during the C2W transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To review and analyse how youth involvement was conceptualised and applied in published alcohol and drug preventive interventions. A systematic review of the scientific literature on alcohol and drug prevention where young people (18–29 years old) participated at any stage of the intervention was conducted. We searched relevant bibliographic databases and online repositories for peer‐reviewed studies published between 2001 and 2021. Twenty‐seven articles reporting on studies in different countries and settings and using a variety of intervention strategies were eligible for inclusion. The analysis of the stages of youth involvement and the dimension of power sharing in decision‐making showed that only a minority of studies could be considered genuinely youth‐led whereas many involved young people merely as implementers of highly controlled research‐led interventions. However, the few studies that promoted sustained youth involvement struggled with translating results into rigorously evaluated interventions, thus demonstrating a tension between adoption of effective interventions and support to genuinely participatory processes. Knowledge gaps and implications for practice and research are discussed from a participatory research perspective. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Experience of alcohol-induced memory blackouts in adolescence may be an important risk factor for later harms. This longitudinal study (i) modelled trajectories of alcohol-related blackouts throughout adolescence, (ii) explored early-adolescent predictors of blackout trajectories and (iii) examined the association between blackout trajectories and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms., Design: Longitudinal study in which data from six annual surveys of a longitudinal cohort of Australian adolescents were used to model latent class growth trajectories of blackouts, adjusting for alcohol consumption frequency and typical quantity. Regression models were used to determine whether parent, child and peer factors at baseline (mean age = 12.9) predicted profiles of blackout trajectory membership and whether blackout trajectories predicted meeting criteria for AUD in early adulthood (mean age = 19.8)., Setting and Participants: Australian adolescents (n = 1821; mean age = 13.9-18.8 years)., Measurements: Alcohol-related blackouts, alcohol consumption frequency, typical consumption quantity and DSM-5 AUD in early adulthood were all self-reported., Findings: We identified a three-class solution: delayed alcohol initiation, rare blackouts (n = 701; 38.5%); early initiation, rare blackouts (n = 869; 47.7%); and early initiation, increasing blackouts (n = 251; 13.8%). Female sex was associated with increased risk of early initiation, increasing blackouts relative to delayed initiation, rare blackouts [relative risk ratio (RRR) = 3.90; 99.5% confidence interval (CI) = 1.96, 7.76] and relative to early initiation, rare blackouts (RRR = 2.89; 99.5% CI = 1.42, 5.87). Early initiation, rare blackouts [odds ratio (OR) = 1.96; 99.5% CI = 1.17, 3.29] and early initiation, increasing blackouts (OR = 4.93; 99.5% CI = 2.32, 10.48) were each associated with increased odds of meeting criteria for AUD in early adulthood relative to delayed initiation, rare blackouts. Early initiation, increasing blackouts was associated with increased odds of meeting criteria for AUD in early adulthood relative to early initiation, rare blackouts (OR = 2.51; 99.5% CI = 1.18, 5.38)., Conclusions: Females in Australia appear to be at higher risk of adolescent alcohol-related blackouts independent of alcohol consumption levels and age of initiation. Alcohol-related blackouts may be associated with later alcohol use disorder., (© 2021 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Background: A low level of response (low LR) to alcohol correlates with the later development of alcohol-related problems. Although some of the underpinnings of LR are understood, little is known about the potential relationship between LR and acute tolerance. The current analyses tested the hypothesis that a low LR will be explained in part by more intense acute tolerance to alcohol during a drinking session., Methods: Data were generated through a reanalysis of data from 120 individuals who were 18- to 25-year-old, sex-matched pairs of low and high LR drinkers who at baseline did not meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder. Each subject participated in an oral alcohol challenge in which they consumed about 0.7 ml ethanol per kg and acute tolerance was measured as the differences in alcohol's effects at similar breath alcohol levels (BrACs) during the rising and falling breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) curve. Measures included aspects of the Subjective High Assessment Scale (SHAS) and body sway., Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, but similar to results with other alcohol measures, acute tolerance was significantly attenuated in low LR compared with high LR individuals on most SHAS scores. Neither LR group demonstrated acute tolerance to alcohol for sleepiness or body sway. Men and women did not differ on any of these measures., Conclusion: These data do not support a role of acute tolerance in the low LR to alcohol as measured by subjective feelings of intoxication or body sway in these subjects, findings that were similar across males and females. In addition, consistent with the literature, the analyses demonstrated differences across measures such that acute tolerance was observed for most measures of subjective effects but not for body sway. Among the subjective effects, acute tolerance was observed for alcohol's intoxicating effect but not for feeling sleepy., (Copyright © 2021 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: High‐resolution ecological momentary assessment (HR‐EMA) can assess acute alcohol responses during naturalistic heavy drinking episodes. The goal of this study was to use HR‐EMA to examine drinking behavior and subjective responses to alcohol in risky drinkers (moderate–severe alcohol use disorder [MS‐AUD], heavy social drinkers [HD]) and light drinkers (LD). We expected that risky drinkers would endorse greater alcohol stimulation and reward, with lower sedation, than LD, even when controlling for amount of alcohol consumed. Methods: Participants (N = 112; 54% male, M ± SD age = 27.2 ± 4.2 years) completed smartphone‐based HR‐EMA during one typical alcohol drinking occasion and one non‐alcohol‐drinking occasion in their natural environment. Participants were prompted to complete next‐day surveys that assessed drinking‐related outcomes, study acceptability, and safety. Results: HR‐EMA prompt completion rates were excellent (92% and 89% for the alcohol and nonalcohol episodes, respectively). The MS‐AUD group consumed the most alcohol with the highest estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) by the end of the alcohol drinking episode (0.14 g/dL) versus LD (0.02 g/dL), with HD intermediate (0.10 g/dL). Relative to LD, MS‐AUD and HD endorsed greater positive effects of alcohol (stimulation, liking, and wanting). Conclusions: This study is the first to use HR‐EMA to measure and compare real‐world acute alcohol responses across diverse drinker subgroups, including persons with MS‐AUD. Results demonstrate that risky drinkers experience heightened pleasurable effects measured in real‐time during natural‐environment alcohol responses. Rather than drinking excessively to eventually achieve desirable subjective effects, risky drinkers show sensitivity to positive alcohol effects throughout a heavy drinking episode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) are one of the most effective individually focused alcohol intervention strategies for college students. Despite the central theoretical role of motivation for change in BMIs, it is unclear whether BMIs increase motivation to change drinking behavior. We conducted a two‐step meta‐analysis of individual participant data (IPD) to examine whether BMIs increase motivation for change. N = 5903;59% women, 72% White) from Project INTEGRATE. The BMIs included individually delivered motivational interviewing with personalized feedback (MI + PF), stand‐alone personalized feedback (PF), and group‐based motivational interviewing (GMI). Methods: We included 15 trials of BMI (N = 5903;59% women, 72% White) from Project INTEGRATE. The BMIs included individually‐delivered motivational interviewing with personalized feedback (MI + PF), stand‐alone personalized feedback (PF), and group‐based motivational interviewing (GMI). Different measures and responses used in the original trials were harmonized. Effect size estimates were derived from a model that adjusted for baseline motivation and demographic variables for each trial (step 1) and subsequently combined in a random‐effects meta‐analysis (step 2). Results: The overall intervention effect of BMIs on motivation for change was not statistically significant (standard mean difference [SMD]: 0.026, 95% CI: [−0.001, 0.053], p = 0.06, k = 19 comparisons). Of the three subtypes of BMIs, GMI, which tended to provide motivation‐targeted content, had a statistically significant intervention effect on motivation, compared with controls (SMD: 0.055, 95% CI: [0.007, 0.103], p = 0.025, k = 5). By contrast, there was no evidence that MI + PF (SMD = 0.04, 95% CI: [−0.02, 0.10], k = 6, p = 0.20) nor PF increased motivation (SMD = 0.005, 95% CI: [−0.028, 0.039], k = 8, p = 0.75), compared with controls. Post hoc meta‐regression analysis suggested that motivation sharply decreased each month within the first 3 months postintervention (b = −0.050, z = −2.80, p = 0.005 for k = 14). Conclusions: Although BMIs provide motivational content and normative feedback and are assumed to motivate behavior change, the results do not wholly support the hypothesis that BMIs improve motivation for change. Changing motivation is difficult to assess during and following interventions, but it is still a theoretically important clinical endpoint. Further, the evidence cautiously suggests that changing motivation may be achievable, especially if motivation‐targeted content components are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective associations over a 5‐year period were examined among perceived parent, closest friend, and popular peer injunctive norms and the onset and frequency of adolescent substance use within a diverse (53% female, 45.5% White non‐Hispanic, 22.3% Hispanic, 21.5% Black, 1% Asian, and 6.4% another race) sample of 868 seventh‐ and eighth‐grade adolescents from 2012 to 2017. Analyses revealed adolescents' substance use norms were more lenient than perceptions of their parents' and stricter than perceptions of their closest friends'. Stricter perceptions of parent and closest friend norms, but not popular peer norms, were significantly associated with a later onset of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, and the magnitude of the effect of each source' on later substance use varied across development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Summary: Background and aim: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are among the most crucial health problems that sexually active university students may encounter. This study aims to identify the predictors of self‐reported STIs among university students. Methods: Study participants were 2,241 individuals who reported having had sexual intercourse among a cohort of 9,693 students surveyed from 21 Turkish universities. The age of participants ranged from 17 years to 28 years. Results: The Chi‐Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) analysis indicated that gender was the main predictor of self‐reported STI. Also, number of partners and substance use were found as predictor variables for males. Finally, the classification accuracy of the CHAID model was found to be 95.3% within the sample. Conclusions: The present findings shed light on risk factors for STI acquisition, suggesting possible directions for tailoring future preventive interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article lists the author index of a conference, including poster presentations indicated by P and symposium presentations indicated by S with respective abstract numbers.