Search

To identify sociodemographic and metabolic correlates of weight categories in postmenopausal women.MethodsThe Women's Health Initiative enrolled 161 808 postmenopausal women ages 50-79. We included those free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and with CVD risk factors and biomarkers (n = 19 412). Normal weight was defined as a BMI ≥18.5 and

Many studies have reported that heavy substance use is associated with impaired response inhibition. Studies typically focused on associations with a single substance, while polysubstance use is common. Further, most studies compared heavy users with light/non-users, though substance use occurs along a continuum. The current mega-analysis accounted for these issues by aggregating individual data from 43 studies (3610 adult participants) that used the Go/No-Go (GNG) or Stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition among mostly "recreational" substance users (i.e., the rate of substance use disorders was low). Main and interaction effects of substance use, demographics, and task-characteristics were entered in a linear mixed model. Contrary to many studies and reviews in the field, we found that only lifetime cannabis use was associated with impaired response inhibition in the SST. An interaction effect was also observed: the relationship between tobacco use and response inhibition (in the SST) differed between cannabis users and non-users, with a negative association between tobacco use and inhibition in the cannabis non-users. In addition, participants' age, education level, and some task characteristics influenced inhibition outcomes. Overall, we found limited support for impaired inhibition among substance users when controlling for demographics and task-characteristics.

Indirect tests of memory associations relevant to cannabis have been shown to be useful in explaining and predicting adolescent cannabis use habits. This study sought to increase the understanding of adolescent cannabis-related associative memory and cannabis use behavior over time. A longitudinal sample of alternative high school students (N = 775) was assessed yearly for 3 years. The study first conducted extensive longitudinal measurement analyses of the cannabis-related word association test (WAT) applying contemporary psychometric models. Second, the study examined the longitudinal trajectories of cannabis-related associative memory and cannabis use and their contemporaneous and longitudinal relationships. Results showed that the cannabis-related WAT provided strong evidence of sound psychometric properties. Longitudinal change in cannabis-related associative memory was best described by modeling either a linearly decreasing trajectory or two separate trajectories: During middle adolescence, levels of cannabis-related associative memory were highest and stable but then gradually decreased toward late adolescence. Moreover, cannabis-related associative memory was contemporaneously predictive of cannabis use within ages 15 to 19 while controlling for the underlying growth process of cannabis use and time-invariant covariates (TICs) of gender and lifetime concurrent use of alcohol and cigarettes. Partial support of longitudinal prediction of cannabis use was also obtained from age 17 to 18 and age 19 to 20 while adjusting for growth in cannabis use and the TICs. These results demonstrated that predictive effects of cannabis-related memory associations on cannabis use were detected within some of the 1-year age spans and were consistent within ages across adolescent years.

This study examines the point-of-sale marketing practices used to promote electronic cigarettes at stores near schools that serve at-risk youths. One hundred stores selling tobacco products within a half-mile of alternative high schools in Southern California were assessed for this study. Seventy percent of stores in the sample sold electronic cigarettes. Convenience stores heavily frequented by youths had the highest number of interior ads for e-cigarettes and were the most likely to employ in-store product placement strategies. Increased exposure to the promotion of these products at the point of sale poses a challenge for antismoking efforts directed toward vulnerable populations.

We outline an implicit cognition, verbal, and nonverbal assessment approach that is feasible for a range of interventions in health behavior and addiction. This approach provides a way to assess whether interventions have an influence on the relatively spontaneous memories, thoughts, and evaluations that may mediate or precipitate health-related behaviors (alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; HIV risk behavior; diet, exercise, and violent acts). We focus on feasible assessment applications in relapse prevention, and briefly provide several examples of assessments also relevant to secondary prevention and media interventions, with a focus on addictive and HIV risk behaviors. The assessment examples range from well-investigated tests with grounding in basic research to assessments that have much promise for application but are yet to be thoroughly evaluated. The approach suggests that implicit cognition assessments may help practitioners uncover and address plausible cognitive mediation effects that are unlikely to be currently assessed.

Dual process models of decision-making suggest that behavior is mediated by a spontaneous behavior selection process or by a more deliberative evaluation of behavioral options. We examined whether the deliberative system moderates the influence of spontaneous cognition on HIV-risk behaviors. A measure of spontaneous sexrelated associations (word association), a measure of deliberative working memory capacity (operation span), and two measures of sexual behavior (condom use and multiple partners) were assessed in a cross-sectional study among 490 adult drug offenders. Significant effects were observed among men but not among women in two latent interaction models. In a novel finding, the accessibility of spontaneous safe sex-related associations was significantly more predictive of condom use among men with higher working memory capacity than among men with lower capacity. These results have implications for the design of interventions to promote safe sex practices. Keywords Dual process * Implicit cognition * HIV risk * Decision making * Working memory capacity, Introduction HIV risk behaviors are likely to be influenced by two cognitive processes. This dual process approach has been applied to research on decision-making across multiple disciplines including cognitive science, [...]

The present study evaluated the mediating role of implicit cognitive processes in the prediction of alcohol and marijuana use and examined the relationships between dissociative experiences, implicit processes, and sensation seeking in models of drug use and problem experiences. Participants were 467 diverse at-risk adolescents in California. Results from latent variable models revealed that implicit cognition independently predicted alcohol and marijuana use and mediated the predictive effects of sensation seeking on drug use. Dissociative experiences did not predict implicit cognition or drug use in this sample, though this factor was a significant predictor of problem experiences and was positively correlated with sensation seeking. This research provides further evidence suggesting that implicit, associative memory processes are influential in drug-use motivation. Keywords: Implicit cognition, substance use, dissociative experiences, sensation seeking, INTRODUCTION Problematic alcohol and other drug use continue to be a significant public health concern. Adolescents at risk for substance abuse seem to be at risk for numerous other problem [...]

The present study provides a detailed, multiple-choice, self-report analysis of home, work, and other public locations where drug offenders report using drugs. In addition, these settings were examined as a function of gender, ethnicity, type of drug used, and drug abuse/dependence status. The participants for the present study were 462 individuals attending drug diversion programs in southern California. The single most frequently reported location of use was the subjects' living room with a small group of friends. However, heavier users used different drugs across a greater variety of locations. Not surprisingly, drugs were used least at work (though a surprising 47% had used at work). Popular situations of drug use among drug offenders are similar to that of high-risk youth. Key Words: Drug use; Home; Public places; Work., Relatively little work has described high-risk situations for drug use among adolescents or adults. Most research with adolescents or adults refers to high-risk situations as those that are stressful and [...]

A study was conducted to analyze home, school and other public locations where youth report using drugs. Also, these settings were examined as a function of gender, type of drug used, ethnicity and drug abuse status. It was observed that the single most frequent location of use was the participants' bedroom with a small group of friends. However, heavier users were found to use different drugs in various locations with the school as the least likely site of use.