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Current two-step measures of gender identity do not prescribe methods for using expanded responses (e.g., multiple selections) among sexual and gender minority (SGM) people, though they want the opportunity to provide these responses. To increase statistical power using expanded gender identity responses, we created an automated algorithm to generate analyzable categories. Participants’ expanded gender identity responses and sex assigned at birth were used to create five categories (i.e., cisgender men, cisgender women, gender expansive individuals, transgender men, and transgender women) from a cohort of SGM people (N = 6,312, 53% cisgender individuals). Data was collected from June 2020 to June 2021. Chi-square tests were performed to assess the association between the algorithm-generated and participant-selected gender categories, and to identify demographic differences between participants in the algorithm-generated categories. Forty-six percent of our sample may have been classified into an “other” category without an algorithm due to writing their own response (5.7%), selecting “another gender identity” (5.7%), or selecting multiple (42.6%) or less commonly described (10.2%) gender identities. There was a relationship between the categories formed by our algorithm and participants’ single category selection (χ2 [20] = 19,000, p < .001). Concordance rates were high (97-99%) among all groups except for participants classified as gender expansive (74.3%). Without an algorithm to incorporate expanded gender identity responses, almost half of the sample may have been classified into an “other” category or dropped from analyses. Our algorithm successfully classified participants into analyzable categories from expanded gender responses.

Objective: Extreme sport participation and injury rates have increased in recent decades. This study aimed to investigate sub-dimensions of impulsivity and sensation seeking that contribute to participation and injury risk in extreme sports. Participants: Data included cross-sectional survey responses from 7,109 college students (Mage=19.68, SD = 2.31). Methods: This study utilized path analysis to investigate sub-dimensions of sensation seeking and impulsivity as predictors of extreme sport participation and injury across 3 models. Results: Results of the final model identify risk seeking and lack of perseverance as the two strongest predictors of extreme sports injury, risk seeking, experience seeking, and lack of premeditation as the strongest positive predictors of extreme sports participation, and lack of perseverance as the strongest negative predictor of extreme sports participation. Conclusions: These results will contribute to targeted prevention and intervention efforts for extreme sports injury among young adults based on identified individual personality factors.

Objective: Health-risk behaviors have an unclear etiology and college students have elevated risk for engagement. Emotion dysregulation and several personality dimensions have been implicated in health-risk behaviors, but these constructs have rarely been studied together. Further, it is unknown if different types of health-risk behaviors have distinct etiologies. Participants: 2077 college students completed a cross-sectional survey. Methods: Latent profile analysis discerned classes of participants from emotion dysregulation and personality dimensions. Differential engagement in self-injury, suicidality, disordered eating, substance misuse, and unprotected sex was evaluated across classes. Results: Three classes were identified, which were primarily distinguished by emotion dysregulation, urgency, and neuroticism. Health-risk behaviors generally increased across classes with increasing emotion-related constructs. Self-injury and suicidality demonstrated different patterns than other health-risk behaviors. Conclusions: Results elucidate heterogeneity in health-risk behavior engagement. Focusing on emotional difficulties may be more important for reducing self-injury and suicidality than disordered eating, substance misuse, and risky sex.

The measurement of sensation seeking has been mired in controversy since Zukerman defined it. The sensation seeking personality trait (SSPT) eliminates many of the psychometric issues found in previous scales and may allow researchers to better understand the role of sensation seeking in the engagement in health risk behaviors.

Operant conditioning and social learning theories suggest that positive cannabis use–related outcomes are a primary contributor to maintained use and risk for dependence. However, currently there does not exist a reliable, validated measure of positive cannabis-related outcomes. This study sought to develop and psychometrically evaluate the Positive Outcomes of Cannabis Use Scale (POCUS). We collected three samples, college students (N = 883), community adults (N = 214), and college students (N = 615), of predominantly White adults in the United States who completed an online survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses evaluated scale structure and identified four factors: social enhancement, mood enhancement, cognitive enhancement, and sexual enhancement. Positive outcomes were positively associated with recent use, controlling for expectancies and negative outcomes. Positive outcomes were also differentiated from positive expectancies and more influential in predicting typical use frequency. Findings indicate that the POCUS is psychometrically sound and clinically useful for measuring positive cannabis use–related outcomes among predominantly White adults in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies that consider attitudes towards guns have unilaterally relied on scales that treat guns as autonomous objects. The Gun Attitude Scale (GAS), development and replication results reported herein, takes into account one's comfort with gun use. Exploratory factor analysis results indicated and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed, [chi].sup.2 = 96.64, df = 26, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.95, SRMR = 0.05, the presence of one subscale, the General GAS (9 items, explaining 52.97% of the total variance). Analyses of the psychometric properties of the scale indicated that the GAS is a valid and reliable measure of gun attitudes (i.e., test-retest r's greater than 0.80). The GAS is the first scale that adequately addresses an individual's believed ability to use a gun. Researchers wishing to understand the role of attitude towards guns in multivariate models would benefit from using the GAS in their studies., Author(s): Nathan L. Tenhundfeld [sup.1], Jamie E. Parnes [sup.1], Bradley T. Conner [sup.1], Jessica K. Witt [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.47894.36, 0000 0004 1936 8083, Department of Psychology, Colorado State [...]

Background: Alcohol and cannabis co-use is common and confers increased risk for potential harms, such as negative consequences and substance dependence. The existing evidence suggests that factors such as dose of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) consumed and order of use of each substance (i.e., using alcohol or cannabis first or last when co-using) may impact co-use outcomes. Existing co-use research has focused primarily on college-samples or young adults, and few studies have explored these nuanced relations among community samples. Methods: We examined survey data from 87 community members (mean age 32.9 years, 49.4% female) recruited from legal market cannabis dispensaries. Using a combination of regression techniques (i.e., OLS, negative binomial, censor-inflated) we modeled relations among co-use ordering patterns, THC dose and cannabis outcomes as well as interactions with sex assigned at birth and age. Results: Individuals who endorsed co-use reported significantly higher CUDIT scores than those who had never co-used (p < 0.01). Using alcohol first and cannabis last (a pattern we refer to as "AFCL") was more common among females than males (p < 0.01). In the context of typical substance use weeks, more frequently engaging in the AFCL pattern was associated with significantly higher CUDIT scores (p < 0.001) and negatively predicted positive consequences (p < 0.001). Other patterns predicted higher CUDIT scores during heavy use weeks. Conclusions: Results indicate that co-use ordering patterns are related to substance use outcomes. Further research leveraging within-subjects, longitudinal designs is needed to test causal relations between these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary investigation of the associations between facets of impulsivity and alcohol outcomes through motives for drinking responsibly described by self-determination theory (SDT) among college students. Participants (N = 2808) were part of a multisite investigation of college student drinking across 10 universities in 8 states in the USA who reported past-month drinking. Results of a structural equation model testing all possible indirect associations simultaneously indicated that one-third (20 out of 60) of the indirect associations were statistically significant (p<.01). Facets with higher scores representing higher impulsivity (negative/positive urgency) were negatively associated with more internalized motives (autonomous motivation and introjected regulation) and positively associated with less internalized motives (external regulation and amotivation) for drinking responsibly. Facets with higher scores representing lower impulsivity (perseverance and premeditation) demonstrated opposite patterns of associations with motives for drinking responsibly. In turn, more internalized motives were related to higher frequency of protective behavioral strategies use, lower alcohol use severity, and fewer negative alcohol-related consequences; less internalized motives demonstrated an opposite pattern of associations with these alcohol outcomes. The present findings should be replicated using experimental and longitudinal studies for appropriately testing mediation but offer support for a novel hypothesis for motivational pathways from impulsivity to alcohol outcomes that may provide insight into intervention targets, if further supported by future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relations between sensation seeking, impulsivity, risk compensation, and extreme-sports injury to better understand contributing factors to risk taking in extreme sports and subsequent adverse outcomes. Data included cross-sectional survey responses from 1,107 college students (Mage = 19.47, SD = 2.14). Poisson, logistic, and negative binomial regressions were used to investigate the relations of interest. Results indicate that sensation seeking and impulsivity are significantly associated with both risk compensation and extreme-sports injury. Risk compensation is significantly and positively associated with extreme-sports injury in mountain biking and snowboarding. Risk compensation did not significantly moderate the relation between the personality constructs of interest and extreme-sports injury. These results show that the role of risk compensation in extreme-sports injury is highly sport-specific. These results highlight the importance of considering both personality and risk compensation in prevention and intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disordered eating behaviors and substance use are two risk factors for the development of serious psychopathology and health concerns in adulthood. Despite the negative outcomes associated with these risky behaviors, few studies have examined potential associations between these risk factors as they occur during adolescence. The importance of accurate or inaccurate weight perception among adolescents has received increased interest given documented associations with nutritional beliefs and weight management strategies. This study examined the associations among the perceptions of weight and substance use with disordered eating behaviors among a diverse sample of normal weight and overweight adolescent males and females. Data came from the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The sample consisted of 11,103 adolescents (53.4% female; 44% Caucasian, 21% African American; 13% Hispanic; age responses ranged from 12 and under to 18 and over), with 31.5% meeting criteria for being either at-risk for obesity or already obese (i.e., overweight). As hypothesized, overestimation of weight among normal weight adolescents and accurate perceptions of weight among overweight adolescents were associated with higher rates of disordered eating behaviors. In normal weight adolescents, use of all three substances (tobacco, binge drinking, and cocaine) was associated with each disordered eating behavior. In contrast, findings revealed differences for overweight adolescents between the type of substance use and disordered eating behavior. Post hoc analyses revealed that gender moderated some of these relationships among overweight individuals. Implications for the development and implementation of secondary prevention programs aimed at reducing disordered eating behaviors, substance use, and obesity risk among normal and overweight adolescents are considered.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among a school's psychosocial environment and the prevalence and types of bullying behaviors that either lead to or result from that environment. More specifically, this study examined how the frequency of aggressive behaviors (for example, bullying) experienced by students (as perpetrators and as victims) contributed to their interpretation of their school's psychosocial environment and how those environments affected the existence of ongoing aggressive and avoidance behaviors. The data for this study were archival, having originally been collected for a study of school culture, climate, and violence from the Philadelphia School District during the 1993-94 school year. To understand the consequences of bullying in schools, the authors used structural equation modeling analyses to develop a theoretical model of predictive relationships among (1) students' perceptions of bullying behaviors and safety at school, (2) the schools' psychosocial environment as measured by the students, and (3) the students' reactionary behavior to both (1) and (2). Direct practice applications for school social work practice are discussed.

Background and Objectives: Using both alcohol and cannabis (either at the same time or at different times) is common among college students, and is called "co‐use." Using these substances simultaneously, such that their effects overlap, is thought to be an especially risky co‐use pattern. Gaining a better understanding of how co‐use patterns relate to substance use and consequences could aid prevention and intervention efforts. Methods: We examined college students (N = 401) who reported using both alcohol and cannabis at least once in the past 30 days. Path analysis was used to explore relations among co‐use patterns (number of days in a typical week that participants used both alcohol and cannabis; the number of days using alcohol first, cannabis first, alcohol last, and cannabis last; the number of days of simultaneous use), past‐30‐day alcohol and cannabis consequences, use frequency, and typical quantities used. Results: Each additional day of using alcohol first was associated with fewer past‐30‐day cannabis consequences. Each additional day of using cannabis first was associated with fewer alcohol‐related consequences. Each additional day of using alcohol and cannabis on the same day and each additional day of simultaneous use were both associated with less cannabis used and alcohol consumed in a typical week. Conclusions and Scientific Significance: This study is among the first to identify associations between alcohol and cannabis order and outcomes (i.e., consequences and consumption). Results suggest that modifying which substance is used first on a given day could be a practical intervention strategy for individuals who co‐use alcohol and cannabis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]