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ObjectivesThe cultural stress theory posits that immigrants experience a constellation of cultural stressors such as discrimination that could exacerbate alcohol- and other substance-related problems. Drawing on cultural stress theory, this study investigated the age-varying association between past-year discrimination and substance use disorders (SUDs) among Latin American immigrants aged 18-60 and whether childhood family support moderated the above association.MethodWe used data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III) among adults aged 18-60 who identified as a Latin American immigrant (N = 3,049; 48% female).ResultsTime-varying effect models (TVEMs) revealed that experiencing past-year discrimination was associated with greater odds of having a SUD during young and middle adulthood for Latin American immigrants. Furthermore, for immigrants with lower childhood family support, discrimination was associated with SUD risk in young and middle adulthood.ConclusionThe present study documents that past-year discrimination was linked to greater SUD risk during young and middle adulthood. Childhood family support may serve as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and risk for SUD among Latin American immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Time perspective is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that assesses individuals' feelings and thoughts about the past, present, and future. The current study examined relationships between feelings (time attitudes) and thoughts (time orientation) about time and substance use behaviors across three adolescent samples. Participants included a high-risk sample of adjudicated youth (N=124; M age =15.54, SD=1.69; 51.61% female) and two general population school samples (N=777; M age =15.82, SD=1.23; 53.41% female; N=1873; M age =15.87, SD=1.28; 52.22% female). Cross-sectional survey data were collected from samples in schools during 2010, 2016, and 2011, respectively. Poisson and negative binomial regression analyses indicated that overall, more positive feelings about time were associated with fewer substances used and, conversely, more negative feelings about time were associated with more substances used. These findings were particularly salient for participants with stronger positive and negative feelings toward the past and present time periods. Further, across the three samples, adolescents with a balanced time orientation (i.e., equal emphasis on all three time periods) generally reported less substance use than individuals who emphasized only one or two time periods. Findings highlight relationships between time perspective dimensions and substance use across diverse samples and illustrate opportunities for adapting time perspective-based substance use interventions for adolescents.

We examined the prevalence of psychological outcomes (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety) by age and age-varying associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes among rural cancer survivors. Participants (N = 219; ages 22-93) completed sociodemographic, psychological, and physical activity questionnaires. Time-varying effect models estimated the prevalence of psychological outcomes and assessed associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes as a flexible function of age. Depression and anxiety symptoms decreased with age among cancer survivors aged 22-40 years and were relatively stable across age among those > 40 years. Positive associations between vigorous physical activity and psychological outcomes in those aged 22-40 years were identified. In those > 70-80 years, there were negative associations between vigorous physical activity and psychological outcomes. Results suggest there is variation across age in the associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes among rural survivors. Future research should further explore these age-varying relationships to identify important intervention targets., Author(s): Nishat Bhuiyan [sup.1] , Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael [sup.3] , Stephanie T. Lanza [sup.2] [sup.3] , Kathryn H. Schmitz [sup.4] , Scherezade K. Mama [sup.1] [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.29857.31, [...]

Although alcohol use is related to daily affect, findings regarding affect variability—the degree to which individuals exhibit day-to-day fluctuations in affect—and alcohol use have been mixed. The present study assessed whether individuals who use alcohol tend to have higher positive and negative affect variability than individuals who do not, as well as whether higher affect variability is related to more frequent and intense alcohol use among individuals who use alcohol. We also explored whether affect variability differed between individuals who use alcohol and those who concurrently use alcohol and cannabis. College students (N = 1909; M = 20.1, SD = 1.3; 67.7% female; 76.6% white; n = 1147 individuals who use alcohol) completed a 21-day protocol between February-December 2021 in which they reported daily affect, number of drinks consumed, and any cannabis use. As hypothesized, individuals who used alcohol had higher positive and negative affect variability than individuals who did not. Among individuals who used alcohol, individuals with higher negative affect variability drank alcohol more frequently, and both higher positive and negative affect variability were related to more intense alcohol use. No differences emerged between individuals who used alcohol and those who concurrently used alcohol and cannabis. Taken together, higher positive and negative affect variability were related to higher odds of using alcohol and more frequent and intense use among individuals who use alcohol, over and above average affect. Higher affect variability could relate to alcohol use because of difficulties with emotion regulation or heightened sensitivity to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expectancy theory supports alcohol expectancies, or the expected effects of drinking, as an important factor in alcohol use behaviors. Recent research supports that alcohol expectancies fluctuate daily, but scant research has examined specific types of expectancies and their associations with alcohol use at the daily level. Consequently, the present study examined (1) the daily association between select expectancies (i.e. sociability, tension reduction, liquid courage) and likelihood of drinking, and (2) whether daily expectancies predict alcohol use outcomes (i.e. alcohol-related problems, heavy drinking) on drinking days. Participants (N = 221; 79.2% women) were primarily White (48.4%) and Black (29.7%) university students. Participants completed daily measures of expectancies, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems each day for 14 days. Results from multilevel models revealed daily sociability as the only expectancy subscale linked with increased odds of drinking. Daily expectancies did not predict heavy drinking or alcohol-related problems on drinking days. At the between-person level, average levels of sociability and tension reduction expectancies were associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in heavy drinking and experiencing a problem. Findings highlight that fluctuations in sociability expectancies may be proximally linked to likelihood of alcohol use, which may inform just-in-time intervention efforts targeting alcohol expectancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment is associated with substance use beginning in adolescence and throughout early adulthood. Substance use disorders (SUD) are most likely to develop during emerging adulthood (18–25 years old). Thus, to develop effective substance use prevention strategies, it is useful to know the ages at which associations between maltreatment exposure (prior to age 18) and SUD are most strongly tied. This study examined the age-varying association between child maltreatment and past-year SUD in emerging adulthood by sex and by maltreatment type using time-varying effect models (TVEM). Data were from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III). The analytic sample consisted of 5194 emerging adults. The association was strongest at younger ages, with individuals who experienced child maltreatment having three times greater odds of reporting SUD in the past-year. Differential associations were found by sex, racial-ethnic group, and maltreatment type across age. Prevention efforts may be more effective if their development is informed by these important differences and targeted at emerging adults rather than adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in drug overdoses and harms associated with the use of more than one substance has led to increased use of the term "polysubstance use" among researchers, clinicians, and public health officials. However, the term retains no consistent definition across contexts. The current authors convened from disciplines including sociology, epidemiology, neuroscience, and addiction psychiatry to propose a recommended definition of polysubstance use. An iterative process considered authors' formal and informal conversations, insights from relevant symposia, talks, and conferences, as well as their own research and clinical experiences to propose the current definition. Three key concepts were identified as necessary to define polysubstance use: (1) substances involved, (2) timing, and (3) intent. Substances involved include clarifying either (1) the number and type of substances used, (2) presence of more than one substance use disorder, or (3) primary and secondary substance use. The concept of timing is recommended to use clear terms such as simultaneous, sequential, and same-day polysubstance use to describe short-term behaviors (e.g., 30-day windows). Finally, the concept of intent refers to clarifying unintentional use or exposure when possible, and greater attention to motivations of polysubstance use. These three components should be clearly defined in research on polysubstance use to improve consistency across disciplines. Consistent definitions of polysubstance use can aid in the synthesis of evidence to better address an overdose crisis that increasingly involves multiple substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Popular media have highly publicized alternative forms of alcohol use (e.g., eyeballing, inhaling alcohol vapor) among college students as a growing concern, possibly associated with severe health risks. Formative research indicates rarity of use. Participants and Methods: College students (Study 1: n = 411; Study 2: n = 687) completed an online survey. Results: Findings confirmed infrequent use of alternative methods of alcohol use and low likelihood of trying them in the future (Study 1). Participants indicated varied reasons for possibly trying each alternative form of alcohol use, but consistently perceived consequences for all forms (i.e., health concerns), as well as very low perceived approval from close friends (Study 2). Social and environmental contextual factors associated with possible use were also explored. Conclusions: College students in the current sample have low prevalence and future likelihood of alternative forms of alcohol use. This information can be used by campus health practitioners to promote accurate normative data for alternative forms of alcohol use. However, with increased perceptions of approval and media presence, future trends could change. Findings revealed important risk factors for these potentially hazardous forms of alcohol use.

Time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), a statistical technique for modeling dynamic patterns of change, presents new opportunities to study biobehavioral health processes. TVEM is particularly useful when applied to intensive longitudinal data (ILD) because it permits highly flexible modeling of outcomes over continuous time, as well as of associations between variables and moderation effects. TVEM coupled with ILD is ideal for the study of addiction. This article provides a general overview of using TVEM, particularly when applied to ILD, to better enable addiction scientists to conduct novel analyses that are important to realizing the dynamics of addiction-related processes. It presents an empirical example using ecological momentary assessment data from participants throughout their first 90 days of addiction recovery to estimate the (1) associations between morning craving and same-day recovery outcomes, (2) association between morning positive and negative affect and same-day recovery outcomes and (3) time-varying moderation effects of affect on the association between morning craving and recovery outcomes.We provide a didactic overview in implementing and interpreting the aims and results, including equations, computer syntax and reference resources. Our results highlight how affect operates as both a time-varying risk and protective factor on recovery outcomes, particularly when considered in combination with experiences of craving (i.e. dynamic moderation). We conclude by discussing our results, recent innovations and future directions of TVEM for advancing addiction science, including how 'time' can be operationalized to probe new research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood maltreatment (CM) can be an impediment to normative development and consistently predicts increased risk for substance misuse and polysubstance use (polySU). Yet, a subset of individuals who experience CM exhibit successful adaptations across the lifespan. Although there is an expansive literature on socioemotional and cognitive protective factors that mitigate impacts of CM, less is known about other, intra-individual resilience-promoting factors (e.g. positive future orientation) known to assuage high-risk SU patterns during adolescence. This study examined heterogeneity in individual-level resilience characteristics in maltreated youth as it related to CM characteristics and SU patterns during adolescence. Participants included maltreated youth from the longitudinal LONGSCAN sample (N = 355; 181 females). Latent Profile Analysis was used to identify subgroups of CM-exposed individuals based on five resilience indicator variables (i.e. commitment to goals, engaging in demanding activities, self-reliance, positive future orientation, and externalizing behaviors). Tests for differences in SU patterns and CM characteristics between the resultant profiles were performed. Data models revealed three latent profiles based on participants' resilience traits (i.e. Low Resilience, Average Resilience, and High Resilience). There were no profile differences on the basis of CM characteristics. Those in the High Resilience profile were less likely to engage in polySU compared to the Average Resilience profile. These findings highlight the promise of individual-level resilience factors that are not necessarily dependent upon caregiver or environmental inputs as protective against polySU following CM. This work represents a promising avenue for future preventative intervention efforts targeting emergent SU behaviors in high-risk youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]