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Music listening, an inherently emotional activity, is commonly used as a form of emotion regulation (ER). Although research suggests that some strategies of listening to music to regulate emotion are linked with psychological well-being and symptoms of affective disorders, the mechanisms underlying these relationships have not been thoroughly explored. The present study examined whether associations between music as ER and symptoms of depression and anxiety were mediated by individuals' use of other adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies. A nationwide online sample of US adults (n = 146) completed measures assessing their use of music as ER, other adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The results indicated that the overall use of music as ER was not directly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas using music as discharge (venting negative emotions by listening to mood-congruent music) was positively associated with such symptoms. Mediational analyses revealed that adaptive ER mediated the relationship between overall use of music as ER and symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas maladaptive ER mediated the relationships between discharge and symptoms. These findings suggest that people use music as ER alongside their other ER efforts, which in turn are linked with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, although the overall use of music to regulate emotion may be beneficial for well-being via its association with adaptive ER, a more maladaptive pattern when using music for emotional discharge suggests that music plays a more nuanced role in ER and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjective: This study evaluated FITSTART+, a parent-based intervention (PBI), for preventing risky drinking among first-year college students. Participants: Participants were traditional first-year students aged between 17 and 20. Method: In total, 391 eligible students completed a baseline survey and their parents were then invited to use the FITSTART+ PBI or Control web-applications. 266 students had a parent who created a profile in the app (FITSTART+ PBI, n = 134; FITSTART+ Control, n = 132). Additionally, 58 parents randomized to the FITSTART+ PBI did not complete the personalized normative feedback (PNF) component of the intervention. Results: No significant effect on drinking or related consequences was detected between Intervention and Control groups. However, exploratory analyses revealed that completing PNF in the FITSTART+ PBI condition was associated with a greater likelihood of remaining zero on consequences at follow-ups. Conclusion: The PNF component of the FITSTART+ PBI showed potential in preventing risky drinking, warranting further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Whether college students' reports of their parents' behaviors are as reliable a predictor of student drinking as their parents' own reports remains an open question and a point of contention in the literature. To address this, the current study examined concordance between college student and mother/father reports of the same parenting behaviors relevant to parent-based college drinking interventions (relationship quality, monitoring, and permissiveness), and the extent to which student and parental reports differed in their relation to college drinking and consequences. Method: The sample consisted of 1,429 students and 1,761 parents recruited from three large public universities in the United States (814 mother-daughter, 563 mother-son, 233 father-daughter, and 151 father-son dyads). Students and their parents were each invited to complete four surveys over the course of the students' first 4 years of college (one survey per year). Results: Paired samples t tests revealed that parental reports of parenting constructs were typically more conservative than student reports. Intraclass correlations revealed moderate associations between parental and student reports on relationship quality, general monitoring, and permissiveness. The associations between parenting constructs and drinking and consequences were also consistent when using parental and student reports of permissiveness. Results were generally consistent for all four types of dyads, and at each of the four time points. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings provide additional support for the use of student reports of parental behaviors as a valid proxy of parents' actual reports and as a reliable predictor of college student drinking and consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Previous work has investigated parents' reports of motives for communicating with their young adults about alcohol. While parents' self-reported motives may predict intentions to communicate, young adults' perceptions of their parents' motives may be important for understanding young adults' responses to parent alcohol communication. The present study was conducted to explore college students' perceptions of their parents' motives for alcohol communication and to investigate whether perceptions of these motives predict changes in alcohol consumption and related consequences during the transition to college., Method: First-year college students (N = 306) participated in a longitudinal survey study. Baseline measures at pre-matriculation (T1) included assessments of student perceptions of their parents' motives for alcohol communication and covariates (e.g., perceived peer descriptive drinking norms, parental modeling and alcohol communication, and drinking and consequences). At a 1-month follow-up (T2), students reported on their alcohol use and consequences., Results: Controlling for other predictors of college student drinking, results indicate that for each one-unit increase in perceived parental reactive communication motives, the incidence rate of typical weekly drinking increased by 9%, and heavy episodic drinking (HED) increased by 21%. Conversely, the incidence rate of HED decreased by 27% for each one-unit increase in perceived maternal family history communication motives., Conclusions: These findings suggest that college students' perceptions of their parents' motives for alcohol communication can significantly influence their drinking behavior during the transition to college.

Parent communication can be protective against cannabis use among young adults. However, changes in parent-student communication frequency naturally occur during the transition from high school to college. Recent research suggests declines in parent-student communication frequency predict increased drinking and consequences during the first year of college, yet these effects on other risky behaviors are unknown. The current study investigated whether post-matriculation changes in frequency of texting/calling with parents predict cannabis use and simultaneous use of cannabis and alcohol, and whether pre-matriculation cannabis and simultaneous use predict changes in communication. First-year students ( N = 287, 61.3% female, 50.9% White) reported cannabis and simultaneous use pre- and post-matriculation (T1 & T3) and changes in frequency of texting/calling their mother/father per day (T2). Negative binomial hurdle models examined whether T2 changes in communication frequency predicted T3 cannabis and simultaneous use, and logistic regression models examined whether T1 cannabis and simultaneous use predicted T2 changes in communication frequency. Results revealed that increasing (vs. decreasing) frequency of calling with mothers and texting with fathers was protective against cannabis use, whereas increasing frequency of calling with fathers was associated with greater risk of use. Changes in communication did not significantly predict simultaneous use, nor did pre-matriculation cannabis or simultaneous use predict changes in either mode of communication with parents during the college transition. These findings highlight that changes in mother and father communication may be both beneficial and detrimental to cannabis use depending on the parent and mode of communication. Implications for these findings are discussed., Competing Interests: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 Authors et al.)