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Objective: The objective of this study was to understand substance use patterns of alcohol, marijuana, and simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use among 2- and 4-year college students. Participants: Participants were 526 young adults aged 18-23 (n = 355 4-year students; n = 171 2-year students) recruited from February 2015 to January 2016 who were participating in a larger longitudinal study. Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify past-month classes of alcohol, marijuana, and SAM use. Results: Among both 2- and 4-year students, a four-class solution yielded the best-fitting model, with 2-year classes tending to include greater marijuana use and less alcohol use and 4-year classes tending to include heavy alcohol use. Demographic characteristics were largely similar across classes. Conclusions: Classes of alcohol, marijuana, and SAM use differed by education status. Screening and prevention efforts for 4-year students may need to be tailored for the needs of 2-year students.

Background: Drinking identity (the extent to which one links the self with drinking alcohol) is a unique risk factor for college students' hazardous drinking that is not directly targeted by existing interventions. We conducted a study that aimed to decrease drinking identity among college students with hazardous drinking. We adapted a writing task about the future self and tested whether three writing sessions could decrease drinking identity and change drinking. We also investigated whether two additional factors (writing perspective and inclusion of participants' social networks) would enhance task impact. The present study evaluated whether posited proximal cognitive and motivational outcomes (drinking identity, self‐efficacy, readiness to change, and drinking intentions) changed immediately after each writing session. Method: The study is a randomized clinical trial in which hypotheses and analyses were pre‐registered. Participants were 328 college students who met hazardous drinking criteria. The study had a 2 (narrative writing topic: low‐risk drinker vs. reduced smartphone use) × 2 (writing perspective: first‐person vs. non‐first‐person) × 2 (social network instruction: instructed to include vs. not) factorial design. Proximal outcomes were drinking identity, self‐efficacy, readiness to change, and drinking intentions. The clinical outcome was alcohol consumption. Participants completed three laboratory sessions at weekly intervals that included the writing task and pre‐ and post‐task assessments. Results: Results were largely null, except that readiness to reduce drinking was higher in the low‐risk drinker condition and increased over the lab sessions. Time effects indicated that reductions in drinking identity, drinking intentions, and alcohol consumption, and increases in self‐efficacy were observed but did not change above and beyond control conditions. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need to strengthen the writing task and select a more appropriate control task to target proposed proximal outcomes. Future studies might try personalizing the task, evaluating its efficacy with individuals motivated to change their drinking, and using a control task that does not involve imagining a future self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cannabis is the most used psychoactive substance among adolescents and is a public health concern. Cannabis demand is a quantifiable measure of the reinforcing value of cannabis and comprises two latent-factors--amplitude (maximum consumption) and persistence (sensitivity to increasing costs). Cannabis demand and cannabis motives are important predictors of adolescent cannabis use and associated problems; however, little is known about how these two facets of motivation are causally related. Cannabis motives are thought to represent the final common pathway to cannabis use and may explain why elevated demand is associated with use and consequences. The present study tested whether internal cannabis motives (coping and enjoyment) mediated longitudinal associations between cannabis demand, use (hours high), and negative consequences. Method: Participants aged 15-18 years old (n = 89, Mage = 17.0, SD = 0.9) who reported lifetime cannabis use completed online assessments of cannabis demand, motives, use and negative consequences at baseline, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up. Results: PROCESS mediation models revealed that enjoyment motives mediated the association between amplitude and persistence and use. In addition, coping motives mediated the association between amplitude and negative consequences. Conclusions: These findings suggest that internal motives, while differentially related to aspects of demand and cannabis outcomes, are important in understanding adolescent cannabis use. Prevention efforts aimed at limiting access to cannabis and increasing access to substance-free activities may be important targets for adolescents. Further, cannabis interventions targeting specific motives for using (e.g., to cope with negative affect) may be important for reducing cannabis demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper provides an overview of the self-concept as it relates to substance use. Self-concept has a long history in psychological theory and research; however, substance self-concept (e.g., viewing one's self as a drinker or smoker) is an understudied area of research with the potential to expand existing conceptualizations of substance use, addiction, and prevention and treatment efforts, and should receive greater research attention.Objectives: First, we review and provide a theoretical framework of substance self-concept that draws from dual process models and distinguishes between implicit and explicit self-concept. Next, we summarize key findings related to substance use in the extant literature, focusing on alcohol and tobacco (smoking).Results: Across both substances, there is converging evidence that substance self-concept is associated with substance use outcomes, including quantity and frequency of use and problems associated with use, and that change in substance self-concept is associated with recovery from substance misuse. Recommendations for the substance self-concept research agenda include routine assessment of substance self-concept, expanded use of implicit measures, investigation of moderators of substance self-concept, and targeting substance self-concept directly in prevention and intervention efforts.Conclusion: Ultimately, we suggest that substance self-concept is a promising, but understudied, construct. Greater research attention to substance self-concept could clarify its potential as an important risk factor for hazardous use and addiction as well as its utility as a prevention and treatment target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marijuana use in middle and late adolescence is a significant public health concern given that an earlier age of onset is prospectively associated with numerous marijuana misuse outcomes. The outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines across the United States yet the impact of these orders on adolescent marijuana use is unknown in the U.S. The aims of this study were to examine adolescents' recall of changes in marijuana use patterns following the COVID-19 outbreak as a function of one's typical levels of use, and to qualitatively assess reasons for perceived change. A screening survey for a larger study was completed by 156 adolescents (ages 15-18, 78% male) after the stay-at-home order was put in place in Washington state in March 2020. The cross-sectional survey included self-reported demographic information, marijuana use, and retrospective recall of changes to marijuana use following the state's stay-at-home order. Initial findings did not reveal any pattern of change that described the entire sample, however adolescents' recall of changes in use significantly varied as a function of typical use such that moderate/heavy users had higher odds of reporting maintained (5.04 times higher) or increased use (3.07 times higher) compared to irregular/light marijuana users. Primary reasons for decreasing use included decreased availability and socialization. Primary reasons for increasing use included more free time and coping with stress and anxiety. The findings suggest that pandemic-related changes in marijuana use are not consistent across adolescents and that moderate and heavy users may be at increased risk of marijuana misuse under pandemic conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2022 Authors et al.)