Tailgating Protective Behavioral Strategies Mediate the Effects of Positive Alcohol Outcome Expectancies on Game Day Drinking.

Although a growing body of evidence suggests protective behavioral strategies are associated with lower alcohol use among college students, we know little about what contributes to students' decisions to use these strategies. Alcohol outcome expectancies have been associated with alcohol use among college students, and may contribute to their decisions to use protective behavioral strategies while drinking in contexts associated with an elevated risk for heavy alcohol use. University football game tailgating is one high-risk context that has received limited empirical attention with respect to identifying risk and protective factors for use. We sought to determine whether expectancy effects on tailgating drinking may be attributable to the approach or avoidance of protective strategies in this context. We expected college students who perceive greater positive expectancies to report engaging in more protective strategies on game day, whereas we hypothesized greater negative expectancies would be associated with less use of protective strategies. College students (N = 231) reported outcome expectancies online within 7 days of tailgating and quantity of alcoholic drinks consumed while tailgating, as well as whether they used limiting consumption (i.e., counting drinks, alternating drinking water and alcohol) and harm reduction (HR; i.e., sober transportation) strategies 48 h after tailgating. Results indicated higher positive expectancies were associated with greater use of HR strategies. Positive expectancies were indirectly positively related to greater game day tailgating drinking and negatively to odds of abstaining through the use of protective strategies, and unique indirect effects were observed for HR strategies. These findings highlight important individual differences that contribute to the use of protective behaviors, and suggest that expectancy-challenge interventions may be tailored to address unsafe drinking practices and promote college student health.

Separating the Association Between Inhibitory Control and Substance Use Prevalence Versus Quantity During Adolescence: A Hurdle Mixed-Effects Model Approach.

BACKGROUND: Inhibitory control is a critical component to the self-regulation of affect and behavior. Research consistently demonstrates negative associations between inhibitory control and several problem behaviors including substance misuse during early adolescence. However, analytic approaches previously used have often applied ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to non-normal count data with an excessive number of zeros (i.e., never users), violating several model assumptions. Further, OLS regression fails to model effects of the independent variable, separately, for both prevalence and quantity of use. OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to simultaneously model associations between inhibitory control and both past 30-day prevalence and amount of cigarette and marijuana use. It was hypothesized that when doing so, inhibitory control would be significantly associated with prevalence, but not quantity of use. METHOD: Hurdle Mixed-effects Models (HMM) were used for hypothesis testing on data collected from 3,383, 9th grade adolescents (M(age) = 14.08 years). RESULTS: Results confirmed hypotheses, demonstrating that although significant bivariate associations between inhibitory control and quantity of cigarette and marijuana use existed, HMM analyses established that the associations were more precisely specific to past 30-day prevalence, and not quantity of use. CONCLUSION: Results from a HMM approach contribute to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of which characteristics of cigarette and marijuana use are associated with inhibitory control during early adolescence.

Cannabis Outcome Expectancies, Cannabis Use Motives, and Cannabis Use among a Small Sample of Frequent Using Adults.

Background: Little is known about the factors influencing use among frequent cannabis users, defined here as using at least three times per week. Outcome expectancies and motives for cannabis use have been independently examined in relation to cannabis use, but not among frequent users. Further, the associations among distinct expectancies and motives for cannabis use have yet to be explored. The current study examined whether expectancies influence cannabis use through cannabis use motives among frequent users. Additionally, we examined more nuanced relationships among three cannabis outcome expectancies (relaxation/tension reduction, social, perceptual/cognitive) and four motives (enhancement, social, coping, expansion). Method: Bayesian path analysis with informative priors was used to examine associations among expectancies, motives, and outcomes in a sample of 54 (63% male) young adult frequent users (i.e., at least three times per week; 65% used daily). Participants were recruited from the community and completed self-report questionnaires assessing cannabis use, expectancies, and motives. Results: Findings support hypotheses that cannabis use expectancies were associated with unique motives for frequent cannabis users. Perceptual/cognitive enhancement expectancies were the only expectancy to consistently relate to all four cannabis use motives. Social expectancies were related to enhancement, social, and expansion motives for use, and relaxation/tension reduction expectancies were associated with coping motives. Conclusions: Results extend previous work examining direct and indirect effects of expectancies and motives among frequent using young adults. Findings support the potential clinical utility of exploring the perceived functional benefits of cannabis use for individual frequent users as well as potential alternatives that might serve similar functions with fewer risks and consequences.

The Epidemiology of Binge Drinking Among College-Age Individuals in the United States.

Rates of alcohol consumption continue to be a concern, particularly for individuals who are college age. Drinking patterns have changed over time, with the frequency of binge drinking (consuming four/five or more drinks for women/men) remaining high (30% to 40%). Young adults in the college age range are developmentally and socially at higher risk for drinking at binge levels. Changes in autonomy, parental control, norms, and attitudes affect binge drinking behaviors. This article reviews those changes, as well as the individual and environmental factors that increase or decrease the risk of participating in binge drinking behaviors. Risk factors include risky drinking events (e.g., 21st birthdays), other substance use, and drinking to cope, while protective factors include religious beliefs, low normative perceptions of drinking, and use of protective behavioral strategies. Additionally, this article discusses the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive consequences of consuming alcohol at binge levels. Alcohol policies and prevention and intervention techniques need to incorporate these factors to reduce experiences of alcohol-related problems. Targeting policy changes and prevention and intervention efforts toward young adults may increase effectiveness and prevent both short- and long-term consequences of binge drinking.

Drinking motives and alcohol outcome expectancies as mediators of the association between negative urgency and alcohol consumption.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the effects of negative urgency, a unique facet of impulsivity marked by engaging in potentially unhealthy and rash behaviors in order to cope with anxiety or negative moods, on drinking behavior can be explained by positive and negative alcohol outcome expectancies and specific drinking motives (i.e., coping and enhancement). METHODS: College students (N=194) completed web-based surveys in exchange for course credit. Students completed measures of negative urgency, comprehensive effects of alcohol, drinking motives, and alcohol use behaviors. RESULTS: Results of path analysis indicated significant indirect effects of negative urgency and alcohol use through both alcohol outcome expectancies and enhancement motives. The effects of enhancement motives on drinking were mediated by positive alcohol outcome expectancies. The effects of coping motives on drinking were not attributable to negative expectancies. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals high on negative urgency may consume alcohol in order to ameliorate their emotional distress due to strong desires to increase positive and decrease negative experiences associated with drinking. Emotion-focused impulsivity's influence on drinking outcomes can be ascribed to enhancement motives for drinking as well as positive and negative alcohol outcome expectancies. Prevention efforts should target drinking motives and alcohol outcome expectancies among those higher in negative urgency.

Marijuana protective behavioral strategies as a moderator of the effects of risk/protective factors on marijuana-related outcomes.

Given that both marijuana use and cannabis use disorder peak among college students, it is imperative to determine the factors that may reduce risk of problematic marijuana use and/or the development of cannabis use disorder. From a harm reduction perspective, the present study examined whether the use of marijuana protective behavioral strategies (PBS) buffers or amplifies the effects of several distinct risk and protective factors that have been shown to relate to marijuana-related outcomes (i.e., use frequency and consequences). Specifically, we examined marijuana-PBS use as a moderator of the effects of impulsivity-like traits, marijuana use motives, gender, and marijuana use frequency on marijuana-related outcomes in a large sample of college students (n=2093 past month marijuana users across 11 universities). In all models PBS use was robustly related with use frequency and consequences (i.e., strongly negatively associated with marijuana outcomes). Among interactions, we found: 1) unique significant interactions between specific impulsivity-like traits (i.e., premeditation, perseverance, and sensation seeking) and marijuana-PBS use in predicting marijuana consequences, 2) unique significant interactions between each marijuana use motive and marijuana-PBS use in predicting marijuana use frequency and 3) marijuana-PBS use buffered the risk associated with male gender in predicting both marijuana outcomes. Our results suggest that marijuana-PBS use can buffer risk factors and enhance protective factors among marijuana using college students. Future research is needed to understand context-specific factors and individual-level factors that may make marijuana-PBS use more effective.

The Angel and the Devil on your shoulder: Friends mitigate and exacerbate 21st birthday alcohol-related consequences.

Twenty-first birthdays are associated with heavier drinking and more negative consequences than any other high-risk drinking event. Friends are the strongest social influence on young adult drinking; however, previous research on college students' drinking has often only examined individuals' perceptions of "friends" generally. Unfortunately, this may obscure the positive influence of some friends and the negative influence of others. Using data drawn from a larger intervention study aimed at reducing 21st birthday drinking, this research examined how specific friends (N = 166) who were present at 21st birthday celebrations may have exacerbated or mitigated celebrants' (N = 166) experience of alcohol-related consequences, as well as how characteristics of that friendship moderate these effects. Controlling for sex, alcohol consumption, and friend prointoxication intentions for the celebrants' 21st birthday drinking, higher friend prosafety/support intentions predicted the celebrants experiencing fewer alcohol-related consequences. Higher prosafety/support intentions also buffered participants from the negative influence of friend prointoxication intentions. Furthermore, the closeness of the friendship moderated this effect. At high levels of closeness, having a friend with lower prosafety/support intentions was associated with more alcohol-related consequences for the celebrant. Post hoc analyses revealed that this effect may have been driven by discrepancies between celebrants' and friends' reports of friendship closeness; celebrants' perception of closeness that was higher than the friends' perception was associated with the celebrant experiencing more alcohol-related consequences. Results demonstrate the ways that specific friends can both mitigate and exacerbate 21st birthday alcohol-related consequences. The implications of the present findings for incorporating specific friends into drinking-related interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Support Buffers Financial Strain's Effect on Health-related Quality of Life.

OBJECTIVES: Financial strain represents a perceived inability to meet financial needs and obligations and is associated with poorer health outcomes. Distinct facets of perceived social support may mitigate the deleterious effects of financial strain on health. In the present study, we examined the extent to which appraisal, belonging, and tangible social support ameliorate the effects of financial strain on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: A community sample (N = 238; 67.2% female; MAge = 43.4 years, SD = 13.1) completed inperson surveys as part of a larger study of health behaviors. RESULTS: Greater financial strain and less social support were associated with poorer HRQoL. Additionally, both appraisal and belonging support moderated the effects of financial strain on some HRQoL components, such that higher appraisal and belonging support were associated with diminished effects of financial strain on HRQoL. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest nuanced associations between financial strain and HRQoL. We discuss the implications for prevention and intervention programs.