Drinking firsts at home and with parental knowledge: Racial/ethnic differences in associations with later alcohol outcomes among underage youth.

BACKGROUND: Prior research has shown that early alcohol experiences, such as age of initiation and speed of progression between drinking milestones, vary across racial/ethnic groups. To inform culturally tailored prevention efforts, this longitudinal study examined racial/ethnic differences in the associations of drinking firsts at home and with parental knowledge with alcohol use outcomes among underage youth. METHODS: The study included baseline and five follow-up surveys, collected every 6 months, from California adolescents (ages 12-16 years at baseline). The analytic sample was composed of the 689 adolescents who reported lifetime alcohol use at baseline or a follow-up survey (5% Black, 37% Latinx, 46% White, and 12% other/mixed racial/ethnic group; 54% female). Participants who reported consumption of a full drink, intoxication, or heavy episodic drinking (HED) were asked ages and contexts of these drinking firsts, including whether the initiation was at their own home and whether their parents/guardians knew about this drinking event. Outcomes included past-6-month alcohol frequency, alcohol quantity, and number of alcohol-related problems. Multilevel negative binomial regression analyses were conducted, controlling for demographics and age of initiation by type of drinking behavior. Moderation analyses examined racial/ethnic differences. RESULTS: For consumption of the first full drink, both drinking at home and parental knowledge were negatively associated with all outcomes; associations did not vary by race/ethnicity. First intoxication at own home was negatively associated with the number of drinks for Latinx youth and with the number of problems for Black youth. For first HED, drinking at own home was positively associated with drinking frequency across groups, and for Black youth specifically, parental knowledge of their first HED experience was significantly associated with greater later alcohol frequency and quantity. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the association of family contexts of drinking first with later alcohol outcomes among underage youth varied by stage of alcohol use and race/ethnicity.

In what settings and social contexts do young adults vape or smoke cannabis? Findings from a web-based diary pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Vaping is an increasingly common mode of cannabis use among young adults. Despite potential to inform targeted prevention, settings and social contexts where young adults vape and/or smoke cannabis have rarely been investigated. We addressed this question in a diverse young adult sample. METHODS: Data were collected weekly in a web-based daily diary format for six weeks. The analytic sample consisted of the 108 participants (of the 119 enrolled) who used cannabis during the assessment period (mean age = 22.06; 23.78% college students; 65.74% female; 5.56% Asian, 22.22% Black, 16.67% Latinx, 2.78% Multi-racial or Other and 52.77% White). Cannabis use was queried separately for vaping and smoking; respondents reported all settings (14 options) and social contexts (7 options) where they used. RESULTS: For both vaping and smoking cannabis, the most common settings were home (vaping: 56.97%, smoking: 68.72% [significantly lower for vaping]), friend's home (vaping: 22.49%, smoking: 21.49%), and car (vaping: 18.80%, smoking: 12.99%). The most common social contexts were with friends (vaping: 55.96%, smoking: 50.61%), with significant other (vaping: 25.19%, smoking: 28.53%), and alone (vaping: 25.92%, smoking: 22.62%). Compared to non-students, college students reported vaping on a significantly higher proportion (27.88% vs. 16.50%) of cannabis use days. CONCLUSIONS: Very similar patterns in settings and social contexts were observed for vaping as smoking and in prevalence of vaping and smoking cannabis across demographic groups. The few notable exceptions have implications for vaping related public health measures: targeting reducing vaping outside the home, particularly in cars, and implementing prevention programming on college campuses.

The Associations of Racial Discrimination and Neighborhood Disadvantage With World Assumptions Among Black, Latine, and Asian Young Adults.

The theory of shattered assumptions proposes that experiencing traumatic events can change how people view themselves and the world. Most adults experience a traumatic event during their lifetime, and some subsequently develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the current conceptualization of trauma (i.e., Criterion A PTSD) may be too narrow to adequately capture the range of potentially traumatizing events that People of Color experience, including racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage. This study investigated the association of racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with core beliefs about the world being safe and predictable (i.e., world assumptions) among a sample of Black, Latine, and Asian young adults. Multi-step analyses of covariance tested associations between racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with world assumptions and whether these held in the context of other traumatic exposures. Results indicated that racial discrimination negatively impacted world assumptions among Asian young adults only and this effect remained in the context of trauma. In addition, low neighborhood support negatively impacted world assumptions across all racial groups and neighborhood violence negatively impacted world assumptions among Latine young adults only; however, this effect did not remain in the context of trauma. This study indicates it is worthwhile to consider other adverse events in the conceptualization of trauma, such as racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage, that may impact world assumptions and contribute to subsequent post-trauma psychopathology.

Profiles of substance use related protective and risk factors and their associations with alcohol and tobacco use initiation among black adolescents.

Insufficient attention to protective and risk factors of particular salience for Black youth (e.g., racial identity and racial discrimination) in population-based substance use studies has left gaps in our understanding of alcohol and tobacco use development in Black adolescents. The current study aimed to capture the clustering of such understudied factors and their collective influence on alcohol and tobacco use initiation among Black adolescents. Data were drawn from The National Survey of American Life (n = 1,170; age range = 13-17; 6.9% Afro Caribbean, 93.1% African American; 50.0% female). Latent profile analysis applied to 11 indicators representing family, community, and individual level protective and risk factors revealed (1) High Vulnerability (high risk, low protective factors; 17.5%), (2) Moderate Vulnerability (moderate on both; 63.2%), and (3) Low Vulnerability (high protective, low risk factors; 19.3%) classes. Classes differed significantly by religious community support, school bonding, quality of relationship with mother, religious involvement, and interpersonal trauma. Relative to Class 2, Class 1 had higher odds of alcohol (OR = 1.518, CI:1.092-2.109) and tobacco use (OR = 1.998, CI:1.401-2.848); Class 3 had lower odds of alcohol (OR = 0.659, CI:0.449-0.968) but not tobacco use (OR = 0.965, CI:0.611-1.523). Findings suggest that alcohol and tobacco use initiation among Black adolescents is shaped by the collective influence of community and family level support, with commonly experienced risk factors such as non-interpersonal trauma distinguishing liability to a lesser degree. The equally modest prevalence of tobacco use among low and moderate vulnerability classes further indicates that fostering these connections may be especially effective in reducing tobacco use risk.

Longitudinal Trajectories of Multiple Nicotine Product Use Among Youths in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.

Importance: Multiple nicotine product use (MNPU) among youths is a significant public health concern. Much remains unknown about the patterns of MNPU in youths, including how socioecological factors influence trajectories of MNPU, which may inform targeted prevention. Objective: To identify longitudinal trajectories of MNPU and characterize them according to socioecological factors associated with tobacco use. Design, Setting, and Participants: This US-based longitudinal survey study used data from waves 1 (September 12, 2013, to December 14, 2014) through 4 (December 1, 2016, to January 3, 2018) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. Participants included 10 086 youths (aged 12-17 years) at wave 1, with follow-up data at waves 2 to 4 (assessed approximately 1 year apart) in the youth or adult data sets. Data were analyzed from January 15, 2020, to December 22, 2021. Exposures: Socioecological factors at wave 1. Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcome variables were days of use in the past 30 days of 4 products: cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. Factors associated with use of the nicotine products that were collected at wave 1 included sociodemographic factors, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, living with a tobacco user, rules about tobacco use at home, conversations with parents about not using tobacco, tobacco accessibility, and exposure to advertising. Multitrajectory latent class growth analysis was used to identify distinct subgroups with similar patterns of use over time. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to investigate factors associated with class membership. Weights were applied to all data except frequencies to account for the complex survey design. Results: Of the 10 086 youths included in the analysis, 5142 (51.2%) self-identified as male; 4792 (54.7%) were non-Hispanic White; and 5315 (50.6%) were aged 12 to 14 years. Six latent trajectory classes were identified: nonuse (8056 [78.2%]), experimentation (908 [9.8%]), increasing e-cigarette/cigarette use (359 [4.0%]), increasing cigarette/cigar use (320 [3.3%]), decreasing cigarette/e-cigarette/cigar use (302 [3.2%]), and stable smokeless tobacco/cigarette use (141 [1.6%]). Compared with the nonuse class, being older (odds ratio [OR] range, 2.54 [95% CI, 1.94-3.32] to 9.49 [95% CI, 6.03-14.93]), being female (OR range, 0.06 [95% CI, 0.03-0.14] to 0.71 [95% CI, 0.53-0.94]), living with a tobacco user (OR range, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.11-1.83] to 4.94 [95% CI, 3.43-7.13]), and having relaxed rules about noncombustible tobacco product use at home (OR range, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.02-1.94] to 3.42 [95% CI, 1.74-6.75]) were associated with classification in all the use classes. A high degree of difficulty accessing tobacco was associated with lower odds of membership in the increasing cigarette/cigar use vs nonuse classes (OR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.40-0.98]). Conclusions and Relevance: These survey results highlight the heterogeneity of longitudinal pathways of MNPU in US youths and suggest directions for future prevention and regulatory efforts directed at tobacco use behaviors in this population.

Cross-substance patterns of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use initiation in Black and White adolescent girls.

Characterizing variations in the timing of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use onset both among and between Black and White youth can inform targeted prevention. The current study aimed to capture cross-substance initiation patterns in Black and White girls and characterize these patterns with respect to substance use related socioeconomic, neighborhood, family, community, and individual level factors. Data were drawn from interviews conducted at ages 8 through 17 in an urban sample of girls (n = 2172; 56.86% Black, 43.14% White). Discrete-time multiple event process survival mixture modeling was used to identify patterns (i.e., classes) representing timing of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use initiation, separately by race. Class characteristics were compared using multinomial logistic regression. Among both Black and White girls, four classes, including abstainer and cross-substance early onset classes, emerged. Two classes characterized by mid-adolescence onset (Black girls) and variation in onset by substance (White girls) were also observed. Class differences centered around cannabis for Black girls (e.g., preceding or following cigarette use) and alcohol for White girls (e.g., (in)consistency over time in greater likelihood of initiation relative to cigarette and cannabis use). Several factors distinguishing the classes were common across race (e.g., externalizing behaviors, friends' cannabis use); some were specific to Black girls (e.g., intentions to smoke cigarettes) or White girls (e.g., primary caregiver problem drinking). Findings underscore the need to recognize a more complex picture than a high-risk/low-risk dichotomy for substance use initiation and to attend to nuanced differences in markers of risky onset pathways between Black and White girls.

Perceived racial and social class discrimination and cannabis involvement among Black youth and young adults.

BACKGROUND: The current study examines the association of perceived racial and social class discrimination with cannabis involvement among Black youth and young adults. METHODS: This secondary analysis used data from the Missouri Family Study (MOFAM), a high-risk longitudinal family study of alcohol use disorder, oversampled for Black families. Offspring (n = 806) and their mothers were interviewed by telephone. Cox proportional hazards regression analyzes were used to examine associations of racial and social class discrimination (experienced by offspring and their mothers) with offspring cannabis involvement. Two stages of cannabis involvement were analyzed: timing of 1) initiation and 2) transition from initiation to first cannabis use disorder (CUD) symptom. RESULTS: The study found that offspring report of experiencing racial (HR: 1.28, CI: 1.01-1.62) and social class discrimination (HR: 1.45, CI: 1.14-1.84) were associated with cannabis initiation in our fully adjusted model. Mothers' report of discrimination predicted a lower hazard of cannabis initiation among offspring (HR: 0.79, CI: 0.64-0.98). Offspring social class discrimination (HR: 2.45, CI: 1.71-3.51) predicted an increased hazard of transition from initiation to first CUD symptom, while offspring racial discrimination (HR: 0.57, CI: 0.39-0.85) was associated with lower hazard of transition in our fully adjusted model. CONCLUSIONS: As rates for cannabis use among Black youth are disproportionately rising, there is a critical need to identify pathways to its use among Black youth. These findings suggest racial and social class discrimination may be important targets in efforts to prevent cannabis involvement among Black youth and emerging adults.

Not Just Service Attendance: Associations of Religious Community Social Connections with Alcohol Use among Black Adults Header: Religious Community Social Connections and Alcohol Use among Black Adults.

Background: Religious involvement is a well-documented protective factor against alcohol use among Black adults, but the extent to which social connections to the religious community can explain those effects remains largely unknown. The current study was designed to capture contributions of religious community support and demands - independent of religious service attendance - to alcohol use among three age cohorts of Black adults. Methods: Data were drawn from 18- to 65-year-old Black participants in the National Survey of American Life (n = 4,462; 29.4% Afro Caribbean, 70.6% African American; 63.20% female). Ordinal logistic regression analyses, conducted separately for each age cohort (18-29, 30-44, and 45-65), were used to model frequency of alcohol use as a function of religious community support and demands in two stages: (1) prior to and (2) after accounting for religious service attendance. Results: Religious community support accounted for differences in alcohol use frequency over and above religious service attendance (in Stage 2 models) for adults aged 30-44 (OR = 0.85, CI: 0.74-0.96) and 45-65 (OR = 0.77, CI: 0.64-0.93) but not 18-29 (OR = 0.85, CI: 0.71-1.03). The association of religious community demands with alcohol use frequency was specific to the age 30-44 cohort in both stage models (Stage 2: OR = 1.33, CI: 1.06-1.68). Conclusions: Study findings suggest that in addition to attending religious services regularly, developing supportive social connections to the religious community may reduce risk for frequent drinking among Black adults, particularly during middle adulthood, when demands from the religious community may increase risk.

Profiles of young women's alcohol and cannabis use linked to risk for sexually transmitted infection highlight the importance of multi-level targeted interventions: Findings from the Pittsburgh girls study.

Background: Social ecological models designed to understand disparities in sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence highlight understudied structural and community risk factors. Guided by a social ecological model, this study identified profiles based on substance use-related STI risk, and examined associations of the profiles with selected indicators of structural-, community-, and individual-level STI risk factors. Methods: Repeated measures latent class analysis was applied to Pittsburgh Girls Study data (n = 2,138; 58% Black, 42% White) at ages 18-20. Profile indicators included: women's and partner's alcohol and cannabis use, women's sexual risk behavior, and self-reported STI. Profile predictors included racial background, structural-, community-, and individual-level risk factors. Results: Two of the five identified profiles had low STI likelihood: "Low Use" of alcohol and cannabis (25.5%; overrepresented by Black women), and "Alcohol Only" (19.1%; overrepresented by White women). Three profiles, all representing co-use of alcohol and cannabis, had higher STI likelihood: "Co-Use: Increasing Alcohol and Occasional Cannabis use" (16.5%; overrepresented by White women), "Co-Use: Occasional Alcohol and Cannabis use" (26.1%; overrepresented by Black women), and "Co-Use: Frequent Cannabis and Occasional Alcohol use" (12.8%; overrepresented by Black women). Structural STI risk (household use of public assistance at wave 1) was associated with "Low Use" and "Co-Use: Frequent Cannabis and Occasional Alcohol use" profiles. STI risk at multiple levels (structural, neighborhood, individual) was associated with the "Co-Use: Frequent Cannabis and Occasional Alcohol use" profile. Conclusions: Co-use of alcohol and cannabis is an important target for STI prevention efforts. Results also highlight structural- and community-level STI risk factors that disproportionately impact Black women, and the importance of multi-level interventions that are targeted to profile of risk to optimize the effectiveness of interventions.

Measurement invariance of the World Assumptions Questionnaire across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation.

OBJECTIVE: The World Assumptions Questionnaire (WAQ) was developed to assess optimism and assumptions about the world, which often shift after traumatic events. However, no known study has investigated whether the WAQ holds similar meaning across demographic groups. The objective of this study was to investigate measurement invariance of the WAQ across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation. METHOD: Participants consisted of 1,181 college students (75% female; 25% Black, 13% Latinx, 18% Asian, 45% White; 90% heterosexual) who completed an online survey on stress, personality, substance use, and mental health. We investigated a unidimensional and the 4-factor structure of the WAQ using confirmatory factor analysis, and configural, metric, and scalar invariance using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: After dropping 3 items, a 4-factor structure fit the data well (comparative fit index = .92; root mean square error of approximation =.05; 95% confidence interval [.045, .054]; standardized root mean square residual = .06). Mean WAQ scores were higher for participants with probable posttraumatic stress disorder on 2 of the 4 factors. We also identified multiple items that were not invariant across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation. However, after invariant items were removed, evidence of configural, scalar, and metric invariance was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicated the 4-factor structure, mapping onto the 4 WAQ subscales, and indicated that a unidimensional measure of world assumptions should not be used. After making the adjustments recommended herein, the WAQ can be used to investigate differences across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Social class discrimination as a predictor of first cigarette use and transition to nicotine use disorder in Black and White youth.

PURPOSE: To characterize the association of social class discrimination with the timing of first cigarette use and progression to DSM-IV nicotine dependence (ND) in Black and White youth, examining variation by race, parent vs. youth experiences of discrimination, socioeconomic status (SES), and stage of smoking. METHODS: Data were drawn from 1461 youth (55.2% Black, 44.8% White; 50.2% female) and mothers in a high-risk family study of alcohol use disorder and related conditions. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were conducted, using youth's and mother's social class discrimination to predict first cigarette use and progression to ND, stratifying by race. Interactions between discrimination and SES indicators (parental education and household income) were tested. Adjusted models included psychiatric covariates. RESULTS: In the adjusted first cigarette use models, neither youth's nor mother's social class discrimination was a significant predictor among Black youth, but mother's discrimination was associated with increased risk [HR = 1.53 (1.18-1.99)] among White youth. In the adjusted ND models, mother's discrimination was associated with reduced ND risk for Black youth in middle-income families [HR = 0.29 (CI 0.13-0.63)], but neither youth's nor mother's discrimination predicted transition to ND among White youth. CONCLUSIONS: The observed race and smoking stage-specific effects suggest that social class discrimination is more impactful on early stages of smoking for White youth and later stages for Black youth. The robustness of links with mother's discrimination experiences further suggests the importance of considering family-level effects and the need to explore possible mechanisms, such as socialization processes.

Interpersonal Trauma Exposure and Depression in Young Adults: Considering the Role of World Assumptions.

The transition to young adulthood confers heightened risk for depression, and exposure to interpersonal trauma (IPT) can magnify this risk. However, not all IPT-exposed young adults develop depressive symptoms, and not all young adults with depressive symptoms report past IPT, suggesting a need to identify moderators of the IPT-depression link. This study investigated whether four different world assumptions-core beliefs about the nature of the world-moderated the association between IPT exposure and depressive symptoms in college students (N = 1,084, M age = 19.5, 74.1% female). Participants self-reported IPT exposure, depressive symptoms, and world assumptions via an online survey. We predicted that the IPT-depressive symptom association would be weaker among young adults with more positive assumptions about the safety of the world, trustworthiness of people, predictability of people, and controllability of events, versus those with more negative world assumptions in these domains. Hierarchical regression results supported this prediction with respect to one world assumption type: more positive beliefs about the world's safety significantly attenuated the relation between past IPT exposure and present depressive symptoms, ΔF(1, 1061) = 9.54, ΔR2 = 0.01, p = .002. The IPT-depressive symptom link was over 3 times as strong for young adults with weak "world-is-safe" assumptions, versus those with strong "world-is-safe" assumptions. No other world assumption types emerged as moderators. Lay theories of the world's safety may represent a basic, survival-oriented belief with implications for depressive symptoms following safety threats, such as IPT. Addressing "world-is-safe" assumptions may enhance depression prevention efforts for IPT-exposed young adults.

Gender discrimination and illicit drug use among African American and European American adolescents and emerging adults.

Objective: The present study aimed to characterize the association of perceived gender discrimination and illicit drug use among a sample of African American (AA) and European American (EA) adolescent girls and young women. Method: Data were drawn from a high-risk family study of alcohol use disorder of mothers and their offspring (N = 735). Multinomial regressions were used to examine whether experience of offspring and maternal gender discrimination were associated with offspring illicit drug use (cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, PCP, opiates, hallucinogens, solvents, sedatives, or inhalants). Outcomes included offspring age of drug use initiation (age ≤ 14) and lifetime heavy drug use (≥ 50 times) of 1 or more illicit substances. Interactions between race and offspring gender discrimination were modeled to assess for race differences. Results: Results revealed that gender discrimination was associated with a greater likelihood of offspring early initiation (relative risk ratio [RRR] = 2.57, 95% CI [1.31, 5.03]) versus later initiation (RRR = 1.33, 95% CI [0.80, 2.24]). Offspring gender discrimination was associated with offspring heavy drug use (RRR = 2.09, 95% CI [1.07, 4.06]) and not associated with moderate/light use (RRR = 1.44, 95% CI [0.86, 2.42]), but post hoc tests revealed no significant group differences. Conclusions: Findings suggest that perceived offspring gender discrimination is associated with early drug use initiation. Gender discrimination, particularly at an early age, has a potential to cause harm, including drug use. Implementation of policies that foster environments that eliminate gender bias and discrimination at an early age should be prioritized. Gender-responsive treatment merits consideration by substance use treatment providers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Profiles of Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors and their Associations with Alcohol Use and Regular Smoking in Black Adults.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to identify the clustering of substance use-related psychosocial risk and protective factors (subgroups) and the differential associations of those subgroups with current alcohol use and regular smoking among Black adults. METHODS: Data were drawn from 4462 participants (29% Afro Caribbean, 71% African American; median age = 38; 63% female) in a nationally representative study of social, economic, and structural conditions and health in Black Americans. Latent classes, i.e., subgroups, were derived via latent profile analysis with 10 indicators representing social support and religious involvement (support); demands from family and religious community (demands); and socioeconomic and neighborhood factors and racial discrimination (adversity). Frequency of alcohol use and prevalence of regular smoking were compared across classes using regression analyses. RESULTS: Four classes emerged: (1) high support, low demands and adversity; (2) high support and demands, low-moderate adversity; (3) low support and demands, low-moderate adversity; and (4) low support, high demands and adversity. Relative to Class 1, frequency of alcohol use and regular smoking prevalence were significantly higher only in Class 4. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate substantive variations in the clustering of substance use-related psychosocial risk and protective factors in Black adults. Furthermore, they suggest that neither the presence of high demands nor the absence of support alone differentiates likelihood of engaging in frequent alcohol use or regular smoking, but adverse experiences such as racial discrimination may be especially impactful.

The impact of world assumptions on the association between discrimination and internalizing and substance use outcomes.

This study investigated whether core beliefs about the world being safe and predictable (i.e. world assumptions) mediated the association between discrimination and internalizing and substance use problems among individuals from marginalized groups. Path analyses tested mediating effects of four types of world assumptions on the association between discrimination (race-, gender-, and sexual orientation-based) and anxiety, depression, alcohol and cannabis problems in college students (N = 1,181, agemean = 19.50, SD = 1.67). Limited support for mediation by world assumptions was found: among Asian students, race-based discrimination indirectly impacted anxiety symptoms through low perceived controllability of events. Direct effects across groups and discrimination types were also found.

Patterns of bi-directional relations across alcohol use, religiosity, and self-control in adolescent girls.

Examining predictors of alcohol use among adolescent girls is increasingly important to enhance prevention efforts, given that the gender gap in alcohol use is steadily closing. While both religiosity and self-control have been independently associated with decreased alcohol use, little research has explored 1) whether religiosity and self-control are reciprocally related and 2) whether the reciprocal association between these constructs may indicate different patterns in the development of alcohol use. As such, this study examined whether there are multiple patterns of reciprocal relationships across religiosity, self-control, and alcohol use among adolescent girls. Latent variable mixture modeling was combined with an autoregressive cross-lagged panel model to identify discrete, prototypical patterns of longitudinal associations (i.e., subgroups) across religiosity, self-control, and alcohol use among 2,122 girls ages 13-17. Psychosocial covariates (e.g., conduct problems) were examined as predictors of each subgroup. Two subgroups were identified. Self-control was associated with reduced alcohol use in both the majority (87.56% of the sample) and minority (12.44% of the sample) subgroups, but only the majority subgroup also demonstrated associations between religiosity, self-control, and alcohol use. Religiosity may predict lower alcohol use in a majority of adolescent girls but this association may not be present among all girls, suggesting that there is a qualitative difference in how religiosity is associated with self-control and alcohol use between subgroups. Results also suggest that higher levels of conduct problems may predict which girls are more likely to demonstrate associations between only self-control and alcohol use, and demonstrate no significant associations with religiosity.

The contributions of everyday and major experiences of racial discrimination to current alcohol use and regular smoking in Black adults: Considering variation by demographic characteristics and family history.

BACKGROUND: Racial discrimination has consistently been linked to elevated alcohol use and smoking in Black adults, but the independent contributions of everyday and major experiences of discrimination have rarely been investigated. The present study aimed to identify variation in magnitude of the links between each type of racial discrimination with current frequency of alcohol use and regular smoking by demographic characteristics and family history of problem drinking/regular smoking in Black adults in the U.S. METHODS: Data were drawn from 4462 adults (29.40% Afro Caribbean, 70.60% African American; 63.20% female) in a nationally representative sample of Black Americans. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict current frequency of alcohol use and regular smoking using the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS) and Major Experiences of Discrimination Scale (MEDS), testing for interactions with demographic characteristics and family history. RESULTS: In the alcohol model, an EDS by education level interaction was observed: OR = 1.04 (CI:1.02-1.07) for < high school; OR = 0.95 (CI:0.92-0.98) for ≥ high school. MEDS was independently associated with alcohol use (OR = 1.11, CI:1.04-1.18). In the smoking model, EDS was associated with elevated risk (OR = 1.03, CI:1.01-1.04) and a MEDS by age cohort interaction was observed: OR = 1.24 (CI:1.11-1.38) for

Youth Perceptions of Parental Involvement and Monitoring, Discrepancies With Parental Perceptions, and Their Associations With First Cigarette Use in Black and White Girls.

OBJECTIVE: Low parental involvement and monitoring are risk factors for adolescent cigarette use. Assessments of parental involvement and monitoring by youth and parents may capture an additional source of risk: differences in perceptions of these parenting behaviors. This study tested for unique contributions of youth-reported parental involvement and monitoring and youth-parent discrepancies in reporting to first cigarette use in girls. METHOD: Data were drawn from interviews at ages 8-17 with 1,869 girls (57.3% Black, 42.7% White) and their primary caregivers (94% mothers) in the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were conducted to predict first cigarette use as a function of girls' reports of parental involvement and monitoring, magnitude and direction of youth-parent reporting discrepancies, and the interaction between them, adjusting for neighborhood, socioeconomic, and individual level factors. RESULTS: High magnitude of discrepancy in parental involvement reports (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.03, 1.26]) and lower perceived parental involvement by girls (HR = 1.14, CI [1.03, 1.27]) were associated with an elevated risk for first cigarette use. Girls' reports of low parental monitoring also predicted first cigarette use (HR = 1.14, CI [1.06, 1.21]). CONCLUSIONS: Girls whose parents have limited awareness of their whereabouts and friends (i.e., low monitoring) are at an elevated risk for trying cigarettes, but parent-daughter differences in perceived awareness do not affect risk. By contrast, girls who perceive a lower degree of parental involvement than their parents do are at increased risk. Monitoring is one component of parenting that may reduce smoking risk; shared perspectives on the parent's level of involvement are similarly important.

Public and private religious involvement and initiation of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in Black and White adolescent girls.

PURPOSE: This longitudinal study aimed to identify variation by race in the associations between religious involvement and initiation of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, including distinctions by substance or type of religious involvement, in Black and White adolescent girls. METHODS: Data were drawn from interviews conducted at ages 11 through 17 with 2172 Pittsburgh Girls Study participants (56.8% Black; 43.2% White). Two indicators of public religious involvement, religious service attendance and participation in other religious activities, and two indicators of private religious involvement, prayer, and importance of religion were queried. A series of Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were conducted to identify independent effects of religious involvement indicators on initiation of each substance. RESULTS: Prior to adjusting for socioenvironmental and psychosocial factors (e.g., parental monitoring), importance of religion predicted initiation of alcohol use across race and cigarette and marijuana use in White but not Black girls. Participation in other religious activities also predicted marijuana use initiation only in White girls. In adjusted models, importance of religion remained significant for cigarette use initiation in White girls (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.68, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.53-0.88) and participation in other religious activities remained significant for marijuana use initiation in White girls (HR = 0.63, CI: 0.47-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: The protective effects of religious involvement against cigarette and marijuana use initiation are more robust for White than Black adolescent girls and overall relatively weak for alcohol use initiation. Furthermore, importance placed on religion may be a better indicator than religious service attendance of risk for adolescent substance use initiation.

Relational Peer Victimization Interacts With Depression Severity to Predict the Timing of Alcohol Use Initiation in Adolescent Girls.

BACKGROUND: Peer victimization is consistently linked to adolescents' alcohol use. However, the relative influence of relational and physical peer victimization on alcohol use, and timing of drinking initiation, is not well understood. In this study, we evaluate the impact of both relational and physical peer victimization on adolescent girls' alcohol use initiation, and the extent to which depression severity moderates these associations. METHODS: Participants were 2,125 girls in the Pittsburgh Girls Study, a longitudinal community-based study. Participants reported experiences of relational and physical peer victimization, depression severity, and alcohol use each year from ages 10 to 17. Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression analyses predicting the timing of first drink were conducted in 2 stages, testing for main effects of peer victimization in Model 1 and moderation by depression severity in Model 2. RESULTS: Analyses were split at age 14 to adjust for PH violations. Model 1 results supported a main effect for relational (Hazards ratio [HR] = 1.83, CI: 1.46 to 2.28 ≤ age 13; HR = 1.23, CI: 1.05 to 1.45 ≥ age 14) but not physical victimization on timing of alcohol use onset (HR = 1.10, CI: 0.88 to 1.39). Model 2 results show that depression severity moderates the association between relational victimization and alcohol use initiation: the association between relational victimization and early alcohol use onset was stronger for lower depression severity (-1 SD HR = 2.38, CI: 1.68 to 3.39 ≤ age 13; -1 SD HR = 1.48, CI: 1.10 to 1.52 ≥ age 14). CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate that relational (and not physical) victimization predicts earlier drinking among adolescent girls. Relational peer victimization conferred greater risk for alcohol use initiation when depression severity was lower, whereas girls with high depression severity engaged in early alcohol use regardless of peer victimization. Results suggest that interventions focused on relational peer victimization may have spillover effects for delaying girls' alcohol use initiation, particularly in early adolescence, when this association is most robust.