Developmental trajectories of child and adolescent emotional problems: associations with early adult alcohol use behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Whether emotional problems during childhood and adolescence are longitudinally associated with adult alcohol use behaviors is unclear. This study examined associations between developmental trajectories of emotional problems and early adult alcohol use behaviors, while considering co-occurring conduct problems, developmental change/timing, sex differences, and potential confounds. METHODS: Participants were from the Twins Early Development Study (analytic N = 19,908 individuals). Emotional and conduct problems were measured by parent reports at child ages 4, 7, and 9 years and via self-reports at ages 9, 11, and 16 years on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Alcohol use behaviors (alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems) were self-reported by the twins on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test at age 22 years. Piecewise latent growth curve models described nonlinear developmental trajectories of emotional and conduct problems from ages 4 to 16. At age 22, alcohol use was regressed on emotional and conduct problems' intercepts and slopes from piecewise latent growth curve model and sex differences in regression coefficients were tested. Using twin modeling, Cholesky decompositions and direct path models were compared to test whether significant phenotypic associations were best explained by direct phenotypic influences or correlated genetic and environmental influences. RESULTS: Emotional problems had different associations with alcohol-related problems versus alcohol consumption. After accounting for direct influences from conduct problems, emotional problems were not associated with alcohol-related problems, while emotional problems at age 9 were negatively associated with alcohol consumption in males. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, findings did not support emotional problems as prospective risk factors for severe alcohol use above and beyond risks associated with conduct problems. Sex- and age-specific links between emotional problems and alcohol consumption in early adulthood may be worthy of further exploration, particularly as twin analyses improved our confidence that such links may be underpinned by causal mechanisms.

Associations Between E-cigarettes and Subsequent Cocaine Use in Adolescence: An Analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Nicotine exposure via early combustible cigarette smoking can prime the adolescent brain for subsequent cocaine use. However, there is limited evidence whether e-cigarette use, a nicotine delivery system that is increasingly popular among youth, is associated with later cocaine use. We examine the association between e-cigarette use by the age of 14 years and cocaine use by the age of 17 years. AIMS AND METHODS: The Millennium Cohort Study is a nationally representative sample of 18 552 9-month-old children born between September 2000 and January 2002 in the United Kingdom. Follow-up interviews and surveys were collected from children and their caregivers at modal ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, and 17 years. Our analytic sample included 340 youth who had used e-cigarettes by age 14 years (exposure variable), matched using coarsened exact matching, to 4867 nicotine naïve youth on childhood common liability confounders and demographics measured from infancy to age 11. The outcome was cocaine use by the modal age of 17 years. RESULTS: Of the 5207 successfully matched youth, 7.6% of adolescent e-cigarette users by age 14 years used cocaine by age 17 years versus 3.1% of non-e-cigarette users. Multivariable logistic regression in the matched sample indicated that e-cigarette use by age 14 years was associated with 2.7 times higher odds of cocaine use by age 17 years (95% CI, 1.75 to 4.28). CONCLUSIONS: These findings in a UK sample showed that e-cigarette use in early adolescence is associated with higher odds of cocaine use later in adolescence, similar to risks posed by tobacco cigarette smoking. IMPLICATIONS: In this large-scale prospective cohort study (n = 5207), youth who had used e-cigarettes by the age of 14 years were matched to nicotine naïve youth on childhood common liability confounders and demographics measured from infancy to age 11 years (e.g. school engagement, risk-taking propensity, delinquency, peer and parental smoking, parental educational attainment). After matching, 7.6% of age 14 years e-cigarette users had subsequently used cocaine by the age of 17 years versus 3.1% of non-e-cigarette users. Although e-cigarettes are promoted as a strategy for nicotine-dependent users to reduce the harms of combustible cigarettes, the evidence here suggests that for nicotine naïve youth, they may increase the risk of subsequent cocaine use.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Maternal and Sibling Intimacy on Adolescents' Volunteering via Social Responsibility Values: A Longitudinal Study.

This study investigates the direct and indirect effects of maternal and sibling relational intimacy on adolescents' volunteering behaviors via their social responsibility values. Participants included two adolescents (50% female; M age = 14 years) and one parent (85% female; M age = 45 years) from 682 families (N = 2,046) from an ongoing longitudinal study. Adolescents self-reported their intimacy with mothers and siblings (Time 1), social responsibility values (Time 1), and volunteering (Times 1 and 2); parents reported on sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., gender, birth order, family income). Results from a structural equation model indicated that after accounting for adolescents' earlier volunteering, both maternal and sibling intimacy were indirectly related to greater volunteering via social responsibility values. There were no significant direct effects from maternal or sibling intimacy to adolescents' volunteering. Results indicate that both mothers and siblings are important in socializing prosocial and civic values and behaviors during adolescence.

Familial Predictors of Alcohol and Drug Use-Related Problems Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

This study evaluated whether recent family member alcohol and substance use problems (ASP) and density of family ASP (i.e., number of members with ASP) predict alcohol-related problems and drug use-related problems among middle-aged and older adults. Data were drawn from participants (age 42-93 years, n=2,168) in the longitudinal Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS). Poisson regression models revealed that adults' alcohol- and drug use-related problems were predicted by similar problems among family members. In particular, parent and partner ASP, but not child ASP, predicted alcohol-related problems in the middle-aged and combined samples, while only partner ASP predicted participants' drug use-related problems. In addition, density of family ASP predicted alcohol-related problems, but not drug use-related problems. There were no gender interactions. Study findings highlight that understanding how adult children, spouses, and aging parents impact each other's substance use should be a priority of future aging and family research.

Personality and Alcohol Use across College: Examining Context-Dependent Pathways toward Alcohol Problems.

BACKGROUND: College life is characterized by marked increases in alcohol consumption. Extraversion and neuroticism are associated with alcohol use problems in college and throughout adulthood, each with alcohol use patterns consistent with an externalizing and internalizing pathway respectively. Students higher in extraversion drink more frequently and consume more alcohol, while neuroticism is paradoxically not consistently associated with elevated alcohol use. OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether students higher in neuroticism may drink the day before stressors, namely tests and assignment deadlines. METHOD: Multilevel generalized linear models were performed using data from a longitudinal study of first-time, first-year undergraduates assessing alcohol use across four years of college, with daily diary bursts each semester. RESULTS: Students higher in extraversion had heavier alcohol use and greater alcohol use problems in their fourth year of college. Neuroticism was not associated with drinking behaviors or with drinking before a test or assignment, but was associated with greater fourth year alcohol problems. Students lower in extraversion who reduced heavy drinking the day before academic events had fewer alcohol use problems at the fourth year of college relative to students higher in extraversion. CONCLUSIONS: Students higher in extraversion appear to exhibit a continuity of established alcohol use patterns from adolescence, predisposing them to a more hazardous trajectory of college alcohol use. Characteristics of low extraversion may afford some protection from alcohol-positive college culture. High neuroticism appears associated with a hazardous trajectory of college alcohol use, but continued research into situational factors of alcohol use in high neuroticism is warranted.

Day drinking among college students and its association with risky substance use behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Day drinking, or drinking during the daytime, is a term used colloquially in the media and among college students based on anecdotal evidence. Drinking at tailgate parties, generally thought to be a type of day drinking, tends to be particularly heavy and to achieve levels comparable to drinking on holidays and special occasions. The objective of this study was to assess how many and how often students day drink and whether day drinking days (i.e., days drinking began before 4:00 p.m.) were associated with heavy drinking, legal intoxication, negative alcohol-related consequences, and three risky substance use behaviors. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal daily diary study of college students who were followed for their first seven semesters of college. The analytic sample includes 7,633 drinking days nested with 619 student drinkers. We used logistic and Poisson multilevel models to test associations between day drinking days and substance use outcomes and negative consequences. RESULTS: Approximately 50% of drinkers drank durinng the day at least once, and day drinking occurred on 9% of drinking days. Greek organization participants reported significantly more day drinking days than non-participants. Day drinking days were characterized by heavy drinking as evidenced by strong, positive associations between day drinking and drinking to heavy episodic drinking (HED) and high-intensity drinking (HID) thresholds on a given day. In contrast, students were less likely to reach legal intoxication and experienced fewer negative alcohol-related consequences on day drinking days than days on which drinking began in the evening or nighttime. Students who reported day drinking more often throughout the study also reported having more days of drinking at the HED and HID thresholds and playing drinking games and mixed alcohol with energy drinks more frequently. CONCLUSIONS: Day drinking was common among this sample of college students. Findings suggest that day drinking days may be characterized by heavy drinking and may be a behavior most typically engaged in by heavy drinkers, including members of Greek organizations.

Short-Term Consequences of Sex: Contextual Predictors and Change Across College.

Although sexual experiences are normative by young adulthood, individuals continue to explore and develop their sexual behaviors and cognitions across the college years. Thus, perceived consequences of sexual experiences may change. Similarly, characteristics of sexual experiences such as partner type, alcohol use, and sexual behavior type predict perceived consequences, and these associations may change over time. In this study, we addressed links between characteristics of sexual experiences (casual vs. committed partner, heavy alcohol use on sex days, and kissing/touching only vs. oral/penetrative sex) and short-term perceived consequences of sexual experiences (physical satisfaction, emotional intimacy, not satisfied, guilt, not ready), using daily data collected longitudinally across seven college semesters. We also examined whether perceived consequences of sex change across college and whether within-person daily associations between sexual experience characteristics and perceived consequences of sex change across college. An ethnically and racially diverse sample of traditionally aged first year university students (N = 566; 54% female; 98% heterosexual) completed online surveys, yielding 8,838 daily reports about sexual behaviors. Multilevel models indicated that partner type, heavy alcohol use, and sexual behavior type predicted within-person differences in perceived consequences of sex. Interactions between characteristics of sexual experiences and college semester indicated that differences in perceived consequences of sexual experiences with casual versus committed partners lessened over time. The likelihood of reporting physical satisfaction and guilt after only kissing/touching (but not oral/penetrative sex) decreased across college semesters. Findings inform understanding of normative sexual development by demonstrating that perceived consequences and their predictors change across time.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences.

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.

Changes in psychological distress after first vaginal intercourse in late adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: Although early sexual intercourse may be associated with increased depressive symptoms, little research has examined whether first intercourse in late adolescence is associated with changes in mental health. METHODS: This paper uses 3 years of longitudinal data from previously sexually abstinent late adolescent students at a large state university in the northeastern United States (N = 144, 53.5% male, M age = 18.5 years old, 47.2% White, 26.4% Asian/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 20.1% Hispanic/Latino, 18.1% Black/African American) to examine whether levels of psychological distress changed after first intercourse. RESULTS: Students' distress decreased after first intercourse, although this effect was only significant two or more semesters after first intercourse. There were no gender differences in these associations. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest first intercourse was, on average, associated with decreased psychological distress for both male and female late adolescents.

Transitions Catalyst Model: Testing within- and between-Person Associations between Social Relationships and Alcohol Use, Motives, and Consequences among Young Adults.

Background: The Transitions Catalyst Model suggests increased drinking during young adulthood is due to the notion that alcohol facilitates friendships and romantic/sexual relationships during a developmental period when these relationships are highly valued. However, little research has tested the utility of this model. We examined (1) whether young adults reported greater drinking and related consequences on months when friendships were more important to them or when they were dating casually, and (2) the extent to which social drinking motives explain these associations on a given month. Methods: Data were drawn from 752 young adults (ages 18-23 at screening) living in the Seattle, WA area (56.4% female). For 24 consecutive months, surveys assessed past month alcohol use and consequences, social drinking motives, friendship importance, and dating/relationship status. Bayesian multilevel models were conducted, adjusting for time-fixed and time-varying covariates. Results: Analyses included 11,591 monthly observations. Between-persons, greater average friendship importance was associated with greater drinking. On months when participants reported greater friendship importance than their own average, they reported greater drinking and alcohol consequences. Those who reported more months of casual dating reported greater drinking and consequences on average. Relative to casual dating months, participants reported less drinking during months they were single or in a relationship and fewer consequences during months in a relationship. Associations were partially accounted for by social motives. Discussion: Findings support the Transitions Catalyst Model. Effective strategies for reducing drinking and associated risks among young adults include brief interventions focused on how social drinking motives and relationships relate to drinking decisions.

Parents Allowing Drinking Is Associated With Adolescents' Heavy Alcohol Use.

BACKGROUND: Using intergenerational prospective data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we examine whether parents allowing 14-year-olds to drink alcohol is associated with greater likelihood of early adolescents' heavy episodic drinking (i.e., lifetime, rapid escalation from first drink, and frequent past year), beyond shared risk factors for parental alcohol permissiveness and adolescent alcohol use. METHODS: The MCS is a unique, contemporary, nationally representative study with mother, father, and child data from infancy through age 14 years (n = 11,485 children and their parents). In a series of multivariate logistic regressions, we estimated whether teenagers whose parents allowed them to drink alcohol (16% of parents said "yes") faced an elevated likelihood of heavy alcohol use at age 14, controlling for a large host of likely child and parent confounders measured when children were age 11. To further assess plausible intergenerational associations of parental alcohol permissiveness and offspring heavy alcohol use, coarsened exact matching (CEM) was used to match 14-year-olds whose parents allowed them to drink alcohol with teens whose parents did not allow them to drink on these childhood antecedent variables. RESULTS: Adolescents whose parents allowed them to drink had higher odds of heavy drinking (odds ratio [OR] = 2.40; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.96 to 2.94), rapidly escalating from initiation to heavy drinking (OR = 1.94; CI = 1.52 to 2.49), and frequent heavy drinking (OR = 2.32; 1.73 to 3.09), beyond child and parent confounders and using CEM methods. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who were allowed to drink were more likely to have transitioned quickly from their first drink to consuming 5 or more drinks at 1 time and to drinking heavily 3 or more times in the past year. Given well-documented harms of adolescent heavy drinking, these results do not support the idea that parents allowing children to drink alcohol inoculates them against alcohol misuse.

Longitudinal Change in Alcohol Use and Motivations for Drinking Among Asian American College Students.

BACKGROUND: Asian Americans are understudied in the literature on alcohol, due to data limitations and the perception that they are at low risk for alcohol misuse. Yet, certain subpopulations-such as college students-may be at higher risk. The current study examined longitudinal change in alcohol use and motivations for drinking among Asian American students. We tested for differences by nativity status, ethnic origin, and gender and examined whether motivations covaried with alcohol use. METHODS: Asian American first-year college students (N = 199, 45.7% female, 37.7% foreign-born) attending a US university were identified through stratified random sampling using registrar information. For 7 consecutive semesters, students completed online surveys about their behaviors and beliefs. RESULTS: Multilevel models demonstrated that alcohol use and alcohol-related motivations increased over time. US-born students consistently consumed more alcoholic drinks, reached higher peak drinking levels, and drank more frequently than foreign-born students; however, motivations did not differ by nativity status. Chinese American students consumed less alcohol, drank less, and were more motivated to avoid alcohol-related consequences than students of other/multiple heritage ethnic origins. Each motivation subscale was associated with alcohol use at the between-person level. Likewise, within-person variability in motivations was linked to variability in drinking across semesters. Controlling for other motivations, drinking for fun emerged as the strongest correlate of alcohol use variability. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol misuse was highest among US-born students and those with higher motivations for drinking. Furthermore, alcohol use varied in tandem with motivations, suggesting that motivations may be a useful intervention target among this population.

Drinking, Social Abstaining, and Refusing Invitations: Demographic Differences Persist Across College.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use and misuse are prevalent on many college campuses. The current study examined participation in college environments where alcohol is present and being consumed. We documented students' alcohol consumption, social abstaining (i.e., attending an alcohol-present event, but not drinking), and refusing invitations to drinking events. We tested for differences by parental education, immigrant status, race-ethnicity, and gender. We charted longitudinal change across college. METHODS: First-year students attending a large public US university (n = 681, 18% first-generation college student, 16% first-generation immigrant, 73% racial-ethnic minority group member, 51% women) were recruited and followed longitudinally for 7 semesters. Each semester, students completed up to 14 daily surveys; responses were aggregated to the semester level (n = 4,267). RESULTS: Multilevel logistic regression models demonstrated that first-generation college students were less likely to drink and refuse invitations to drinking events than students with a college-educated parent (Adjusted Odds Ratios [AORs]: 0.66, 0.72, respectively). Similarly, first-generation immigrants were less likely to drink, socially abstain, and refuse invitations (AORs: 0.58 to 0.73). Compared with White students, Black and Asian American students were less likely to drink (AORs: 0.55, 0.53) and refuse invitations to drinking events (AORs: 0.68, 0.66). The proportion of days spent drinking increased across college, and refusing invitations was the most common at the start and end of college. CONCLUSIONS: First-generation college students, first-generation immigrant students, and Black and Asian students participated less in prodrinking environments during college. These findings indicate that on drinking and nondrinking days, students' participation in alcohol-present situations differed by background. Furthermore, our results indicate that the students who are most likely to refuse invitations to drinking events are the same students who drink most frequently.

Is Alcohol and Other Substance Use Reduced When College Students Attend Alcohol-Free Programs? Evidence from a Measurement Burst Design Before and After Legal Drinking Age.

College drinking and its negative consequences remain a major public health concern. Yet, many prevention efforts targeting college drinkers are expensive, are difficult to implement, use indicated approaches targeting only high-risk drinkers, and/or are only marginally effective. An alternative strategy taken explicitly or implicitly by many colleges is campus-led alcohol-free programming which provides students with attractive leisure alternatives to drinking on weekend nights. This study aimed to extend work by Patrick et al. (Prevention Science, 11, 155-162, 2010), who found that students drank less on weekend nights they attended LateNight Penn State (LNPS) activities during their first semester of college. Here, daily diary and longitudinal data on college students' daily lives and risk behaviors were collected from 730 students on 19,506 person-days across seven semesters at a large university in the Northeastern United States. Generalized linear mixed models were used to estimate alcohol and illegal substance use on weekend days as a function of LNPS attendance, gender, legal drinking status (≥ 21 years), and day of the weekend. Across college, students who attended LNPS used alcohol and illegal substances less in general and less on days they participated compared to themselves on days they did not participate. Legal drinking status moderated the association between LNPS attendance and alcohol and illegal substance use such that levels of use were lowest for students under 21 years old on weekend days they attended LNPS. Our findings provide support for campus-led alcohol-free programming as a potential harm reduction strategy on college campuses.

Energy Drinks and Binge Drinking Predict College Students' Sleep Quantity, Quality, and Tiredness.

This study examines whether energy drink use and binge drinking predict sleep quantity, sleep quality, and next-day tiredness among college students. Web-based daily data on substance use and sleep were collected across four semesters in 2009 and 2010 from 667 individuals for up to 56 days each, yielding information on 25,616 person-days. Controlling for average levels of energy drink use and binge drinking (i.e., 4+ drinks for women, 5+ drinks for men), on days when students consumed energy drinks, they reported lower sleep quantity and quality that night, and greater next-day tiredness, compared to days they did not use energy drinks. Similarly, on days when students binge drank, they reported lower sleep quantity and quality that night, and greater next-day tiredness, compared to days they did not binge drink. There was no significant interaction effect between binge drinking and energy drink use on the outcomes.

High-Intensity Drinking Versus Heavy Episodic Drinking: Prevalence Rates and Relative Odds of Alcohol Use Disorder Across Adulthood.

BACKGROUND: Heavy episodic drinking (HED) or consuming 4+/5+ drinks in 1 occasion for women/men is linked consistently with alcohol-related harms. Recent research suggests that many individuals drink at levels more than twice this cutoff (8+/10+ drinks), commonly referred to as "high-intensity drinking." Prevalence rates of high-intensity drinking and its dynamic association with alcohol use disorder (AUD) across all ages, however, remain unknown. The current study used data from a nationally representative sample to document age-varying prevalence rates of HED-only drinking and high-intensity drinking, prevalence rates of AUD for HED-only drinkers and high-intensity drinkers, and relative odds of experiencing an AUD for high-intensity drinkers as compared to HED-only drinkers. METHODS: Data were from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III. The final analytic sample consisted of past-year drinkers aged 18 to 64 years (n = 22,776). RESULTS: Time-varying effect modeling revealed that high-intensity drinking and HED-only drinking were equally prevalent during young adulthood and prevalence rates of both types of drinking generally became less common with increasing age. At all ages, high-intensity drinkers were at 3 or more times greater odds of meeting criteria for an AUD than HED-only drinkers. The association between high-intensity relative to HED-only drinking was strongest earlier in adulthood with approximately 83% of 18-year-old high-intensity drinkers having AUD relative to 42% of HED-only drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Future research aiming to identify drinkers most at risk of harms and in need of treatment may benefit from assessing the extent to which an individual exceeds the 8+/10+ threshold of drinking.

The Age-Varying Association of Student Status with Excessive Alcohol Use: Ages 18 to 30 Years.

BACKGROUND: There is a well-known link between attending college and engaging in excessive alcohol use. This study examines in a national sample how the association between student status and excessive alcohol use changes from late adolescence through young adulthood and whether the association of student status with excessive alcohol use is different for students residing with versus away from parents during the school year. METHODS: This study used cross-sectional data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized civilian adults residing in the United States. Our analyses included nonhigh school young adults who were ages 18 to 30 years (n = 8,645). Excessive alcohol use included past-year (i) high-intensity drinking (men: ≥10 standard drinks; women: ≥8) and (ii) exceeding weekly drinking guidelines (men: >14 drinks per week; women: >7). Students who resided away from their parents and students who lived with their parents during the school year were compared to nonstudents. RESULTS: Analyses using time-varying effect modeling showed that the relationship of student status with excessive alcohol use varied as a function of age. Overall student status lost its association with excessive alcohol use in the early 20s, after controlling for demographics and other adult social roles. The association between student status and excessive alcohol use also varied considerably across age and depending on whether the student was residing with or away from parents. CONCLUSIONS: The association of student status with excessive alcohol use is heterogeneous in terms of both age and living arrangements, suggesting opportunities for interventions targeting problematic alcohol use. Future research should examine additional sources of heterogeneity of students in their risk for excessive alcohol use.

Academic time during college: Associations with mood, tiredness, and binge drinking across days and semesters.

The current study examined the amount of time American college students spent on academics and explored whether functioning indicators (i.e., positive affect, negative affect, tiredness, and binge drinking) rose and fell with academic time across days and semesters. College students (N = 735) were followed longitudinally and completed 14 daily diaries within each of 7 semesters (N = 56,699 days). The results revealed that academic time decreased slightly during the middle semesters and then increased in later semesters. Furthermore, on days when students spent more time on academics, they reported less positive affect, more tiredness, and less binge drinking; however, the strength and direction of associations depended on the analysis level and whether it was a weekend. Positive affect, for instance, was inversely associated with academics across days, but the reverse was true across semesters. These results emphasize the importance of considering the temporal context in research on adolescent and young adult time use.

Revisiting the Time Trade-Off Hypothesis: Work, Organized Activities, and Academics During College.

How adolescents spend their time has long-term implications for their educational, health, and labor market outcomes, yet surprisingly little research has explored the time use of students across days and semesters. The current study used longitudinal daily diary data from a sample of college students attending a large public university in the Northeastern US (n = 726, M age = 18.4) that was followed for 14 days within each of seven semesters (for up to 98 diary days per student). The study had two primary aims. The first aim was to explore demographic correlates of employment time, organized activity time, and academic time. The second aim was to provide a rigorous test of the time trade-off hypothesis, which suggests that students will spend less time on academics when they spend more time on employment and extracurricular activities. The results demonstrated that time use varied by gender, parental education, and race/ethnicity. Furthermore, the results from multi-level models provided some support for the time trade-off hypothesis, although associations varied by the activity type and whether the day was a weekend. More time spent on employment was linked to less time spent on academics across days and semesters whereas organized activities were associated with less time on academics at the daily level only. The negative associations between employment and academics were most pronounced on weekdays. These results suggest that students may balance certain activities across days, whereas other activities may be in competition over longer time frames (i.e., semesters).

Correlates of human papillomavirus vaccination among female university students.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most frequently occurring sexually transmitted infection in the United States, but only one third of adolescent girls have received the HPV vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012; Committee on Infectious Diseases, 2012). Understanding correlates of vaccination behavior among young women has important implications for health care delivery and public service messages targeting HPV vaccination. Female college students (N = 313) completed web-based surveys during their sophomore (second) year of college, fall 2008. Surveys included questions about HPV vaccination, demographic factors (ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status [SES]), individual characteristics (romantic relationship status, grade point average, religiosity), and sexual behavior. Lifetime HPV vaccination was reported by 46.5% of participants. Being African American/Black was associated with a lower likelihood of vaccination. Having a mother with more education, adhering to religious teachings about sex-related principles, and having engaged in recent penetrative sex were associated with a higher likelihood of vaccination. Health care providers should consider young women to be an important group for HPV vaccine education and catch-up, particularly for African American/Black young women and young women from lower SES backgrounds. Providing vaccine education and access to young women before they become sexually active is critical.