School Connectedness and Risk for Sexual Intercourse and Nonconsensual Sex in Adolescence.

The CDC reports that 30% of high school students have engaged in sexual intercourse. Evidence suggests biological, personal, peer, societal, and family variables affect when a child will initiate sex. The school environment plays an important role in a child's development. Evidence suggests that greater attachment to the school community can modify sexual risk-taking activity in adolescents. Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) comprises a cohort of approximately 4,700 families of children born in the U.S. between 1998-2000, over-sampled for non-marital births in large U.S. cities. Adolescents (N = 3,444 of 4,663 eligible) completed the wave six teen survey at approximately age 15. School connectedness was self-reported with four items measuring inclusiveness, closeness, happiness, and safety felt by the adolescent in their school environment. Sexual intercourse and nonconsensual sex were self-reported by the adolescent. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted examining sexual intercourse, nonconsensual sex, risk factors, and school connectedness. In this sample of adolescents (48% female, 49% Black, 25% Hispanic, ages 14-19), school connectedness appears to reduce boys' risk of nonconsensual sex (OR = 0.29, p < 0.01), and reduce girls' risk of engaging in sexual intercourse (OR = 0.55, p < 0.01). Findings suggest gender differences in the association between school connectedness and sexual practices in adolescents. School connectedness may confer protection for boys' risk of nonconsensual sex, and for girls' risk of engaging in sexual intercourse. Further exploration of the relationship between school connectedness may allow for recommendations into preventative measures for teenage sexual behaviors.

Bystander Motivations and Barriers to Helping Intoxicated Peers.

We examined the prevalence of self-reported motivations and barriers to helping intoxicated peers among emerging adults (N = 377; Mage = 18.64; 75% women, 88% White) attending a Southeastern university and whether motivations and barriers differed by age, gender, race, and class standing. Respondents aged 19-24 were more likely to endorse the motivation item "Because it was your "turn" to be the helper/designated driver (DD) that night" than eighteen-year-olds. Race differences were also reported for the motivation item, "Because the person was your friend", where White participants were more likely to endorse this item than non-White participants. Men also reported more Burden/Hassles-related barriers than did women.

Pubertal timing moderates the same-day coupling between family hassles and negative affect in girls and boys.

This study examined the association between pubertal timing, daily affect, conduct problems, and the exposure to hassles across family, peer, and school contexts. Adolescents (M age = 12.27; 49.7% female; 62.6% White) completed ecological momentary assessments across 14 consecutive days (N = 388). Earlier maturing girls reported lower daily averages of positive affect compared to their same-sex, same-age peers. We did not find evidence for a relationship between pubertal timing and daily negative affect or conduct problems in girls, nor for daily negative and positive affect or conduct problems in boys. However, pubertal timing did moderate the day-level association between average negative affect and family hassles for both girls and boys. When experiencing more family hassles, earlier maturing girls reported greater negative affect relative to later maturing girls who experienced family hassles. In contrast, later maturing boys, relative to earlier maturing boys, reported higher levels of negative affect in the context of family hassles.

Effectiveness and Utility of Mobile Device Assessment of Subjective Craving during Residential Opioid Dependence Treatment.

Background: Craving is a dynamic state that is both theoretically and empirically linked to relapse in addiction. Static measures cannot adequately capture the dynamic nature of craving, and research has shown that these measures are limited in their capacity to link craving to treatment outcomes. Methods: The current study reports on assessments of craving collected 4x-day across 12 days from 73 patients in residential treatment for opioid dependence. Analyses investigated whether the within-person assessments yielded expected across- and within-day variability, whether levels of craving changed across and within days, and, finally, whether individual differences in craving variability predicted post-residential treatment relapse. Results: Preliminary analyses found acceptable levels of data entry compliance and reliability. Consistent with expectations, craving varied both between (46%) and within persons, with most within-person variance (over 40%) existing within days. Other patterns that emerged indicated that, on average, craving declined across the 12-days of assessment, and was generally strongest at mid-day. Analyses also found that patients' person-level craving variability predicted post-treatment relapse, above and beyond their mean levels of craving. Conclusion: Analyses support the reliability, sensitivity, and potential utility of the 4x-day, 12-day assessment protocol for measuring craving during residential treatment.

Annual Research Review: Ecological momentary assessment studies in child psychology and psychiatry.

BACKGROUND: Enhancements in mobile phone technology allow the study of children and adolescents' everyday lives like never before. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) uses these advancements to allow in-depth measurements of links between context, behavior, and physiology in youths' everyday lives. FINDINGS: A large and diverse literature now exists on using EMA to study mental and behavioral health among youth. Modern EMA methods are built on a rich tradition of idiographic inquiry focused on the intensive study of individuals. Studies of child and adolescent mental and behavioral health have used EMA to characterize lived experience, document naturalistic within-person processes and individual differences in these processes, measure familiar constructs in novel ways, and examine temporal order and dynamics in youths' everyday lives. CONCLUSIONS: Ecological momentary assessment is feasible and reliable for studying the daily lives of youth. EMA can inform the development and augmentation of traditional and momentary intervention. Continued research and technological development in mobile intervention design and implementation, EMA-sensor integration, and complex real-time data analysis are needed to realize the potential of just-in-time adaptive intervention, which may allow researchers to reach high-risk youth with intervention content when and where it is needed most.

Trauma Exposure and Problem Drinking in Late Adolescence: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Exposure to early traumatic events has been implicated in problem drinking during late adolescence, and this association may be stronger among youth with emotion regulation deficits. The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of late adolescents based on trauma type, including loss, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms; and emotion regulation deficits that confer the risk for problematic drinking behaviors. A sample of 946 participants (M age = 18.84 years, SD = 1.06) was analyzed with mixed-indicator latent profile analysis to identify subgroups and explore whether these subgroups displayed significant differences regarding elevated drinking frequency, alcohol quantity, and problematic alcohol use. A four-profile model yielded the best fit to the data, and four groups were identified and labeled "high functioning" (29.4%), "loss regulated" (32.3%), "loss dysregulated" (28.1%), and "multiple trauma dysregulated" (10.1%). Individuals in the high functioning group reported the lowest rates on all three measures of alcohol misuse (14.6-24.9%), whereas those in the multiple trauma dysregulated group reported the highest rates on all three measures (31.6-71.5%). Individuals in the multiple trauma dysregulated group (M = 0.25) differed significantly from those in the other three groups (Ms = 0.42-0.72) on the measure of problematic alcohol use but scored similarly to those in the loss dysregulated group on measures of drinking frequency (M = 0.32 and 0.24, respectively) and quantity (M = 0.43 and 0.39, respectively). These findings have implications for prevention programs targeted for alcohol use disorders among older adolescents.

Romantic Partner Alcohol Misuse Interacts with GABRA2 Genotype to Predict Frequency of Drunkenness in Young Adulthood.

Previous research has identified the importance of romantic partners-including spouses, significant others, and dating partners-for influencing the engagement in health-risking behaviors, such as alcohol misuse during emerging adulthood. Although genetic factors are known to play a role in the development of young adult alcohol misuse, little research has examined whether genetic factors affect young adults' susceptibility to their romantic partners' alcohol misusing behaviors. The current study tests whether a single nucleotide polymorphism in the GABRA2 gene (rs279845) moderates the relationship between romantic partner alcohol misuse and frequency of drunkenness in young adulthood. Results revealed differential risk associated with romantic partner alcohol misuse and young adult drunk behavior according to GABRA2 genotype, such that individuals with the TT genotype displayed an elevated risk for frequency of drunkenness when romantic partner alcohol misuse was also high (IRR = 1.06, p ≤ 0.05). The findings demonstrate the potential for genetic factors to moderate the influence of romantic partners' alcohol misuse on drunk behavior during the transition to young adulthood.

Evolution, the Cognitive Sciences, and the Science of Victimization.

Despite clear aversion to such labels, one of the most impactful criminological theories is rooted in cognitive science. Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory has been repeatedly tested, replicated relatively well, and has since reached beyond its original scope to explain other important outcomes like victimization. However, the work never viewed itself as part of a larger scientific landscape and resisted the incursion of neuroscience, cognitive science, and evolutionary theory from the start. This missed opportunity contributes to some of the theory's shortcomings. We begin by considering relevant literatures that were originally excluded and then conduct a new analysis examining the cognitive underpinnings of victimization in a high-risk sample of adolescents. We used the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 3,444; 48% female; 49% Black, 25% Hispanic) which contained sound measures of self-control and intelligence, as well as four types of adolescent victimization. Self-control was robustly associated with all forms of victimization, whereas intelligence had generally no detectable effect. We discuss how these findings fit into a broader understanding about self-control and victimization.

Does the Relationship between Affect and Social Interactions among Adults Experiencing Homelessness Differ during Moments when at a Shelter versus Not?

The prevalence of alcohol use disorders is higher amongst adults experiencing homelessness (AEH) compared with domiciled adults. Greater exposure to heavy drinkers increases personal risk for heavy alcohol use. AEH spend substantial periods of time at shelters and report greater pressure to use alcohol when near shelter locations, as well as greater negative affect when near a shelter. It is unclear if the relationship between affect and 1) interacting with people and 2) being near someone AEH drank alcohol with before differs when AEH are at a shelter versus not. AEH reporting alcohol misuse (n = 72, Mage= 47, 85% Male, 68% Non-White) completed five daily smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) over 28 days. Generalized multilevel modeling revealed that when AEH were interacting with someone they drank with before, they had significantly lower positive affect when at a shelter (b = -0.17, p = 0.05), versus when not (b = 0.00, p = 0.99). AEH are likely to interact with previous drinking partners while at shelters. It may be important to deliver real-time treatment messages targeting affect in these moments, as well as deliver alcohol reduction/abstinence messages.

Impact of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Sampling on Cessation-Related Processes.

OBJECTIVES: Smoking prevalence remains high among low-income smokers. Understanding processes (eg, withdrawal, craving, motivation) in early smoking cessation is crucially important for designing effective interventions for this population. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a novel, in-session sampling intervention (ie, In Vivo) as compared with standard care behavioral smoking cessation counseling (SC) among community-dwelling low-income smokers (n = 83). This analysis examined the effect of 5 in-session sampling interventions on cessation-related processes and perceived advantages or disadvantages of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products over time using daily diaries. RESULTS: The In Vivo treatment had an early positive impact in terms of decreasing withdrawal symptoms and cravings, and increasing perceived advantages to NRT, with moderate to large effect sizes. Results also showed that the treatment effectively reduced withdrawal symptoms and cravings in-session, with small-to-medium and medium-to-large effect sizes, respectively. In-session reduction of withdrawal symptoms and cravings did not occur for the SC group, with the exception of decreased withdrawal symptoms occurring during week 4. The In Vivo treatment did not impact quit goal, desire to quit, abstinence self-efficacy, perceived difficulty in quitting, motivational engagement, or perceived disadvantages to NRT. The In Vivo group reported less daily cigarette use relative to the SC group, in addition to reporting less cigarette use on days they reported greater combination NRT use. CONCLUSIONS: There is preliminary support for this In Vivo treatment over SC in reducing withdrawal, craving, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day, as well as promoting perceived advantages of NRT among low-income smokers.

Sex Differences in the Relationship Between Early Adverse Childhood Experiences, Delinquency, and Substance Use Initiation in High-Risk Adolescents.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to a host of subsequent negative health and behavioral problems. However, the role of sex in the ramifications of early ACEs remains unclear, particularly for delinquency and substance use initiation in adolescence. A small body of research has produced mixed findings on sex differences in the relationship between ACEs and antisocial outcomes in adolescence, resulting in uncertainty about whether and how ACEs may operate differently for boys and girls. The current study drew on a high-risk group of adolescents (N=2455; Mage=15.4; 48% female; 50% Black, 23% Hispanic) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the associations between accumulated ACEs across early childhood, and delinquency and substance use initiation of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis in adolescence. We utilized mother and father reports on the exposure to seven different types of ACEs (i.e., physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, parental substance misuse, parental mental illness, parental intimate partner violence, and parental criminal behavior) when adolescents were ages 1, 3, and 5. Total ACEs scores and their relationships with delinquency, and lifetime use of alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis were assessed separately for girls and boys. Results suggested that accumulated ACEs during early childhood may be implicated in boys' delinquency, while ACEs were not significantly associated with girls' self-reported delinquency or for boys' and girls' substance use initiation. Findings suggest that the enduring consequences of ACEs may be sex-specific, and have implications for the development of policies to mitigate ACEs and their harms.

Daily adherence to nicotine replacement therapy in low-income smokers: The role of gender, negative mood, motivation, and self-efficacy.

BACKGROUND: Low-income smokers may benefit from interventions promoting nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), particularly for women, as women have worse smoking cessation outcomes than men. Little is known about factors that affect daily NRT adherence, such as negative mood, motivation, and self-efficacy, and whether gender moderates these associations. METHODS: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing a novel, in session sampling of short-acting combination NRT intervention (In Vivo) to standard care smoking cessation behavioral counseling was performed. Low-income smokers (n = 62; Mage = 47.4; 42 % female; 61 % non-White) completed daily surveys using the Insight™ mHealth platform for 55 consecutive days. Three types of NRT adherence were examined: dose amount of short-acting NRT, nicotine patch wear time, and combination NRT (cNRT) (combined nicotine patch and short-acting NRT). RESULTS: Generalized multilevel models report same-day negative mood was associated with greater likelihood of nicotine patch adherence in men, but unrelated to women's nicotine patch adherence. Same-day negative mood was associated with greater likelihood of cNRT adherence in men, but less likelihood in women. The relationship between same-day motivation and use of short-acting NRT varied by gender, but simple slope analyses revealed that motivation was unrelated to short-acting NRT use within either group. Same-day self-efficacy was related to an increased likelihood of nicotine patch adherence and cNRT adherence in women but unrelated to men's adherence of either type. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should focus on gender differences in low-income smokers' same-day negative mood, motivation, and self-efficacy processes on NRT adherence during smoking cessation interventions.

Adverse childhood experiences and adolescent mental health: Understanding the roles of gender and teenage risk and protective factors.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been linked to a host of negative outcomes in adolescence. However, research on the impact of ACEs on adolescent mental health has produced mixed results, leaving it unclear how ACEs may relate to depression and anxiety during adolescence. Moreover, this body of work has neglected how gender, risk and protective factors may influence these relationships, despite research demonstrating gender differences in both responses to adversity and in the impact of risk and protective factors on maladaptive outcomes in adolescence. Drawing on a sample of at-risk youth from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2455; age 14-18; 48 % female, 50 % Black, 23 % Hispanic), the current study examines the association between ACEs during early childhood (i.e., ages 1 to 5) and anxious and depressive tendencies reported during adolescence. Models are stratified by gender and incorporate six types of teenage risk and protective factors (peer bullying, delinquent peers, low self-control, parental attachment, collective efficacy, and school connectedness). Results showed support for gender differences in the associations between ACEs and boys' and girls' mental health symptoms. Initially, ACEs were associated with an increased risk of both depressive and anxious tendencies in boys, but the total ACEs score was only significantly associated with an increased risk for depressive symptoms in girls. After accounting for teenage protective factors, ACEs were related to a decreased risk of depressive and anxious symptoms among girls only. Findings have important implications for refining intervention and prevention strategies focusing on mitigating the harms of ACEs.

Self-Rated Health and Mental Health Among African Americans in the Rural South: The Influence of Social Determinants of Health.

BACKGROUND: The current study examines the influence of seven categories of social determinants of health (i.e., financial resource strain, food insecurity, transportation needs, housing instability, education and health literacy, social isolation, and interpersonal safety), as well as perceived race-related discrimination and disparities in received health care quality on self-rated health and mental health. METHODS: Multiple linear regression was used to test whether social determinants of health and race-related stressors were associated with self-reported health status and self-reported mental health status in a sample of rural African Americans residing in the Southeastern United States. RESULTS: The results suggest that food insecurity was significantly associated with lower levels of self-rated health and mental health. In contrast, greater health literacy was significantly associated with higher levels of self-rated health and mental health. Surprisingly, greater transportation needs were also associated with higher levels of self-rated mental health status. Among the race-related stressors, racial discrimination was associated with lower levels of self-rated health status. CONCLUSIONS: Community-based interventions that seek to alter social determinants of health and reduce experiences with racial discrimination may improve self-rated health and mental health among rural African Americans.

Opioid Literacy of Korean Americans in Rural Alabama: Addressing the Role of Social Determinants of Health.

INTRODUCTION: Opioid crisis has disproportionately affected Alabamians with the highest opioid prescription rate, and it is subjected to affect Korean Americans (KA) negatively based on common predictors of opioid misuse that KA possess. METHOD: Cross-sectional data of KA in rural Alabama (N = 230) were analyzed. Opioid literacy was assessed by the Brief Opioid Overdose Knowledge survey. Six social determinants of health factors were considered: financial status, educational attainment, English proficiency, household food insecurity, health literacy, and social contact. RESULTS: Participants had limited opioid literacy (M = 3.56, SD = 3.06). After adjusting for demographics and health covariates, higher levels of overall opioid literacy were associated with higher household income (B = .48, p < .01), higher levels of health literacy (B = .71, p < .01), and less frequent social contact (B = -.40, p < .01). Significant social determinants of health predictors varied across subdomains of opioid literacy. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that culturally competent and community-level interventions are needed to increase opioid literacy in KA in rural Alabama.

The Role of Paternal Age in the Prediction of Offspring Intelligence.

Recent evidence suggests that paternal age at birth influences myriad developmental outcomes among children, but few studies have examined the possibility for father's age to influence children's intellectual development among a sample of high-risk families. The authors use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between paternal age at birth among 480 male and 449 female children's verbal IQ scores, as assessed with a version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at 9 years old. The nonlinear association between paternal age and children's verbal intelligence was also examined. Paternal age at birth appears to have a marginally significant nonlinear relationship with male children's verbal IQ scores, despite controlling for a number of possible confounders associated with both young and advanced paternal age.

The effect of omega-3 fatty acids on aggression: A meta-analysis.

Evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids are important for a variety of mental health outcomes and have been shown to improve both mood and behaviors. However, there is little consensus on whether omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for reducing aggressive behaviors. The current study assesses the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and aggression. A total of 73 effect sizes were calculated among 40 studies involving 7173 participants from both intervention and observational research designs. Effect sizes were separately meta-analyzed for two-group comparison studies (SMD=0.20), pre-post contrast studies (ESsg=0.62), and associational studies (r=-0.06), in the fixed-effect model. Results from the random-effects model also suggest a range of effects of omega-3 fatty acids on reducing aggression (SMD=0.24; ESsg=0.82; r=-0.09). Patterns in the relationship between omega-3s and aggression were additionally observed. Moderator analyses indicated that the effect of omega-3s on aggression is conditioned by how aggressive behaviors are measured, such as through self-report or parent/teacher surveys.

The Effects of Low Self-Control and Delinquent Peers on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use in a Sample of Saudi Arabian Youth.

A considerable amount of research has examined patterns of substance use and the potential explanations of it among samples from the United States and other industrialized nations. To date, however, no research has explored these issues in a sample of Saudi Arabian youth. The current study addressed this gap in the literature and examined the lifetime use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among Saudi Arabian youth. We also examined whether key measures from social learning theory and low self-control theory were able to account for patterns of usage. Data drawn from a sample of nearly 500 youth residing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were used. Analysis of the data revealed that 12.7% of youth had smoked cigarettes at least 1 time, 2.6% had consumed alcohol at least once, and 3.0% had used illegal drugs. Moreover, the results of rare-events logistic regression revealed that a measure of delinquent peers was the strongest and most consistent predictor of substance use, while a measure of low self-control was unrelated (or related in a direction opposite to that which was predicted) to the measures of substance use.