The Impact of Recreational Marijuana Legislation in Washington, DC on Marijuana Use Cognitions.

BACKGROUND: There is little published research that tests the effect of recreational marijuana legislation on risk-related cognitions and how individuals respond immediately after legislative approval. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to test whether learning about the passage of Initiative 71, a voter referendum that legalized recreational use of marijuana in the District of Columbia, would lead individuals to adopt more favorable marijuana cognitions than they had before the Initiative was passed. METHODS: Undergraduate students (N = 402) completed two web-based questionnaires in 2014. The first questionnaire was completed prior to the referendum vote and the follow-up questionnaire was completed after voters approved Initiative 71. Attitudes, perceived norms, intentions, prototypes, and willingness were measured at time 1 and time 2. Study hypotheses were tested using repeated-measures analysis of covariance. RESULTS: Results showed that attitudes, intentions, perceived norms, and willingness to use marijuana were more favorable after Initiative 71 was passed. However, the increase in attitudes and willingness was moderated by past experience with marijuana whereby the increases were statistically significant only among those with the least experience. The increase in perceived norms was also moderated by past experience whereby increases were statistically significant among those who were moderate or heavy users. The passage of Initiative 71 had no effect on favorable prototypes. Conclusion/Importance: Legalization may have the unintended outcome of leading to more favorable intentions to use marijuana and might lead abstainers or experimental users to become more frequent users of marijuana via more positive attitudes and willingness towards marijuana use.

Influence of Parent-Adolescent Communication About Anabolic Steroids on Adolescent Athletes' Willingness to Try Performance-Enhancing Substances.

BACKGROUND: Performance-enhancing substances are used by adolescent athletes to help improve performance. Anabolic steroids (AS) are performance-enhancing substances that pose significant health problems when used by adolescents. OBJECTIVES: Objectives were to: (1) examine the extent to which parents and adolescents discuss AS and (2) test whether parent-adolescent communication about AS can generalize to, and influence, decisions to use other types of performance-enhancing substances. METHOD: Adolescent athletes (n = 244) completed an anonymous questionnaire that assessed the extent to which the adolescents discussed with their parents the performance outcomes and protective factors associated with AS, their intentions to use AS, and their willingness to try a newly developed, potentially illegal performance-enhancing substance. Data were collected during 2009-2010. RESULTS: Adolescents reported relatively low levels of communication with their parents about anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS). Communication with parents about the performance outcomes associated with AS was a positive predictor of willingness to try a newly developed performance-enhancing substance (b = 0.31, p < .01) and intentions to use AS (b = 0.54, p < .01). Communication with parents about protective factors predicted willingness to try a new performance-enhancing substance (b = -0.24, p < .01), but not intentions (b = -0.20, p > .77). Conclusions/Importance: Parents should highlight the protective factors and avoid emphasizing the performance outcomes associated with AS in discussions with their adolescents. Discussions about AS may influence adolescents' decisions to use other types of performance-enhancing substances.

Testing weight motives and guilt/shame as mediators of the relationship between alcohol use and physical activity.

OBJECTIVES: Test whether weight motives and guilt/shame mediate the positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol use among college-attending young adults. DESIGN: A longitudinal design was employed. METHOD: Young adults who were attending college (N=371) completed two self-administered questionnaires separated by approximately one month. Heavy episodic drinking was assessed at Time 1. Vigorous physical activity, moderate physical activity, weight motives, and guilt/shame were assessed at Time 2. RESULTS: Results are consistent with weight motives as a mediator of the positive relationship between heavy episodic drinking and vigorous physical activity. Results were inconsistent with guilt/shame as a mediator of this relationship. There was no statistically significant relationship between heavy episodic drinking and moderate physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Heavy episodic drinking was related to vigorous but not to moderate physical activity in the subsequent 30-days. Furthermore, the results are consistent with weight motives as a mediator of the relationship between alcohol use and vigorous physical activity.

The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Alcohol Use Among Adults in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To synthesize published literature that has tested the relationship between physical activity and alcohol use. DATA SOURCE: A systematic review of literature published between January 2005 and May 2015 was conducted by searching the databases: PsychInfo, Medline, and Pubmed. STUDY INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria: must have tested for the relationship between physical activity and alcohol use; used adult samples within the United States. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: utilized samples from outside the United States, adolescents, or alcohol dependent and heavy drinkers. DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted from studies that achieved a quality score of 4 or greater. The following information was recorded for each study: sample characteristics, the variable that served as the predictor, study design, covariates included in analyses, and the direction/nature of the relationship. DATA SYNTHESIS: The search captured 1036 unique articles, 16 of which were included in the final systematic review. RESULTS: Nearly 88% of the studies with college students and 75% of studies with nonstudent adults reported a positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol use. CONCLUSION: Research published in the past decade implies a positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol use. Findings have important implications for the design of health promotion programs targeting physical activity and alcohol use.

Development and psychometric evaluation of a quantitative measure of "fat talk".

Based on her anthropological research, Nichter (2000) concluded that it is normative for many American girls to engage in body self-disparagement in the form of "fat talk." The purpose of the present two studies was to develop a quantitative measure of fat talk. A series of 17 scenarios were created in which "Naomi" is talking with a female friend(s) and there is an expression of fat talk. College women respondents rated the frequency with which they would behave in a similar way as the women in each scenario. A nine-item one-factor scale was determined through principal components analysis and its scores yielded evidence of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability over a five-week time period, construct validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity in that it predicted unique variance in body shame and eating disorder symptoms above and beyond other measures of self-objectification.