Out of Control
Gender and the Influence of Peer Alcohol Consumption on Adolescent Sexual Activity
Glen Waddell
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
I consider the alcohol consumption of opposite-gender peers as explanatory to adolescent sexual intercourse and demonstrate that female sexual activity is higher where there is higher alcohol consumption among male peers. This relationship is robust to school fixed effects, cannot be explained by broader cohort effects or general antisocial behaviors in male peer groups, and is distinctly different from any influence of the alcohol consumption of female peers which is shown to have no influence on female sexual activity. There is no evidence that male sexual activity responds to female peer alcohol consumption.
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Black-White Differences in Aging out of Substance Use and Abuse
Anastasia Vogt Yuan
Sociological Spectrum, January 2011, Pages 3-31
Abstract:
Blacks have lower rates of substance use and abuse than whites in early adolescence and young adulthood but similar or higher rates by middle adulthood, which could be due to blacks being less likely to age (i.e., mature) out of deviance than whites by transitioning into high-quality conventional social roles. Using the National Comorbidity Survey (1990-1992), this study finds that work, economic conditions, and family roles explain the race-by-age crossover for drug abuse and explain most of this relationship for alcohol use and abuse. There is no race-by-age crossover for drug use. Thus, even though blacks have lower substance use and abuse than whites at younger ages, this advantage is eliminated and even reversed due to the disadvantages blacks face over the life course.
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Frederick Gibbons et al.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, December 2010, Pages 649-659
Abstract:
Racial differences in the effects of peer and media influence on adolescents' alcohol cognitions and consumption were examined in a large-scale panel study. With regard to peer influence, results from cross-lagged panel analyses indicated that the relation between perceived peer drinking and own drinking was significant for both Black and White adolescents, but it was stronger for the White adolescents. With regard to media influence, structural modeling analyses indicated that exposure to drinking in movies was associated with more alcohol consumption 8 months and 16 months later. These effects were mediated by increases in the favorability of the adolescents' drinker prototypes, their willingness to drink, and their tendency to affiliate with friends who were drinking. Multiple group analyses indicated that, once again, the effects (both direct and indirect) were much stronger for White adolescents than for Black adolescents. The results suggest media influence works in a similar manner to social influence and that Whites may be more susceptible to both types of influence.
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The Influence of Sexual Orientation and Masculinity on Young Men's Tobacco Smoking
John Pachankis, Lee Westmaas & Lea Dougherty
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2011, Pages 142-152
Objective: The prevalence of smoking among gay men is considerably higher than in the general population. To investigate possible causes of this health risk disparity, this study used multilevel modeling of daily diary data to examine the temporal relationship between smoking and both sexual orientation concealment and masculine gender role variables.
Method: Gay (n = 136) and heterosexual (n = 56) university students (mean age = 20.56, SD = 2.13) completed measures of boyhood and current gender nonconformity, as well as daily measures of smoking, negative affect, and masculinity self-consciousness across 9 days. Gay participants additionally indicated the extent to which they concealed their sexual orientation each day.
Results: The same percentage of gay (17.7%; n = 24) and heterosexual (17.9% n = 10) participants smoked over the course of the study. Gay men who smoked, however, smoked on more days across the study, t = 2.20, p < .05. Boyhood gender nonconformity and current masculinity significantly predicted the average odds of smoking for all participants. Daily masculinity self-consciousness also predicted the odds of smoking for all participants, although it predicted those odds more strongly for heterosexual men (b = 1.00, p < .001) than for gay men (b = .31, p = .06). Gay participants' attempts to conceal their sexual orientation on a given day positively predicted their likelihood of smoking that day.
Conclusions: Results suggest the need to consider the role of gender nonconformity, masculinity self-consciousness, and sexual orientation stress in future investigations of smoking among young men.
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What works (or doesn't) in a DUI court? An example of expedited case processing
Jeffrey Bouffard & Leana Bouffard
Journal of Criminal Justice, forthcoming
Purpose: A number of policy efforts have aimed to reduce drunk driving, including deterrence-based policies and specialized treatment courts. This study examines the impact of expedited court processing on the county-wide rate of DUI offenses. It also examines the links between sanction swiftness, certainty, and severity and changes in DUI rates over time.
Methods: This study uses interrupted time series analysis to assess changes in DUI rates in one county over a time period including the introduction of a full-coverage, expedited court docket for DUI. Additionally, the three components of deterrence were examined.
Result: Findings reveal that the program implementation corresponded with a lower rate of DUI case filings, but not with a general reduction in alcohol-involved collisions in the county. Additionally, only sanction swiftness improved over time, while certainty remained stable and severity declined.
Conclusions: Results indicate that the introduction of the expedited court docket does not appear to have produced a deterrent effect on DUI. It may be that DUI offenders require more than expedited processing to overcome the issues that precipitate their offending. Future research and policy should explore both the impact of swiftness of punishment and the provision of appropriate treatment services in addressing DUI offending.
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Carmen Iñiguez et al.
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, forthcoming
Background: In utero tobacco exposure has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes but few studies have used longitudinal ultrasound measurements to assess the effects on fetal growth. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of active and passive smoking during pregnancy on fetal biometry in a cohort of Spanish women.
Methods: Biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), femur length (FL) and estimated fetal weight (EFW) were evaluated in each trimester of pregnancy. Detailed information on smoking and potential confounders was assessed by questionnaire. SD scores were calculated from longitudinal growth curves adjusted for gestational age and potential determinants of growth. Size was assessed by means of unconditional SD scores at 12, 20, 32 and 38 weeks of pregnancy, while growth between these points was assessed by means of conditional SD scores. The association between smoking and fetal growth was investigated by regression models and adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle-related variables.
Results: Maternal smoking was inversely associated with size of all parameters at weeks 32 and 38 and with growth in 20-32, 12-32 and 12-38 week intervals. In 32-38 weeks the effect was significant for AC and EFW. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure was inversely associated with growth in BPD in all the intervals except 32-38 weeks.
Conclusions: Active smoking during pregnancy was associated with a reduction in BPD, AC, FL and EFW from mid-gestation. ETS adversely affected BPD from early pregnancy.
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Smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy and age of menarche in daughters
Anshu Shrestha et al.
Human Reproduction, January 2011, Pages 259-265
Background: We assessed whether exposure to prenatal smoking or alcohol accelerates age of menarche (AOM) in offspring.
Methods: We studied a Danish cohort of 3169 singleton females born in April 1984-April 1987. Linear regressions were conducted to examine associations between prenatal smoking or alcohol exposure and offspring's AOM on: (i) the daughters who provided data on both month and the year of menarche (n= 1634) and (ii) the entire sample that provided at least the year of menarche (n= 3169). We also examined associations between only pre-pregnancy smoking or childhood exposure to smoking and AOM. The full model was adjusted for maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, maternal age at childbirth, parental socio-economic status, parity, consumption of milk products during pregnancy and marital status.
Results: Among those who provided both year and month, AOM was accelerated by 2.8 months (95% CI in months: -5.3, -0.4) among those exposed to 10+ cigarettes/day throughout pregnancy and by 4.1 months (95% CI in months: -7.7, -0.5) among those with mothers who quit smoking sometime during pregnancy, compared with the unexposed group after adjustment for covariates. Similar, but much weaker, associations were observed among girls whose mothers smoked 1-9cigarettes/day throughout pregnancy or whose fathers smoked compared with their unexposed counterparts after adjustment for covariates [-0.8 months (95% CI: -2.6, 1.0)]. No associations were observed between AOM and only pre-pregnancy smoking or only childhood exposure or prenatal alcohol exposure.
Conclusions: Our study indicates that heavy smoking throughout the pregnancy may be important in prenatal programming of AOM.
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Kurt Ribisl, Rebecca Williams, Ziya Gizlice & Amy Herring
PLoS ONE, February 2011, e16754
Background: Most Internet vendors offer tax-free cigarettes making them cheaper than those sold at stores. This undermines the impact that higher prices have upon reducing consumption. Most Internet tobacco sales have violated taxation and youth access laws, which led to landmark voluntary agreements in 2005 with the major credit card companies and major private shippers to ban payment transactions and shipments for all Internet cigarette sales.
Objective: To assess whether these bans increased the rate of Internet Cigarette Vendors (ICVs) ceasing online sales, decreased the proportion of vendors offering banned payment and shipping options, and decreased consumer traffic to the most popular ICVs.
Design: Websites in a longitudinal study of ICVs were visited in 2003 (n = 338), 2004 (n = 775), 2005 (n = 664), 2006 (n = 762), and 2007 (n = 497) to assess whether they were in business and monitor their advertised sales practices. The number of unique monthly visitors to the 50 most popular ICVs at baseline was examined for the period one year before and two years after the bans to determine whether the bans altered traffic.
Results: Following the bans, the rate of ICVs ceasing online sales year to year increased, but due to an influx of new vendors, there was a net increase in ICVs. The proportion of vendors accepting banned payment options dropped from 99.2% to 37.4% after the bans, and the proportion offering banned shipping options dropped from 32.2% to 5.6%, but there was a corresponding increase in vendors offering non-banned payment options (e.g., personal checks) and shipping options (e.g., US Postal Service). Following the bans, there was a 3.5 fold decline in traffic to the most popular ICV websites.
Conclusions: This promising approach to controlling the sale of restricted goods online has implications for regulating other products such as alcohol, firearms, quack cures, and medicines sold without a prescription.
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Black and white adults' perspectives on the genetics of nicotine addiction susceptibility
Elyse Park et al.
Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Aims: Emerging research may soon lead to improved quit rates via genetically-tailored smoking cessation treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore individuals' beliefs and attitudes about genetic testing in this context, and how these may differ across racial groups.
Design: Two site qualitative study.
Methods: Eleven focus groups were conducted in 2007 with 51 Black and 55 White adult participants in Montgomery, AL and Baltimore, MD.
Measurements: Questions were asked about smoking as an addiction, the role of genetics in nicotine addiction susceptibility, and undergoing genetic testing to receive tailored smoking cessation treatment. Data were analyzed using content analysis.
Findings: Most participants believed that smoking was an addiction yet were unwilling to endorse the notion that genetics played a role in nicotine addiction susceptibility. However, 91% of White participants and 62% of Black participants indicated that they would likely take a genetic test that would match them to their optimal smoking cessation treatment. The primary potential benefit was a vague sense that additional knowledge about oneself would be of value. Primary barriers included disinterest and skepticism about the test, unwillingness to believe that genetics played a role in nicotine addiction or treatment response, and concerns about psychological consequences.
Conclusions: The majority of participants, particularly Black participants, did not believe that genetics played a significant role in nicotine addiction susceptibility but were willing to undergo genetic testing. Participants identified some benefit to tailoring smoking treatment by genotype. However, participants also expressed skepticism about the test and concerns about its consequences; these issues would need to be addressed in the clinical encounter.
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Hanan El Marroun et al.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, forthcoming
Background: The development of the fetal endocannabinoid receptor system may be vulnerable to maternal cannabis use during pregnancy and may produce long-term consequences in children. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between gestational cannabis use and childhood attention problems and aggressive behavior.
Methods: Using a large general population birth cohort, we examined the associations between parental prenatal cannabis and tobacco use and childhood behavior problems at 18 months measured using the Child Behavior Checklist in N = 4077 children. Substance use was measured in early pregnancy.
Results: Linear regression analyses demonstrated that gestational exposure to cannabis is associated with behavioral problems in early childhood but only in girls and only in the area of increased aggressive behavior (B = 2.02; 95% CI: 0.30-3.73; p = 0.02) and attention problems (B = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.46-1.62; p < 0.001). Furthermore, this study showed that long-term (but not short term) tobacco exposure was associated with behavioral problems in girls (B = 1.16; 95% CI: 0.20-2.12; p = 0.02). There was no association between cannabis use of the father and child behavior problems.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that intrauterine exposure to cannabis is associated with an increased risk for aggressive behavior and attention problems as early as 18 months of age in girls, but not boys. Further research is needed to explore the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and child behavior at later ages. Our data support educating future mothers about the risk to their babies should they smoke cannabis during pregnancy.
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Enrico Mezzacappa, John Buckner & Felton Earls
Developmental Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prenatal exposures to neurotoxins and postnatal parenting practices have been shown to independently predict variations in the cognitive development and emotional-behavioral well-being of infants and children. We examined the independent contributions of prenatal cigarette exposure and infant learning stimulation, as well as their inter-relationships in predicting variations in the proficiency of executive attention, a core element of cognitive control and self-regulation. Participants were an ethnic-racially, socio-economically diverse sample of 249 children followed from birth in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We obtained histories of prenatal exposure to alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs, and we assessed socio-economic status and learning stimulation during a home visit when the participants were infants. In childhood we utilized the Attention Networks Test to assess the proficiency of executive attention during two home visits, one year apart. Accounting for age, SES, prenatal alcohol exposure, and baseline performance, we found that prenatal cigarette exposure impaired the speed of executive attention. Infant learning stimulation mitigated these effects, and predicted better accuracy of executive attention as well, suggestive of both protective and health promoting effects. Effect sizes for these relations, whether examined independently or by their inter-relationships, were comparable to if not greater in magnitude than the effects of age on speed and accuracy, highlighting the importance of these very early experiences in shaping the proficiency of self-regulation. Since executive attention is central to cognitive control and self-regulation, previously described relations between prenatal cigarette exposure, parenting practices, and some forms of childhood psychopathology may be contingent on how early learning stimulation contributes to the proficiency of executive attention through direct and indirect effects. Furthermore, considering the prolonged developmental trajectory of executive attention, interventions to support provision of learning stimulation may mitigate poor outcomes for some at-risk children by promoting development of more proficient executive attention.
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Neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity in children prenatally exposed to tobacco
Stephan Huijbregts et al.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity in children who had been prenatally exposed to tobacco. Neurobiological stress reactivity was measured using salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase levels at five different time points throughout a stressful neuropsychological test session, which involved a competition against a videotaped opponent. Participants (mean age: 10.6 years, SD 1.3) were 14 prenatally exposed (PE) children, 9 children with disruptive behavior problems (DBD), and 15 normal controls (NC). For cortisol responses, no significant differences between the three groups were observed. Normal controls, however, had significantly higher alpha-amylase levels than PE-children throughout the test session, and their alpha-amylase levels also increased throughout the session, whereas these remained low and stable for PE-children. Alpha-amylase levels and trajectory of PE-children were similar to those observed for DBD-children. PE-children also showed significantly increased behavioral stress reactivity compared to NC-children, and neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity were inversely related in PE-children, again similar to what was observed for DBD-children. These results support the hypothesis that prenatal smoking may lead to long-lasting neurobiological and behavioral changes in exposed offspring.
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Michael Turner, Crista Livecchi, Kevin Beaver & Jeb Booth
Journal of Criminal Justice, March-April 2011, Pages 120-127
Purpose: Gottfredson and Hirschi, in A General Theory of Crime, argue that the primary source of self-control is parental socialization. Specifically, parents who fail to supervise their children, to recognize their child's deviant behavior, and to punish such behavior are more likely to raise children with lower levels of self-control. Recent empirical research, however, has broadened the explanatory factors to include sources within schools, neighborhoods, and individual factors as significant contributors to the development of self-control. This study proposes that maternal smoking during pregnancy places additional limits on the development of self-control.
Methods: Using a subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (N = 542), we provide a comprehensive investigation of the variety of sources of self-control to include both individual and environmental covariates.
Results: Results indicate that maternal smoking during pregnancy significantly impacts the development of self-control net of parental, neighborhood, and school socialization. We also found that individual sources of self-control significantly vary across race and neighborhood context.
Conclusions: The sources of self-control are more complex than socialization from parents, schools, and within neighborhoods occurring in childhood and adolescence.
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John Ayers, Kurt Ribisl & John Brownstein
PLoS ONE, March 2011, e16777
Abstract:
Smokers can use the web to continue or quit their habit. Online vendors sell reduced or tax-free cigarettes lowering smoking costs, while health advocates use the web to promote cessation. We examined how smokers' tax avoidance and smoking cessation Internet search queries were motivated by the United States' (US) 2009 State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) federal cigarette excise tax increase and two other state specific tax increases. Google keyword searches among residents in a taxed geography (US or US state) were compared to an untaxed geography (Canada) for two years around each tax increase. Search data were normalized to a relative search volume (RSV) scale, where the highest search proportion was labeled 100 with lesser proportions scaled by how they relatively compared to the highest proportion. Changes in RSV were estimated by comparing means during and after the tax increase to means before the tax increase, across taxed and untaxed geographies. The SCHIP tax was associated with an 11.8% (95% confidence interval [95%CI], 5.7 to 17.9; p<.001) immediate increase in cessation searches; however, searches quickly abated and approximated differences from pre-tax levels in Canada during the months after the tax. Tax avoidance searches increased 27.9% (95%CI, 15.9 to 39.9; p<.001) and 5.3% (95%CI, 3.6 to 7.1; p<.001) during and in the months after the tax compared to Canada, respectively, suggesting avoidance is the more pronounced and durable response. Trends were similar for state-specific tax increases but suggest strong interactive processes across taxes. When the SCHIP tax followed Florida's tax, versus not, it promoted more cessation and avoidance searches. Efforts to combat tax avoidance and increase cessation may be enhanced by using interventions targeted and tailored to smokers' searches. Search query surveillance is a valuable real-time, free and public method, that may be generalized to other behavioral, biological, informational or psychological outcomes manifested online.
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Christopher Carpenter & Cornelia Pechmann
American Journal of Public Health, forthcoming
Objectives: We examined the relationship between exposure to the Above the Influence antidrug campaign in 210 US media markets and adolescent marijuana and alcohol use from 2006 to 2008.
Methods: We analyzed monthly advertising exposure (targeted rating points) data from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and drug use data from the Monitoring the Future study. We estimated multivariate logistic regression models of marijuana use for students in grades 8, 10, and 12, with controls for individual, family, and media market characteristics and year and regional fixed effects.
Results: For eighth-grade adolescent girls, greater exposure to antidrug advertisements was associated with lower rates of past-month marijuana use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.52, 0.87) and lower rates of lifetime marijuana use (AOR=0.76; 95% CI=0.62, 0.93), but not alcohol use (AOR=1.00; 95% CI=0.84, 1.19). Associations were not significant for adolescent boys or for students in grades 10 and 12.
Conclusions: Antidrug advertising may be an effective way to dissuade eighth grade adolescent girls from initiating marijuana use.
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Anita Kim, Emily Stark & Eugene Borgida
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, February 2011, Pages 381-400
Abstract:
The present study relies on symbolic politics theory to predict public attitudes toward the federal regulation of conventional tobacco products (a familiar attitude object) and reduced-exposure tobacco products (a relatively novel attitude object). We predicted that attitudes toward most forms of regulation would be more strongly influenced by symbolic beliefs about the role of government in society than by self-interested concerns, with the exception of taxation. We predicted that the financial consequences of taxation policies would be less ambiguous for those who are affected, resulting in a stronger relationship between self-interest and policy attitudes. The results strongly supported our hypotheses, suggesting a process by which symbolic beliefs and self-interested concerns influence attitude formation. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
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The restorative effects of smoking upon self-control resources: A negative reinforcement pathway
Bryan Heckman, Joseph Ditre & Thomas Brandon
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Based on a model in which self-control (SC) is considered to be a limited resource, research suggests that diminished SC resources may increase the likelihood of tobacco smoking. Yet, the inverse-how smoking may influence SC resources-has not been tested. The authors of this study utilized a randomized, 2 × 2 crossed-factorial (SC Depletion Manipulation × Smoking Manipulation), between-subjects design to test the hypothesis that smoking restores depleted SC resources. To manipulate SC depletion, experimenters instructed half of 132 nicotine dependent smokers to suppress their emotional reaction to a brief video depicting environmental damage (i.e., depletion), whereas the other half were instructed to "act natural" (i.e., no depletion) during viewing. Half of the participants in each condition then smoked a cigarette, whereas the other half sat patiently without smoking (i.e., smoke vs. no smoke). All participants then completed behavioral measures of SC. As hypothesized, an interaction occurred between the depletion and smoking manipulations for duration of time spent on a frustrating mirror-tracing task. That is, depletion reduced persistence on the task, unless depletion was followed by smoking. This effect was mediated by positive affect (PA). Thus, smoking appeared to restore depleted SC resources via modulation of PA, but independent of negative affect or smoking urges. These findings suggest that restoration of SC resources may represent another means by which smoking is negatively reinforced. The application of the self-control strength model to the study of nicotine dependence may inform the development of novel treatment modalities.
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Participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and Post-treatment Abstinence from Alcohol and Other Drugs
J.B. Kingree & Martie Thompson
Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Background: This study examined associations between two types of AA participation (i.e., meeting attendance, having a sponsor) and two types of post-treatment abstinence (i.e., abstinence from alcohol, abstinence from drugs).
Method: Respondents completed measures that assessed their demographic characteristics, the severity of their substance use, and their motivation to change when they enrolled in treatment (T1). They completed measures of AA participation at T1 and a 3 month follow-up assessment (T2), and measures of recent abstinence at T1 and a 6 month follow-up assessment (T3).
Results: T2 sponsor was associated prospectively with T3 abstinence from alcohol.
Conclusions: Having a sponsor served as a marker for subsequent abstinence. Future research can examine factors that may mediate or moderate the associations between having a sponsor and subsequent abstinence.