Use and Abuse
Alcohol-Related Risk of Driver Fatalities: An Update Using 2007 Data
Robert Voas et al.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2012, Pages 341-350
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the relative risk of being involved in an alcohol-related crash has changed over the decade from 1996 to 2007, a period during which there has been little evidence of a reduction in the percentage of all fatal crashes involving alcohol.
Method: We compared blood-alcohol information for the 2006 and 2007 crash cases (N = 6,863, 22.8% of them women) drawn from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) with control blood-alcohol data from participants in the 2007 U.S. National Roadside Survey (N = 6,823). Risk estimates were computed and compared with those previously obtained from the 1996 FARS and roadside survey data.
Results: Although the adult relative risk of being involved in a fatal alcohol-related crash apparently did not change from 1996 to 2007, the risk for involvement in an alcohol-related crash for underage women has increased to the point where it has become the same as that for underage men. Further, the risk that sober underage men will become involved in a fatal crash has doubled over the 1996-2007 period.
Conclusions: Compared with estimates obtained from a decade earlier, young women in this study are at an increased risk of involvement in alcohol-related crashes. Similarly, underage sober drivers in this study are more at risk of involvement in a crash than they were a decade earlier.
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Do angry women choose alcohol?
Pamela Morrison, Nora Noel & Richard Ogle
Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women's alcohol treatment usually includes anger management, predicated on the hypothesis that anger increases their drinking. Studies show strong association between anger and drinking but to date there is no laboratory support for this hypothesis. We examined effects of a "female-specific" anger provocation on young adult women's drinking behavior by randomly assigning 30 women (age 21 - 30) to one of two conditions: Provocation (n = 15) or Non-Provocation (n = 15). In the Provocation condition, a female confederate was both annoying and condescending to the participant for 8 minutes. A manipulation check showed heightened anger and hostility (but not anxiety or depression) in the Provocation participants. In a subsequent taste-task, all participants could drink placebo "beer" and ginger ale. When the data analysis controlled for participants' baseline negative emotions, Provocation participants consumed more "beer" (M = 172.33 ml, SD = 78.90) than did Non-Provocation participants (M = 118.60 ml, SD = 75.74) (p < .04), with no differences in ginger ale consumption. Results support a causal relationship between young women's anger and their specific choice to drink alcohol.
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Race, Structural Disadvantage, and Illicit Drug Use Among Arrestees
Jonathon Cooper, Andrew Fox & Nancy Rodriguez
Criminal Justice Policy Review, March 2012, Pages 18-39
Abstract:
Although structural disadvantage has been found to predict both crime and illicit drug use, its pattern relative to methamphetamine use is not clear. To gain further insight into the relationship between structural disadvantage and methamphetamine use, the current study examines how structural disadvantage, as a macro-level risk factor, predicts methamphetamine use relative to other illicit drug use among a national sample of male arrestees. The study also examines the interaction between race/ethnicity, structural disadvantage, and methamphetamine use, vis-à-vis that of other drugs. Findings reveal that Black and Latino arrestees were more likely than Whites to test positive for marijuana, cocaine, and opiates than methamphetamine. Also, Whites in less disadvantaged areas were more likely than similarly situated Blacks to test positive for methamphetamine than marijuana, cocaine, and opiates. Policy implications are discussed.
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A family affair: Contextual accounts from addicted youth growing up in substance using families
Kristin Hedges
Journal of Youth Studies, March 2012, Pages 257-272
Abstract:
There are currently over 8 million children in the USA living in households where at least one parent is dependent on or abusing substances. Research has shown a link between parental substance use and children initiating substance use. This article uses qualitative data to give a contextual understanding of the experience of growing up in substance using homes. Results found that the habitus of homes was so immersed in substances that children's initiation into substance use was expected and became a ‘rite of passage' into full acceptance as an adult member of the family. Furthermore, in many cases youth described a role reversal between child and parent roles or parentification in the family. The conclusion calls for early identification in treatment of youth who use substances with family members to target new norms and behaviors for the entire family posttreatment and to enhance successful recovery when returning to the family.
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The political economy of tobacco control spending
Adam Hoffer & Adam Pellillo
Applied Economics Letters, Fall 2012, Pages 1793-1797
Abstract:
This article investigates why some US states spend so comparatively little on Tobacco Control Funding (TCF). We find that cross-state variation in spending on tobacco control is significantly driven by a tobacco special interest effect.
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Bong Hits and Water Bottles: An Analysis of News Coverage of Athletes and Marijuana Use
Jonothan Lewis & Jennifer Proffitt
Journal of Sports Media, Spring 2012, Pages 1-21
Abstract:
This paper examines how sports media framed marijuana incidences involving athletes Michael Phelps, Michael Vick, Josh Howard, and Brad Miller. The analysis finds that Phelps' actions were generally downplayed, as his youth, his Olympic success, and the perceived irrationality of marijuana laws were frequently used as excuses not afforded to his athletic peers. It concludes that race does affect how media cover athletes and that onfield success can affect how media frame stories involving athletes.
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Cheryl Cherpitel & Yu Ye
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2012, Pages 454-458
Objective: The purpose of this study was to update trends in alcohol- and drug-related emergency department and primary care visits over the last 15 years in the United States.
Method: A trend analysis was conducted on substance-related health services visits, based on self-reported alcohol or other drug use within 6 hours before an injury and/or illness event, from four National Alcohol Surveys: 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
Results: A significant upward trend was found from 1995 to 2010 in alcohol-related emergency department visits but not in alcohol-related primary care visits. The odds of an alcohol-related emergency department visit doubled between 1995 and 2010 (odds ratio = 2.36). No significant trend was found in either drug-related emergency department or drug-related primary care visits between 1995 and 2010.
Conclusions: These data suggest that alcohol-related emergency department visits have increased significantly over the past 15 years, whereas drug-related emergency department visits may have stabilized. These findings underscore the opportunity provided by the emergency department for screening and brief intervention for alcohol-related problems and suggest that Healthy People 2010 objectives calling for a reduction in substance-related emergency department visits were not realized. Thus, it might be prudent to adjust Healthy People 2020 objectives accordingly.
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Jason Purnell et al.
American Journal of Public Health, May 2012, Pages 844-851
Objectives: We examined the association between perceived discrimination and smoking status and whether psychological distress mediated this relationship in a large, multiethnic sample.
Methods: We used 2004 through 2008 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Reactions to Race module to conduct multivariate logistic regression analyses and tests of mediation examining associations between perceived discrimination in health care and workplace settings, psychological distress, and current smoking status.
Results: Regardless of race/ethnicity, perceived discrimination was associated with increased odds of current smoking. Psychological distress was also a significant mediator of the discrimination-smoking association.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that individuals who report discriminatory treatment in multiple domains may be more likely to smoke, in part, because of the psychological distress associated with such treatment.
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Katherine Keyes et al.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 1 April 2012, Pages 77-85
Introduction: Exposure to child maltreatment is associated with elevated risk for behavioral disorders in adulthood. One explanation for this life-course association is that child maltreatment increases vulnerability to the effects of subsequent stressors; however, the extent to which maltreatment increases sensitivity to social context has never been examined. We evaluated whether the association between neighborhood physical disorder and binge drinking was modified by child maltreatment exposure.
Methods: Data were drawn from the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study, a prospective representative sample of predominately African Americans in the Detroit population. Neighborhood physical disorder was measured via systematic neighborhood assessment. Child maltreatment indicators included self-reported physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Incident binge drinking was defined as at least one episode of ≥5 drinks (men) or ≥4 drinks (women) in the past 30-day period among those with no binge drinking at baseline (N = 1013).
Results: Child maltreatment and neighborhood physical disorder interacted to predict incident binge drinking (B = 0.16, p = 0.02) and maximum number of past 30-day drinks (B = 0.15, p = 0.04), such that neighborhood physical disorder predicted problematic alcohol use only among individuals with high exposure to child maltreatment.
Conclusion: The results add to the growing literature that African Americans in the US are exposed to an array of stressors that have pernicious consequences for problematic alcohol use. Our results document the need for increased attention to the potential for at-risk alcohol use among populations with a high degree of stress exposure.
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Joshua Hill, Willard Oliver & Nancy Marion
Criminal Justice Policy Review, March 2012, Pages 90-107
Abstract:
This study explores the relationship between the president, public opinion, and the media in regard to drug abuse policy in America from 1969 through 2004. The theory of presidential influence over public opinion is used to test the hypothesis that presidents influence public opinion of drug abuse. Using vector auto regression time-series analysis, the study finds that while presidents do not appear to influence the public directly, they influence the media which influences public opinion. These findings are different from previous findings regarding crime control policy, but are similar to past findings for drug policy. Reasons for these findings are discussed and future research proposed.
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Correlates of Alcohol-Related Regretted Sex Among College Students
Lindsay Orchowski, Nadine Mastroleo & Brian Borsari
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
The prevalence of alcohol-related regretted sex in college students warrants a better understanding of the characteristics of students who report such experiences. Therefore, the present study examined correlates of regretted sexual experiences involving alcohol use among 2 specific high-risk college student samples: students mandated to alcohol intervention (n = 522) and volunteer 1st-year students transitioning to college (n = 481). Results indicated that alcohol-related regretted sex occurred at similar rates in mandated and volunteer students, with approximately 25% of the students reporting at least 1 occurrence in the past month. Women were more likely to report alcohol-related regretted sex compared with men. The belief that alcohol use would result in "liquid courage" was associated with alcohol-related regretted sex among college students, even after accounting for greater alcohol use and problem alcohol use behaviors. These findings have significant implications for intervention efforts and future research.
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Joel Swendsen et al.
Archives of General Psychiatry, April 2012, Pages 390-398
Context: Comprehensive descriptions of substance use and abuse trajectories have been lacking in nationally representative samples of adolescents.
Objective: To examine the prevalence, age at onset, and sociodemographic correlates of alcohol and illicit drug use and abuse among US adolescents.
Design: Cross-sectional survey of adolescents using a modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
Setting: Combined household and school adolescent samples.
Participants: Nationally representative sample of 10 123 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years.
Main Outcome Measures: Lifetime estimates of alcohol and illicit substance use and DSM-IV diagnoses of abuse, with or without dependence.
Results: By late adolescence, 78.2% of US adolescents had consumed alcohol, 47.1% had reached regular drinking levels defined by at least 12 drinks within a given year, and 15.1% met criteria for lifetime abuse. The opportunity to use illicit drugs was reported by 81.4% of the oldest adolescents, drug use by 42.5%, and drug abuse by 16.4%. The median age at onset was 14 years for alcohol abuse with or without dependence, 14 years for drug abuse with dependence, and 15 years for drug abuse without dependence. The associations observed by age, sex, and race/ethnicity often varied significantly by previous stage of use.
Conclusions: Alcohol and drug use is common in US adolescents, and the findings of this study indicate that most cases of abuse have their initial onset in this important period of development. Prevention and treatment efforts would benefit from careful attention to the correlates and risk factors that are specific to the stage of substance use in adolescents.
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Darla Kendzor et al.
Social Science & Medicine, May 2012, Pages 1394-1401
Abstract:
African Americans suffer disproportionately from the adverse health consequences of smoking, and also report substantially lower socioeconomic status than Whites and other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. Although socioeconomic disadvantage is known to have a negative influence on smoking cessation rates and overall health, little is known about the influence of socioeconomic status on smoking cessation specifically among African Americans. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to characterize the impact of several individual- and area-level indicators of socioeconomic status on smoking cessation among African Americans. Data were collected as part of a smoking cessation intervention study for African American smokers (N = 379) recruited from the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area, who participated in the study between 2005 and 2007. The separate and combined influences of individual-level (insurance status, unemployment, education, and income) and area-level (neighborhood unemployment, education, income, and poverty) indicators of socioeconomic status on continuous smoking abstinence were examined across time intervals using continuation ratio logit modeling. Individual-level analyses indicated that unemployment was significantly associated with reduced odds of smoking abstinence, while higher income was associated with greater odds of abstinence. However, only unemployment remained a significant predictor of abstinence when unemployment and income were included in the model together. Area-level analyses indicated that greater neighborhood unemployment and poverty were associated with reduced odds of smoking abstinence, while greater neighborhood education was associated with higher odds of abstinence. However, only neighborhood unemployment remained significantly associated with abstinence status when individual-level income and unemployment were included in the model. Overall, findings suggest that individual- and area-level unemployment have a negative impact on smoking cessation among African Americans. Addressing unemployment through public policy and within smoking cessation interventions, and providing smoking cessation treatment for the unemployed may have a beneficial impact on tobacco-related health disparities.
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Tobacco Branding, Plain Packaging, Pictorial Warnings, and Symbolic Consumption
Janet Hoek et al.
Qualitative Health Research, May 2012, Pages 630-639
Abstract:
We use brand association and symbolic consumption theory to explore how plain cigarette packaging would influence the identities young adults cocreate with tobacco products. Group discussions and in-depth interviews with 86 young adult smokers and nonsmokers investigated how participants perceive tobacco branding and plain cigarette packaging with larger health warnings. We examined the transcript data using thematic analysis and explored how removing tobacco branding and replacing this with larger warnings would affect the symbolic status of tobacco brands and their social connotations. Smokers used tobacco brand imagery to define their social attributes and standing, and their connection with specific groups. Plain cigarette packaging usurped this process by undermining aspirational connotations and exposing tobacco products as toxic. Replacing tobacco branding with larger health warnings diminishes the cachet brand insignia creates, weakens the social benefits brands confer on users, and represents a potentially powerful policy measure.
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Timothy Osberg et al.
Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does exposure to college drinking movies impact upon subsequent college student drinking? If so, what mechanisms mediate such an effect? In the first study to address these questions, we assessed college drinking movie exposure in a sample of 479 college freshmen early in their first semester and examined its relation to subsequent drinking and drinking consequences one month later. Hypothesized mediators of this effect included college alcohol beliefs (beliefs that drinking is central to college life), positive and negative alcohol expectancies, and descriptive and injunctive norms. Using bootstrapping procedures, results indicated that movie exposure exerted direct effects on both drinking and drinking consequences. Movie exposure also had significant indirect effects on drinking through all of the hypothesized mediators, with the exception of negative alcohol expectancies. All mediated movie exposure's effects on drinking consequences, with the exception of injunctive norms. Contrast analyses revealed that college alcohol beliefs had the strongest mediational effects in the relationship between movie exposure and both drinking and consequences. The implications of these findings for precollege alcohol education programs are discussed.
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Lindsey Varvil-Weld et al.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2012, Pages 434-443
Objective: Previous research identified a high-risk subset of college students experiencing a disproportionate number of alcohol-related consequences at the end of their first year. With the goal of identifying pre-college predictors of membership in this high-risk subset, the present study used a prospective design to identify latent profiles of student-reported maternal and paternal parenting styles and alcohol-specific behaviors and to determine whether these profiles were associated with membership in the high-risk consequences subset.
Method: A sample of randomly selected 370 incoming first-year students at a large public university reported on their mothers' and fathers' communication quality, monitoring, approval of alcohol use, and modeling of drinking behaviors and on consequences experienced across the first year of college.
Results: Students in the high-risk subset comprised 15.5% of the sample but accounted for almost half (46.6%) of the total consequences reported by the entire sample. Latent profile analyses identified four parental profiles: positive pro-alcohol, positive anti-alcohol, negative mother, and negative father. Logistic regression analyses revealed that students in the negative-father profile were at greatest odds of being in the high-risk consequences subset at a follow-up assessment 1 year later, even after drinking at baseline was controlled for. Students in the positive pro-alcohol profile also were at increased odds of being in the high-risk subset, although this association was attenuated after baseline drinking was controlled for.
Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the improvement of existing parent- and individual-based college student drinking interventions designed to reduce alcohol-related consequences.
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Lin Xiao et al.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
The goal of this study was to investigate the neural correlates of affective decision making, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which are associated with adolescent binge drinking. Fourteen adolescent binge drinkers (16-18 years of age) and 14 age-matched adolescents who had never consumed alcohol - never drinkers - were recruited from local high schools in Chengdu, China. Questionnaires were used to assess academic performance, drinking experience, and urgency. Brain regions activated by the IGT performance were identified with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed that, compared to never drinkers, binge drinkers performed worse on the IGT and showed higher activity in the subcomponents of the decision-making neural circuitry implicated in the execution of emotional and incentive-related behaviors, namely, the left amygdala and insula bilaterally. Moreover, measures of the severity of drinking problems in real life, as well as high urgency scores, were associated with increased activity within the insula, combined with decreased activity within the orbitofrontal cortex. These results suggest that hyperreactivity of a neural system implicated in the execution of emotional and incentive-related behaviors can be associated with socially undesirable behaviors, such as binge drinking, among adolescents. These findings have social implications because they potentially reveal underlying neural mechanisms for making poor decisions, which may increase an individual's risk and vulnerability for alcoholism.
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Stephen Kulis et al.
Journal of Early Adolescence, April 2012, Pages 165-199
Abstract:
This study examined interactive relationships among ethnic identity, gender, time in the US, and changes in substance use outcomes among a school-based sample of 1,731 Mexican-heritage preadolescents (ages 9-13). Residual change multilevel models adjusting for school clustering and using multiply imputed data assessed changes from beginning to end of fifth grade in use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and inhalants, and four substance use antecedents. Effects of ethnic identity were conditional on time in the US, and in opposite directions by gender. Among males living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted desirable changes in all but one outcome (substance offers). Among females living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted undesirable changes in alcohol use, pro-drug norms, and peer substance use. Interpretations focus on differential exposure to substance use opportunities and the erosion of traditional gender role socialization among Mexican-heritage youth having lived longer in the US.
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Do Peers' Parents Matter? A New Link Between Positive Parenting and Adolescent Substance Use
Michael Cleveland et al.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2012, Pages 423-433
Objective: Although studies have demonstrated that an adolescent's parents and friends both influence adolescent substance use, it is not known whether the parenting experienced by one's friends also affects one's own use. Drawing on conceptions of shared parenting and the tenets of coercion theory, we investigated the extent to which three domains of parenting behaviors (parental knowledge, inductive reasoning, and consistent discipline) influenced the alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use of not only their own adolescent children but also of members of their adolescents'
friendship groups.
Method: Analyses of friendship nominations within each of two successive ninth-grade cohorts in 27 Iowa and Pennsylvania schools (N = 7,439 students, 53.6% female) were used to identify 897 friendship groups. Hierarchical logistic regression models were used to examine prospective associations between 9th-grade friendship group-level parenting behaviors and adolescent self-reported alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in 10th grade.
Results: Adolescent substance use in 10th grade was significantly related to parenting behaviors of friends' parents, after controlling for adolescents' reports of their own substance use and their own parents' behaviors at the 9th grade level. These associations were particularly strong for parents' knowledge about their children and use of inconsistent discipline strategies. Significant interaction effects indicated that these relationships were strongest when adolescents received positive parenting at home. Some, but not all, of the main effects of friends' parents' parenting became nonsignificant after friends' substance use in ninth grade was included in the model.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that the parenting style in adolescents' friends' homes plays an important role in determining adolescent substance use. Implications of the joint contribution of parents and peers for prevention and intervention are discussed.
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Macro-level gender equality and alcohol consumption: A multi-level analysis across U.S. states
Sarah Roberts
Social Science & Medicine, forthcoming
Abstract:
Higher levels of women's alcohol consumption have long been attributed to increases in gender equality. However, only limited research examines the relationship between gender equality and alcohol consumption. This study examined associations between five measures of state-level gender equality and five alcohol consumption measures in the United States. Survey data regarding men's and women's alcohol consumption from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were linked to state-level indicators of gender equality. Gender equality indicators included state-level women's socioeconomic status, gender equality in socioeconomic status, reproductive rights, policies relating to violence against women, and women's political participation. Alcohol consumption measures included past-30 day drinker status, drinking frequency, binge drinking, volume, and risky drinking. Other than drinker status, consumption is measured for drinkers only.
Multilevel linear and logistic regression models adjusted for individual demographics as well as state-level income inequality, median income, and percent Evangelical Protestant/Mormon. All gender equality indicators were positively associated with both women's and men's drinker status in models adjusting only for individual-level covariates; associations were not significant in models adjusting for other state-level characteristics. All other associations between gender equality and alcohol consumption were either negative or non-significant for both women and men in models adjusting for other state-level factors. Findings do not support the hypothesis that higher levels of gender equality are associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption by women or by men. In fact, most significant findings suggest that higher levels of equality are associated with less alcohol consumption overall.