Adolescent substance use groups: antecedent and concurrent personality differences in a longitudinal study

This study attempted to extend Shedler and Block's (1990) influential study, which found that adolescent drug experimenters had the healthiest personality functioning compared to abstainers and frequent users. Using a prospective design, we examined the relationship between antecedent and concurrent personality and age-18 substance use in a community sample of 1,298 twins (96% Caucasian, 49% male). Personality measures at ages 11 and 18 assessed positive emotionality (agentic and communal), negative emotionality, and constraint. Substance use groups-abstainers, experimenters, and problem users-were created at age 18. Age-18 substance use groups differed in age-11 and age-18 constraint such that problem users were lower than experimenters, who were lower than abstainers. Age-18 substance use groups did not differ in age-18 positive emotionality. However, abstainers were significantly lower than experimenters in communal positive emotionality, whereas female abstainers scored higher in agentic positive emotionality than female experimenters, who scored higher than female problem users. Experimenters were significantly lower in negative emotionality than problem users. Our findings are inconsistent with the notion that experimenters had the healthiest personality functioning and instead suggest different strengths and weaknesses for each group. Future studies should examine agentic and communal positive emotionality separately.     

Personality characteristics as a function of frequency and type of substance use

Problematic and unhealthy personality characteristics have typically been the focus of researchers interested in the possible causes of substance use/abuse. Recent research has begun to identify differences between individuals based upon frequency of use, with indications that moderate users may have "healthier" characteristics than either abstainers or regular users. The present study was conducted in a rural setting and compared personality structure (based on the California Psychological Inventory) among three groups of college students: abstainers, experimenters, and regular users. The comparisons were conducted as a function of all illicit substance use (excluding alcohol) and for alcohol use only. Minimal support was obtained for the above hypothesis when comparing the three groups on illicit substance use. When comparing the three groups on alcohol use only, support for the theory was identified, with fewer differences found between the experimenters and the abstainers than between the experimenters and the regular users. It is suggested that rural use of psychoactive substances may be more limited to alcohol due to easier availability and less stigma. Data supporting the "healthier" personality structure of moderate users of alcohol would thus be more likely in rural settings even though such use would still be "risky" behavior given its illegality for individuals under age 21. The need for adaptations to current treatment approaches is suggested.     

Adolescent drug use and psychological health. A longitudinal inquiry

The relation between psychological characteristics and drug use was investigated in subjects studied longitudinally, from preschool through age 18. Adolescents who had engaged in some drug experimentation (primarily with marijuana) were the best-adjusted in the sample. Adolescents who used drugs frequently were maladjusted, showing a distinct personality syndrome marked by interpersonal alienation, poor impulse control, and manifest emotional distress. Adolescents who, by age 18, had never experimented with any drug were relatively anxious, emotionally constricted, and lacking in social skills. Psychological differences between frequent drug users, experimenters, and abstainers could be traced to the earliest years of childhood and related to the quality of parenting received. The findings indicate that (a) problem drug use is a symptom, not a cause, of personal and social maladjustment, and (b) the meaning of drug use can be understood only in the context of an individual's personality structure and developmental history. It is suggested that current efforts at drug prevention are misguided to the extent that they focus on symptoms, rather than on the psychological syndrome underlying drug abuse.     

Moral Beliefs,Isolation from Peers,and Abstention from Delinquency

Criminological research has established that the vast majority of young people engage in some level of delinquency and drug use during the period of adolescence. Thus young people who completely refrain from delinquency and drug use are atypical and, as such, are deserving of scientific scrutiny. Perhaps because they have been impressed by the statistical abnormality of delinquency abstention, some researchers have explained this behavior in terms of the characterological abnormality of abstainers, arguing that abstention may be less the result of positive characteristics (such as strong moral beliefs) than the result of pathological traits that serve to isolate abstainers from their peers. In this study, data from a large survey of adolescents are used to help assess the respective roles of moral beliefs and peer isolation in delinquency abstention. The findings challenge certain previous interpretations of delinquency abstention and shed additional light on the forces that help to sustain adolescent conformity. The findings also raise intriguing questions about the stigma attached to delinquency abstainers.     

Exploring the Structure of Adolescent Problem Behaviors and the Associated Adult Outcomes

This study expands on previous research on adolescent problem behaviors by examining whether different constellations of problem behavior in adolescence differentially impact outcomes during emerging adulthood. Data from the in-home interviews of waves 2 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used to examine these relationships. Latent class analysis, using nineteen problem behaviors measured at wave 2, identified three classes of adolescents representing “low risk, abstainers,” “sexually-active, experimenters,” and a “high risk, diverse behavior” group. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were then used to identify class differences (measured at wave 3) in social stability, general health and service utilization, and criminal justice system involvement during emerging adulthood. Important class differences in the likelihood of negative outcomes during early adulthood were identified. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Gay Identity and the Experience of Gay Social Stress1

The hypothesis that identity commitment affects the experience of identity-related stressors brings identity theory and social stress research together. Research findings are not yet conclusive regarding this hypothesis. Part of the contradictory research findings stem from inadequate knowledge about the causal direction of the relationship between depression and commitment. The authors analyze if identity commitment interacts with social stress in its impact on mental well-being. Only chronic stress has a moderate impact on the experience of depression. Commitment toward the gay identity did not buffer the experience of stress. The authors also use a nonrecursive model to establish the causal relationship between depression and commitment. They show that it is depression that lowers identity commitment. It is concluded that identity commitment cannot act as a buffer against identity-related stress because commitment is affected by the resulting distress.     

Swiss Adolescent Drug Users' and Nonusers' Optimism About Their Future1

Swiss adolescents, aged 16 to 17 years, were asked about their past drug use, their intended drug use, their optimism about their future health, their negative emotions, and their well-being. On the basis of their self-reports, they were divided into 3 types of drug users: nonusers, experimenters, and frequent users. Compared with nonusers, experimenters and frequent users reported low optimism and more negative feelings. Females reported more negative feelings and less psychological well-being than did males, but the genders did not differ regarding optimism. Logistic regression demonstrated that optimism about future health was a protective factor for the intention to use drugs. Students who perceived themselves as less vulnerable to harm had in the past not used drugs and intended not to accept drugs when given the occasion. The implications of the findings for prevention of drug use are discussed.     

Not Always a Straight Path: College Students’ Narratives of Heterosexual Identity Development

Research has recently begun to examine heterosexual identity development, providing preliminary evidence of variation within a sexual identity category that has frequently been conceptualized as uniform and unremarkable. The current study sought to classify and describe young adult participants’ narratives on their heterosexual identity development using Worthington et al. (2002) heterosexual identity status model. Participants included 1,051 heterosexually-identified undergraduates (632 women; 419 men) from two public universities in the western United States who provided written narratives about their sexual identity development. Responses were analyzed for levels of identity exploration and commitment, which were used to create five identity status categories. The majority of participants described identity commitment with passive exploration, with more men in this category than women. A significant subset of participants described identity commitment with active exploration, with more women in this category than men. Smaller numbers of participants described active exploration without commitment, unexplored commitment, and identity diffusion. More women were in the active exploration without commitment status than men; no gender differences emerged in the other two statuses. Participants classified into statuses with active exploration and higher commitment also evidenced higher scores on quantitative measures of sexual identity exploration and commitment, respectively. Men evidenced higher quantitative scores than women on identity commitment; there were no gender differences in the quantitative assessment of identity exploration. Findings support the existence of variations and systematic gender-based differences in young adults’ heterosexual identity development.     

奖赏和损失情境下男性海洛因戒断者的风险决策缺陷

摘 要 采用修改版的多伦多赌博任务考察决策情境对海洛因戒断者风险决策的影响。研究结果主要发现,海洛因戒断者在损失情境下的风险寻求决策比率与吸毒年限显著正相关,这种相关提示了风险决策背景下海洛因成瘾者持续使用毒品与其较低的损失敏感性之间的复杂交互作用。其次,海洛因戒断者在做出风险决策后收到消极反馈时的风险规避倾向可以负向预测其风险寻求决策比率,这可能进一步反映了海洛因戒断者风险感知的钝化或其对消极反馈信息的整合加工存在异常。     

Identity Shift in Computer-Mediated Environments

The present study uses a public commitment framework to examine how computer-mediated self-presentations can alter identities. Participants were asked to present with one of two traits, extroversion or introversion, in public or private computer-mediated communication. Public presentations were online, whereas private presentations took place in a text document. Only participants that presented themselves publicly internalized the trait presentation, suggesting that identity shift took place. Public self-presentations also contained more certain and definite forms of language than private self-presentations, suggesting that audiences evoke a more committed form of self-presentation. The findings in this research have important implications for the self-construction of identity online, particularly for individuals that use the Internet as a tool for public self-presentation, such as dating sites, social network sites, or blogs. Also, the findings highlight opportunities for theoretical development on identity construction as a function of computer-mediated communication.     

Clash of the climates: Examining the paradoxical effects of climates for promotion and prevention

Organizations often communicate seemingly paradoxical strategic imperatives to their employees that reflect a focus on promotion (take risks) and prevention (be prudent), as outlined by regulatory focus theory. When consistently emphasized and reinforced in an organization, these strategic inclinations can emerge as divergent climates for promotion and prevention that cloud the organization's perceived identity and reduce collective organizational commitment among employees. With a coherent organizational identity acting as both a sensemaking tool and a means of potential self-enhancement for employees, we use social identity theory to hypothesize that similarly emphasized promotion and prevention climates are negatively related to employees’ collective organizational commitment and indirectly, negatively related to organizational productivity. We test our hypotheses in a sample of 107 manufacturing organizations, using polynomial regression with response surface analysis to examine how similarly emphasized promotion and prevention climates relate to collective commitment and organizational productivity. Our analyses reveal that as organization-level promotion and prevention climate scores became more similar, collective organizational commitment decreases. Furthermore, we find that similarly emphasized promotion and prevention climates are negatively related to organizational productivity via collective commitment. We reconcile these findings with the organizational paradox and ambidexterity literatures and implicate promising avenues for future research.     

Alcohol and Drug Use, and Depression Among Hispanic Men in Early Adulthood

Community research and clinical practice have shown that alcohol and drug use and depression are interrelated. Among Hispanics, acculturation may play a role in these relationships. To investigate these relationships as well as alcohol-related problems, we interviewed 288 Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Colombian men in early adulthood. No significant differences emerged in the proportions of abstainers across the three groups. Colombians drank significantly more frequently and had more alcohol-related problems than Dominicans. Dominicans were at least risk for and least likely to have alcohol-related problems. Puerto Ricans were much more likely to use drugs than the other Hispanic men. Drug use was associated with an increased likelihood of heavy drinking which, in turn, increased the risk of drug use and depression. Acculturation decreased the risk of drug use. Results are discussed in terms of implications for community psychology research and interventions.     

Convergent validity in objective measures of identity status: implications for identity status theory

The present study was conducted to test two primary assumptions of Marcia's identity status model: (a) that measures of the identity statuses would relate to identity exploration and commitment in ways consistent with the definitions of the statuses; and (b) that status assignments made using continuous status measures would converge with those made using exploration and commitment scores. Seven hundred fifty-eight university students (174 males, 560 females, 24 not reporting gender) completed the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire, which is a measure of identity exploration and commitment, and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status II, which provides continuous measures of each identity status. Results provided mixed support for both assumptions of the identity status model. The findings are discussed in light of recent calls for expansion of identity theory and research beyond the identity status model.     

Identity adaptation is mediated and moderated by visualisation ability

Depending on the previous research one reads, face aftereffects may or may not partially transfer across viewpoints. Two experiments are reported that explore this face-identity aftereffect by varying the adaptor type. Adaptation occurs when different views of the identity are used and even when the person's name is the adaptor. Brief exposure or nationality did not produce adaptation. In a third experiment, the role of visualisation was explored. Participants with higher visualisation scores showed greater adaptation to names than those with lower scores. These findings suggest non-facial identity cues can lead to a facial adaptation effect and that visualisation may be the mechanism behind this.     

Understanding the Relationships Among Attitudes, Group Norms, and Behavior Using Behavioral Commitment: A Structural Equation Analysis of Marijuana Use

This research examines the relative importance of attitudes and group norms in determining frequency of marijuana use. In this examination, we employ a neglected concept in attitude/behavior research—behavioral commitment. We suggest that the role of attitudes and group norms will vary, in part, depending upon one's level of commitment to the behavior. Specifically, we assert that norms will increase in importance over attitudes as behavioral commitment increases. To test this hypothesis, we utilize covariance structure analysis with a nationally representative sample of high school seniors defined in terms of their commitment to marijuana use. Multiple group comparisons also are performed to assess the comparability of measurement properties and structural estimates. Results are supportive of the hypothesis. The findings are discussed in terms of previous attitude/behavior research and drug abuse prevention programs.     

Romantic relationship commitment and the threat of alternatives on social media

Although previous findings suggest a link between adults' use of social networking sites (SNS) and relationship commitment, research has been lacking. This study of 427 emerging and young adults (aged 18–32 years, 71.20% female) indicated that exposure to alternative partners on SNS was indirectly related to relationship commitment through the pursuing of alternative partners on SNS. The more frequently they were exposed to alternative partners on SNS, the more they engaged in pursuing these alternative partners, which negatively affected their relationship commitment. Furthermore, a positive relation between exposure and romantic comparison to alternative partners was found. Gender did not moderate these relations. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for relationship development.     

The interactive effects of low self-control and commitment to school on substance abuse among college students

This study examined the combined influence of two predicting factors-low self-control and commitment to schooling-that research has shown have independent effects on substance abuse. In a sample of 598 college students, this study tested the interactive effects of these factors while controlling for other established predictors of binge drinking and drug use. Analysis showed that participants who had both low self-control and low schooling commitment had significantly higher scores on substance abuse than would be expected from the independent influences of the component factors, which suggests that the combined effects of these predictors on substance abuse have a greater influence than their direct influences.     

Determining Normal Deviance: Adolescent Drug Use?

This research examines change in lifetime drug use frequency among three drugs, marijuana, alcohol, and inhalants, and antisocial behaviors using a cohort longitudinal model. Inhalants are the only drugs which use decline with grade level. Focus of the article is whether the use of these three drugs is a normal part of adolescent development. Using three determinants: associations between drug use and grade and scores on an antisocial behavior scale; and percent of abstainers; the authors determined none of the three drugs represent normal deviance. Data are from 2008 thru the 2014 the Caring Communities Youth Survey (CCYS).     

意义治疗的团体辅导对于戒毒者复吸倾向的影响

摘 要: 考察意义治疗的团体辅导对于戒毒者复吸倾向的干预效果。选择生命意义感较低的被试18名进入实验组,并选择与其分数匹配的18名被试组成对照组。后测结果表明,与控制组相比,实验组被试的价值感、效能感、成就感和生命意义感均有显著提升,复吸倾向显著降低。结论: 意义治疗的团体辅导能够显著提高戒毒人员的创造性价值类生命意义源和生命意义感,显著降低其复吸倾向。提升创造价值与对苦难的理解是提高生命意义感的有效途径。     

Expanding the link between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes

The present study examined the differentiated relationship between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes. In previous research, job characteristics were proposed to mediate this relationship. However, the facets of the job characteristics model have not yet been assessed separately. In the present study we tested which job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment in a sample of 199 employees. Results revealed that core self-evaluations were related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Task significance was found to mediate these relationships. These findings are discussed with respect to the level on which people regulate their actions.