Alcohol use and stress in women: The role of prior vs. anticipated stressors

The present study investigated stress-related drinking in women. Alcohol consumption in response to stress and in anticipation of a stressor was examined to evaluate women's use of alcohol to cope with stress. Subjects were assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 × 2 factorial design in which order of alcohol consumption and stress task as well as stress level was manipulated. Findings indicate that subjects did not consume alcohol to cope with the effects of either a prior stressor or an upcoming stressor. These results suggest the need for further refinement of notions concerning women's use of alcohol to cope with stress.     

The Impact of Religious Coping on the Acculturative Stress and Alcohol Use of Recent Latino Immigrants

Religion plays a prominent role in Latino culture and could be influential during difficult life transitions, such as those experienced during the immigration process. This study examines relations between religious coping, acculturative stress, and alcohol use in a sample of 415 recent Latino immigrants. Higher levels of acculturative stress were associated more positive and negative religious coping. Positive religious coping was related to lower alcohol use. Negative religious coping moderated the relationship between acculturative stress and alcohol use. Participants who used more negative religious coping had higher rates of alcohol use when experiencing high levels acculturative stress. Implications for culturally tailored prevention/interventions are discussed.     

Reducing Social Stress in Urban Adolescents with Peer Network Counseling

Increased social stress in the context of peer interactions is associated with multiple negative health outcomes, including substance use. Addressing social stress could provide protective effects for adolescents who are particularly vulnerable to peer-based issues such as loneliness and perceived isolation. Toward this end, we examined the efficacy of a 20-min substance use intervention named peer network counseling to reduce social stress with 119 urban adolescents. Adolescents presenting at primary care clinics were randomized into treatment or control conditions and followed for 6 months. Utilizing a repeated measures general linear model, we examined the effects of peer network counseling while controlling for race, gender, age, depression symptoms, and substance use (alcohol, marijuana). At 6 months the peer network counseling condition decreased social stress compared to controls (p?<?0.05). A linear mixed-effects moderation model revealed that peer network counseling temporarily moderated the effect of alcohol use, but not for marijuana or heavy alcohol use. Peer network counseling seems to reduce social stress, which suppresses alcohol use among peer network counseling participants in the short term. These promising findings appear to support the efficacy of peer network counseling in reducing social stress, which can moderate alcohol use among urban adolescents.     

PTSD and PTSD-Linked Victimization Sensitivity as Risk Factors for Alcohol Use among Juvenile Offenders: A Group-Based Trajectory Modeling Approach

Research has indicated that post-traumatic stress disorder is linked to heightened levels of alcohol use. Sensitivity to strain may increase alcohol use as a coping strategy among this population. Using the Pathways to Desistance dataset, this research examines these effects among juvenile offenders and the experience of victimization as strain. Results indicated a near tripling of the relative risk of assignment to the high alcohol use group if one had ever met clinical criteria for the disorder at baseline. There was a significant interaction between ever meeting clinical criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder and experiencing victimization during an observation period.     

压力性生活事件对青少年烟酒使用的影响：基本心理需要和应对方式的链式中介作用

采用压力性生活事件量表、基本心理需要量表、特质应对方式问卷和烟酒使用问卷对867名青少年进行调查,考察了基本心理需要和积极应对方式、消极应对方式在压力性生活事件与烟酒使用关系中的链式中介效应。结果表明：（1）基本心理需要是压力性生活事件与青少年烟酒使用之间的中介变量;（2）积极应对方式、消极应对方式是基本心理需要与青少年烟酒使用之间的中介变量。因此,基本心理需要和积极应对方式、消极应对方式在压力性生活事件与青少年烟酒使用之间起链式中介作用。研究结论对青少年烟酒使用的预防和干预具有重要价值。     

DAILY WORK STRESS AND ALCOHOL USE: TESTING THE CROSS-LEVEL MODERATION EFFECTS OF NEUROTICISM AND JOB INVOLVEMENT

Employee alcohol use has been shown to be prevalent and have potential detrimental effects for both employees' health and work outcomes. In this study, we used a daily telephone interview to investigate the relationships between work stress and alcohol use in a sample of Chinese workers. The results from multilevel modeling showed that daily work stress was significantly related to daily alcohol use and desire to drink. Further, there were significant interindividual variations in the work stress–alcohol use/desire to drink relationships that were predicted by neuroticism and job involvement. Both theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

Substance use and symptomatology among adolescent children of alcoholics.

This study assessed the magnitude and specificity of parental alcoholism as a risk factor for internalizing symptomatology, externalizing symptomatology, and alcohol and drug use in adolescence. We evaluated parents' and children's reports of symptomatology and children's reports of alcohol and drug use in a community sample of 454 adolescents. The results showed that parental alcoholism was a moderate to strong risk factor, with stronger risk associated with recent (rather than remitted) parental alcoholism. Multivariate analyses showed that the specificity of risk varied with the outcome measure. In predicting externalizing symptomatology, the risk associated with parental alcoholism was mediated by co-occurring parental psychopathology and environmental stress. However, in predicting alcohol use, the father's alcoholism was a specific risk factor above and beyond the more generalized effects of stress and family disruption.     

The Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Behavior: Rodent and Primate Studies

The use of alcohol by women during pregnancy is a continuing problem. In this review the behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol from animal models are described and related to studies of children and adults with FASD. Studies with monkeys and rodents show that prenatal alcohol exposure adversely affects neonatal orienting, attention and motor maturity, as well as activity level, executive function, response inhibition, and sensory processing later in life. The primate moderate dose behavioral findings fill an important gap between human correlational data and rodent mechanistic research. These animal findings are directly translatable to human findings. Moreover, primate studies that manipulated prenatal alcohol exposure and prenatal stress independently show that prenatal stress exacerbates prenatal alcohol-induced behavioral impairments, underscoring the need to consider stress-induced effects in fetal alcohol research. Studies in rodents and primates show long-term effects of prenatal and developmental alcohol exposure on dopamine system functioning, which could underpin the behavioral effects.     

Use of abnormal and health psychology as topics in a classroom format to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse among college students at risk

This study was done to assess whether classes containing topics derived from two college courses, Abnormal Psychology and Health Psychology, could be used in a class room format to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse among at-risk college students. Topics covered included stress and stress management, alcohol and other drug use and abuse, chronic illnesses and psychological disorders that develop from an unhealthy lifestyle, and factors that play a role in good health and well-being. Students were enrolled in a semester-long course for college credit as an alternative to punitive sanctions for on-campus alcohol violations and other drug violations. The Midwest Institute on Drug Use Survey and the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey were administered on the first and last days of class. Analysis indicated a significant self-reported reduction in drug use and associated negative symptoms and behavioral effects. Women were more likely to report reductions in drug use than men.     

Irrational Beliefs and Behavioral Misregulation in the Role of Alcohol Abuse Among College Students

Two hundred three alcohol-using college students completed a questionnaire on their levels of alcohol use, moderate to severe problems with alcohol use, and measures of life stress, impulsivity, compulsivity, irrational beliefs, and depression. While impulsivity significantly predicted both alcohol use and problems, stress, compulsivity, irrational beliefs, and depression were found to only be significant predictors of alcohol use problems. When irrational beliefs, impulsivity, and compulsivity were combined to form an irrational coping scale, this construct was found in multiple regression analyses to completely mediate the effect of stress on alcohol use problems, while depression was a partial mediator of this effect. Results were interpreted in terms of Rational Emotive Behavior Theory.     

Posttraumatic stress severity is associated with coping motives for alcohol use among in-patient and community recruited adolescents

Background and Objectives: A growing body of work suggests individuals with more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are at higher risk for developing problematic alcohol use outcomes. Extending work from the adult literature, the present study was the first to examine the extent to which PTSS is related to drinking motives for alcohol use in both clinical and non-clinical samples of adolescents.

Design: Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict coping motives for alcohol use from PTSS, above and beyond demographic variables, alcohol use frequency, and other alcohol use motives.

Methods: Trauma-exposed adolescents before entering treatment (Sample 1 n?=?41) and recruited from the local community (Sample 2 n?=?55) self-reported on PTSS and alcohol use motives.

Results: PTSS positively predicted coping motives for alcohol use after controlling for age, gender, and alcohol use frequency.

Conclusions: The current study highlights the need to consider both PTSS severity, as well as underlying cognitive mechanisms (e.g., motives), to better understand the etiology of problematic alcohol use among trauma-exposed youth. Future work focused on clarifying the trajectory of alcohol use motives and problems as a function of PTSS is needed.     

Guest referees for 17(4)

Background and objectives: Although intimate partner violence (IPV) has demonstrated strong associations with anxiety and posttraumatic stress, these constructs have rarely been examined simultaneously in IPV research. Gaps in knowledge remain as to their differential associations to substance use problems among IPV-victimized women. Design: A sample of 143 community women self-reported on their current IPV victimization, mental health and substance use problems. Method: Hierarchical entry multiple regressions were used to test for the direct and indirect effects of psychological, physical, and sexual IPV to alcohol and drug problems through anxiety and posttraumatic stress. Results: Higher anxiety symptom severity and higher physical IPV severity were associated with greater alcohol and drug problems. Higher posttraumatic stress symptom severity was associated with greater alcohol and drug problems. Mediation analyses indicated (i) significant indirect pathways of IPV types to alcohol problems through posttraumatic stress symptom severity controlling for anxiety symptom severity and (ii) significant indirect pathways of IPV types to drug problems through anxiety symptom severity controlling for posttraumatic stress symptom severity. Conclusions: In examining the indirect pathways of psychological, physical, and sexual IPV to substance use problems this study highlights that anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptom severity have unique effects on alcohol and drug problems among IPV-victimized women.     

Comorbidity of substance dependence and depression: role of life stress and self-efficacy in sustaining abstinence.

The authors examined life stress and self-efficacy as predictors of time to relapse for 113 adults with comorbid major depressive disorder and alcohol and/or substance dependence in a randomized clinical trial comparing 2 psychotherapy interventions (integrated cognitive- behavioral therapy and 12-step facilitation therapy). Life stress, self-efficacy, and substance use were assessed at treatment entry, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (end of treatment). Time to relapse was defined as the number of days from treatment initiation until first alcohol and/or drug use. Half of the sample relapsed within the study period of 24 weeks. There was no significant difference between treatment groups. Individuals experiencing life stressors were more likely to relapse early than those not experiencing life stressors. Lower self-efficacy also predicted earlier relapse. Chronic stress levels and self-efficacy were stable across time for most individuals. In contrast, acute stress events occurred at differing times, and survival analyses provided evidence of heightened relapse risk in the month following acute stressors. The interaction of self-efficacy and life stress was not significant. The results highlight the significance of life stress and self-efficacy as predictors of early relapse.     

Emotional health predictors of substance use initiation during middle school

This study aimed to evaluate whether emotional health factors, including anxiety and depression, stress, and social support, are associated with earlier youth initiation of alcohol and illicit substances during middle school (from the sixth to the eighth grade). Data for this study were from the Developmental Pathways Project, a longitudinal study of 521 youth sampled from the Seattle Public Schools. Discrete time survival analyses were used to assess the effects of depression, anxiety, stress, and support on initiation of substance use, measured every 6 months at five time points between sixth and eighth grade. Youth who had initiated prior to sixth grade had significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms. In multivariate survival analyses controlling for child race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and accounting for conduct problems, youth who reported higher levels of separation anxiety/panic symptoms were at decreased risk for early alcohol initiation. Children with higher levels of perceived teacher support had a significantly lower risk of alcohol initiation during early follow-up periods. Recent stressful life events in Grade 6 were associated with significantly greater risk of initiating an illicit substance by Grade 8. The current findings highlight the role of stress in the initiation of illicit substance use and suggest that teacher support is associated with lower risk for very early alcohol use. Future research examining anxiety as a predictor of substance use should distinguish between subtypes of anxiety.     

Acute effects of alcohol on cardiovascular reactivity to stress in college-age Type A (coronary prone) individuals

Healthy college-age males and females classified as Type A or Type B were randomly assigned to an alcohol (N=24) or a no-alcohol condition (N=24). Subjects were exposed to a verbal stress quiz while blood pressure, heart rate, peripheral vascular response (PVR), and self-reported anxiety indices were monitored. Results indicated that alcohol effected a reduction in resting levels of systolic blood pressure and a tonic reduction in the peripheral vascular response. Alcohol attenuated the systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and PVR to stress and efffected a decrease in anxiety following the Stressor. When analyzed relative to the participants' drinking experience, data indicated that the strongest stress-modulating effect of alcohol was evidenced by Type A subjects who have been identified as long-term drinkers. During recovery from stress Type A subjects identified as short-term drinkers maintained high levels of PVR. Types A and B subjects who did not ingest alcohol evidenced high PVR levels during stress. The findings are discussed in terms of the protective action of moderate chronic alcohol use on cardiovascular disease risk reduction in persons evidencing the coronary-prone behavior pattern.     

Are work stressors related to employee substance use? The importance of temporal context assessments of alcohol and illicit drug use

In this study, the author explored the relations of 2 work stressors (work overload and job insecurity) to employee alcohol use and illicit drug use. The primary goal was to explore the importance of temporal context (before work, during the workday, and after work) in the assessment of substance use compared with context-free (overall) assessments. Data were collected from a national sample of U.S. workers (N = 2,790) who took part in a broad cross-sectional survey on workplace health and safety. Consistent with past research, the results fail to support a relation between work stressors and overall measures of alcohol and illicit drug use. However, the results support the relation of work stressors to alcohol and illicit drug use before work, during the workday, and after work. These results provide support for both the stress-induced substance use and stress response dampening propositions of the tension-reduction hypothesis. When exploring the work environment as a potential cause of employee substance use, these results underscore the importance of measures that assess alcohol and illicit drug use in terms of their temporal relation to the workday.     

Stress and Alcohol,Cigarette, and Marijuana Use Among Latino Adolescents in Families with Undocumented Immigrants

Families in which one or more members are undocumented immigrants experience unique hardships. Yet, little is known about stress and substance use among adolescents growing up in these families. The present study examined associations between two sources of adolescent stress (i.e., low parental involvement due to contextual constraints and family economic insecurity) and lifetime alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among adolescents in families with undocumented members. The sample was comprised of 102 adolescents (10–18 years old) and one of his or her parents. Participants responded a survey in English or Spanish. Adolescent lifetime use of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana was 51, 32.4, and 37.3 %, respectively. Chi-square analyses found no significant gender differences in lifetime substance use. Logistic regression models showed that adolescent stress due to hindered parental involvement increased the odds of both lifetime cigarette and marijuana use after controlling for gender, age, linguistic acculturation, familism, parental control, and negative peer affiliation. Being a girl increased the odds of lifetime alcohol use. Family economic stress was not associated with lifetime substance use. Results suggest that hindered parental involvement might be a stressor and a risk factor for cigarette and marijuana use among adolescents growing up in families with undocumented members. Because parents in these families are likely to be undocumented, policies that allow immigrants to apply for legal status could improve parents’ working conditions and facilitate parental involvement; in turn, such policies could decrease the risk for adolescent substance use among children of Latino immigrants.     

Impulsivity and Alcohol Use Coping Motives in a Trauma-Exposed Sample: The Mediating Role of Distress Tolerance

The present investigation examined the mediating role of distress tolerance in the association between impulsivity and alcohol use coping motives among trauma-exposed individuals. Participants were 86 adults (64.3% women; M(age) = 23.4, SD = 9.3) who met the DSM-IV-TR posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criterion A for at least one traumatic life event and endorsed alcohol use in the past month. Distress tolerance at least partially mediated the association between impulsivity and alcohol use coping motives, after controlling for the variance explained by PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use problems. Clinical implications and future directions related to this line of inquiry are presented and discussed.     

Predictors of Coping with Work Stress: The Influences of Sex,Gender Role,Social Desirability,and Locus of Control

This investigation examined the influence of 4 personal attributes—sex, gender role, social desirability, and locus of control—as predictors of coping with work stress. Participants were 208 employed adult students (154 females and 54 males), primarily European Americans (90.4%) from working-class backgrounds. Theresults indicated that men were more likely to use alcohol and women more likely to use direct action. Femininity and/or masculinity scores predicted control-related coping butwere unrelated to escape-related coping. High social desirability scores predicted direct action coping, whereas low scores predicted alcohol use. In terms of locus of control, an internal orientation predicted help-seeking and positive thinking, a powerful others orientation predicted avoidance/resignation, and a chance orientation predicted alcohol use.     

Health needs and concerns of male adolescents

Lifestyle factors established within the family help determine health-care functioning. Adolescents first may be challenged to meet their own health needs as freshmen in college. A 153-item questionnaire was utilized to examine concerns in the areas of alcohol and other drug use, auto safety, weight and dieting, smoking, sexuality, coping and stress, and selection and utilization of health-care services. One hundred fifty-nine male college students responded. Major problems with alcohol use, auto safety, weight control, stress and sexuality were identified. Positive lifestyle factors that were strongly supported included regular exercise, nonsmoking, regular medical and dental checkups, and the development of some support systems to cope with stress. Health-care services designated by respondents to meet their own needs were significantly different from those services they pointed out as needed for their peers.