Moderators of the Dynamic Link Between Alcohol Use and Aggressive Behavior among Adolescent Males

Although longitudinal evidence has linked alcohol use with aggressive behavior during adolescence, most studies have failed to adequately control for the numerous between-individual differences that may underlie this association. In addition, few studies of adolescents have examined whether the nature of the within-individual association between alcohol use and aggression depends on individual and contextual factors. To address these limitations, this study examined the association between within-individual changes in alcohol use and aggressive behavior across adolescence and determined whether impulsive behavior, positive attitudes toward violence, violent peers, neighborhood crime, and race moderated this association. Data from 971 adolescent males assessed annually from ages 13 to 18 were analyzed using a within-individual regression panel model that eliminated all stable between-individual factors as potential confounds. Findings indicated that within-individual increases in alcohol use quantity from one’s own typical levels of drinking were concurrently associated with within-individual increases in aggressive behavior, and vice versa. However, increases in alcohol were more strongly linked to increases in aggressive behavior among boys with attitudes favoring violence and those who lived in high-crime neighborhoods. The association between alcohol and aggressive behavior was similar for White and Black young men. Interventions designed to reduce aggressive behaviors should consider targeting not only alcohol use, but also individual and environmental risk factors that contribute to this link.     

The Inescapability of Ethics and the Impossibility of “Anything Goes”: A Constructivist Model of Ethical Meaning Making

A constructivist model of ethical meaning making is developed. The effort begins by distinguishing three versions of constructivist theory—personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism. Then, the following four premises of an integrated constructivist perspective are presented: (a) People are informationally closed systems, (b) people are active meaning makers, (c) people are social beings, and (d) people construe epistemologically and ontologically. These premises are used to examine and counter criticisms that portray constructivism as endorsing an “anything goes” relativism. This clears a space for the development of a constructivist model of ethical meaning making, outlined in the final section of the article. This model is rooted in personal construct psychology, but is also influenced by radical constructivism and social constructionism.     

Inattention as a key predictor of tobacco use in adolescence

The authors examined the prediction from inattention to tobacco use among 2 cohorts (ages 7 and 13) of a community sample followed to young adulthood. Changes in self-reported tobacco use were tested with marginal transitional regression models, using parent and teacher ratings of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and other psychopathology, along with other factors, as predictors. Inattention, but not hyperactivity-impulsivity, significantly predicted adolescent tobacco use and young adult daily tobacco use. Peer substance use, parental substance use, and conduct disorder also predicted increases in tobacco use. African American ethnicity was strongly protective against later tobacco use.     

Personal construct theory and the argument against mental illness

An attempt is made to integrate Thomas Szasz's 0974) theory of personal conduct and George Kelly's (1955) theory of personal constructs (PCT). It is argued that PCT provides an alternative to the void left behind by Szasz's negation of mental illness. Because PCT is concerned with psychological, rather than physiological, constructions of problems in living, it is not compatible with the biological model associated with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnostic categories. Rather, it is in keeping with the views of Szasz. Kelly's and Szasz's writings are used to support this view. Kelly's transitive diagnosis approach to “mental illness”, wherein diagnosis and therapy are construed as process oriented as opposed to category driven, is described as an alternative to the biological model. A contextualist approach (Sarbin & Mancuso, 1980) is also discussed. These approaches not only empower clients and allow them to assert responsibility and control over their lives, but also provide an alternative system to the one rejected by Szasz.     

Prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders among nonclinical compulsive checkers and noncheckers in a college student sample.

The prevalence of lifetime DSM-III-R disorders was assessed in a sample of 100 college students who were classified as compulsive checkers (n = 50) or noncheckers (n = 50) on the basis of their responses to the Checking subscale of the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI). DSM-III-R disorders were assessed on the basis of responses to the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, Version III Revised (DIS-III-R), administered by trained, lay interviewers, blind to Ss' checking status. Checkers, compared to noncheckers, were significantly more likely to meet lifetime diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Episode, Drug Abuse/Dependence, and Social Phobia. Analysis of a subsample (n = 74) selected on the basis of the consistency of responses to the MOCI across two administrations replicated the above effects, with two exceptions: (1) checkers were more likely to meet criteria for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder than were noncheckers, and (2) for males, but not females, Simple Phobia was more prevalent among checkers than among noncheckers. These findings extend our previous work by demonstrating that 'nonclinical' checking behavior is associated with a broad range of psychological syndromes and may, in fact, be more strongly associated with other disorders than it is with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in a nonclinical sample.     

Anxiety as a Predictor of Age at First Use of Substances and Progression to Substance Use Problems Among Boys

This study examined associations of generalized and social anxiety with (1) age at first use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and (2) interval from first use to first problem use of each substance. Participants were 503 males who comprised the youngest cohort (first assessed in the first grade) of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal community-based study of boys. Annual assessments of generalized and social anxiety, delinquency, and substance use from first grade through high school were included. Both types of anxiety predicted earlier first use of alcohol and tobacco, and generalized anxiety predicted earlier first use of marijuana. Both types of anxiety predicted the progression from first use to problems related to marijuana. The effect of generalized anxiety tended to be significant above and beyond the effect of delinquency, while the effect of social anxiety on risk for first use of substances was not. Overall, the associations between anxiety and substance use and related problems depend on the class of substance and the type of anxiety.