Perceiving college peers’ alcohol consumption: temporal patterns and individual differences in overestimation

Objective: This study examines temporal patterns and individual differences of overestimation in alcohol norm perception within a social network.

Design: Hundred psychology freshmen indicated biweekly during their first semester the drinks they consumed, the perceived average of their peers’ consumption, and with whom they were acquainted. At baseline, trait self-control was assessed.

Main outcome: The moderation of alcohol consumption overestimation by time and individual characteristics was explored.

Results: Results show that students overestimated alcohol consumption of their acquainted peers by 1.22 drinks (p?<?.001). For time periods at which peers reported high consumption, overestimation decreased. Additionally, individuals reporting high alcohol consumption (b?=??0.25, p?<?.001) and low self-control (b?=?0.27, p?=?.010) showed higher overestimation.

Conclusions: Students overestimate the alcohol consumption of peers not fully accounting for changes in peer-reports. Furthermore, individual differences suggest informational and motivational processes underlying overestimation.     

The cost of treating substance use disorders: individual versus family therapy

This study examined the cost of substance use disorders treatment in a large healthcare organization. A survival analysis demonstrated that family therapy utilised the least number of sessions (M = 2.41) when treating substance use disorders followed by individual therapy (M = 3.38) and mixed therapy (M = 6.40). Family therapy was the least costly of the three types, at $124.55 per episode of care for a client, with individual therapy costing $170.22 and mixed therapy $319.55. The ratio of family therapists utilising family therapy was more than three to one compared to other licensed professionals. The percentages of clients coming back for more than one episode of care are fewest for family therapy (8.9%) followed by mixed therapy (9.5%) and individual therapy (12.0%).     

Fetal exposure to androgens,as indicated by digit ratios (2D:4D), increases men’s agreeableness with women

The ratio of the length of the second finger, or digit, to the fourth finger (2D:4D) is influenced by fetal exposure to androgens; a smaller ratio indicates greater androgen exposure. We used event contingent recording to investigate the relation between the 2D:4D ratio and social behavior. Participants completed multiple records of their behavior in events in naturalistic settings; records included information about situational features such as the gender of the person with whom the person was interacting. Men were more agreeable towards women than men; this effect was significantly greater in those with smaller 2D:4D ratios. Men with smaller 2D:4D ratios were also less quarrelsome towards women than towards men. The 2D:4D ratio did not influence social behavior in women. The hormonal environment in which the male fetal brain develops may influence adult social behavior in specific contexts.     

Does adolescent heavier alcohol use predict young adult aggression and delinquency? Parallel analyses from four Australasian cohort studies

While the association between heavy alcohol consumption and aggression has been well documented, the causal direction of this association, particularly at a population level, is disputed. A number of causal sequences have been proposed. First, that aggression leads to heavy alcohol use. Second, that heavy alcohol use leads to aggression. Third, that the association between alcohol use and aggression is due to confounding by (a) sociodemographic variables or (b) delinquency. We report here data from four Australasian prospective longitudinal studies of adolescents, to assess the temporal sequence of heavy drinking and aggression over the period from adolescence to young adulthood. The four cohort studies provide a total sample of 6,706 persons (Australian Temperament Project, n = 1701; Christchurch Health and Development Study, n = 931; Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, n = 2437; Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study, n = 1637). We use multinomial logistic regression to determine whether early adolescent aggression predicts subsequent age of onset of heavy episodic drinking (HED), after adjustment for concurrent sociodemographic factors and delinquency. We then consider whether HED predicts subsequent aggression, after adjusting for past aggression, concurrent delinquency, and a range of confounders. There are broadly consistent findings across the four cohort studies. Early aggression strongly predicts subsequent HED. HED predicts later aggression after adjustment for prior aggression and other confounders. Policies that alter population levels of alcohol consumption are likely to impact on levels of aggression in societies where HED linked to aggression is more common.     

Self-Regulation Failure Reduces the Effect Alcohol Portrayals in Movies on Indirect Attitudes toward Alcohol

Abstract

We investigated the cognitive mechanisms underlying change in implicit cognitions following exposure to alcohol portrayals. More precisely, we tested in an experimental study whether this change depends on controlled or automatic processes by putting participants in a state of self-regulatory fatigue prior to being exposed to alcohol portrayals. Ninety participants were randomly assigned to a 2 (attitude measure: before vs after) × 2 (alcohol portrayal: yes vs no) × 2 (ego depletion: yes vs no) mixed design to assess whether the effects of alcohol portrayals affected cognitive resources. It was hypothesized that alcohol portrayals would have more of an impact on participants submitted to an ego-depletion task. We found a change in attitudes toward alcohol only for participants that had been exposed to alcohol portrayals, and who had not been cognitively depleted. These results suggest that these changes rely on controlled, resource-dependent processes rather than on purely associative and automatic processes. Implications regarding alcohol advertising effects on public health are discussed.     

Exploring inhibitory deficits in female premutation carriers of fragile X syndrome: Through eye movements

There is evidence which demonstrates that a subset of males with a premutation CGG repeat expansion (between 55 and 200 repeats) of the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene exhibit subtle deficits of executive function that progressively deteriorate with increasing age and CGG repeat length. However, it remains unclear whether similar deficits, which may indicate the onset of more severe degeneration, are evident in female PM-carriers. In the present study we explore whether female PM-carriers exhibit deficits of executive function which parallel those of male PM-carriers. Fourteen female fragile X premutation carriers without fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and fourteen age, sex, and IQ matched controls underwent ocular motor and neuropsychological tests of select executive processes, specifically of response inhibition and working memory. Group comparisons revealed poorer inhibitory control for female premutation carriers on ocular motor tasks, in addition to demonstrating some difficulties in behaviour self-regulation, when compared to controls. A negative correlation between CGG repeat length and antisaccade error rates for premutation carriers was also found. Our preliminary findings indicate that impaired inhibitory control may represent a phenotype characteristic which may be a sensitive risk biomarker within this female fragile X premutation population.