Changes in cannabis use in emerging adulthood: The influence of peer network,impulsivity, anxiety and depression

IntroductionCannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug with the highest prevalence reported among 15- to 24-year-olds. This specific period of emerging adulthood constitutes a critical age for substance use and for future consumption. Cannabis use patterns change during college or university and the post-college transition; users are at greater risk of adverse health outcomes (especially if they start or maintain a pattern of frequent use).ObjectivesThe overall aim of this study was to highlight psychological and relational factors that might be associated with changes (including cessation and fluctuation) in cannabis use during this specific period, separately for males and females.MethodsThe subjects were 682 first-year college students (69.94% of female), aged between 18 and 25 years (M = 18.59 years, SD = 1.56). Four groups were formed according to cannabis consumption: “non-users” (54.64%), “desisting users” (14.04%), “fluctuating users” (16.23%), and “persistent users” (15.07%). A self-report questionnaire was administered to evaluate prevalence, frequency and trajectory of use, number of peer cannabis users, alcohol use, impulsivity, anxiety (trait and social) and depression.ResultsFemales appear more sensitive to the romantic partner's consumption than males. For both sexes, having more friends who use cannabis appears to be a determinant. Depression and anxiety were not related to changes in cannabis use. Impulsivity is a significant factor for the maintenance of cannabis use in emerging adulthood, with higher lack of premeditation for males and higher sensation seeking for females among fluctuating and persistent users.ConclusionsResults are discussed in terms of maintenance of use and the spiral of consumption, including clinical implications for prevention and interventions.     

Exposing operations of power in supervisory relationships

Through a poststructural lens, we examine how power may show itself in relationships between supervisees and supervisors, producing both helpful and harmful effects. Drawing from our own experiences, as well as conversations with other members of our supervisory group, we demonstrate how privileged discourses around professional status, gender, and race may bring about difficulties including a sense of doubt, worry, inadequacy, and a fear of speaking up. We also illustrate how these difficulties can be addressed in a manner that may lessen their influence, while increasing supervisees' sense of agency.     

Collaborative helping maps: a tool to guide thinking and action in family-centered services

This article highlights "disciplined improvisation" as a metaphor for community-based work with multi-stressed families. It introduces Collaborative Helping maps as a tool that both helps workers think their way through complex situations with families and provides a structure to support constructive conversations between workers and families about challenging situations. The article illustrates this map through a clinical vignette and uses interviews with workers to highlight ways in which the map can both enhance worker thinking and support constructive conversations between workers and families about problems that could easily divide them and lead to polarization and escalating tension.     

Assessment and treatment of foot-shoe fetish displayed by a man with autism

Results of a functional analysis indicated that a man diagnosed with autism engaged in bizarre sexual behavior in the presence of women wearing sandals. Several treatments proved to be ineffective or impractical. By contrast, a response-interruption/time-out procedure quickly eliminated the problem behavior in multiple settings.     

Negative urgency and risky sexual behaviors: A clarification of the relationship between impulsivity and risky sexual behavior

How does impulsivity relate to risky sexual behavior? Whereas some research has attempted to answer this question in terms of global impulsivity, past research has demonstrated the need to conceptualize impulsivity as a multifaceted trait (Whiteside & Lynam, 2001). Research has been mixed as to which facets of impulsivity predict risky sexual behavior. The major aim of this project was to further the understanding between the five facets of impulsivity (positive urgency, negative urgency, lack of premeditation, sensation-seeking, and lack of perseverance) and risky sexual behavior. This study used a longitudinal design and showed that risky sex was highest among people who act rashly on the basis of negative emotion (negative urgency) and who crave novel, exciting situations (sensation seeking). These findings add to a growing body of literature on the importance of different facets of impulsivity in predicting risky sexual behavior.     

Parents' Differential Treatment of Adolescent Siblings in African American Families

Research on European and European American families suggests that parents' differential treatment of siblings has negative implications for youths' adjustment, but few studies have explored these dynamics in minority samples. This study examined parents' differential acceptance and conflict in a sample of mothers, fathers, and two adolescent siblings in 179 African American families who were interviewed on three annual occasions. In an effort to replicate findings from European and European American samples, we assessed the longitudinal associations between differential treatment and adolescent adjustment and tested three sibling characteristics (birth order, gender, and dyad gender composition) as potential moderators of these linkages. To illuminate the sociocultural context of differential treatment and its implications, we also explored parents' cultural socialization practices and experiences of financial stress as potential moderators of these links. Multilevel models revealed that, controlling for average parent–child relationship qualities, decreases in parental acceptance and increases in parent–youth conflict over time—relative to the sibling—were associated with increases in youths' risky behavior and depressive symptoms. Links between differential treatment and adjustment were not evident, however, when mothers engaged in high levels of cultural socialization and in families under high financial stress. The discussion highlights the significance of sociocultural factors in family dynamics.     

New Sexism in Couple Therapy: A Discursive Analysis

The persistence of gender inequality in postindustrial societies is puzzling in light of a plethora of changes that destabilize it, including shifts in economy, legislation, and the proliferation of feminist politics. In family relations, such persistence manifests as a disconnect between couples aspiring to be more egalitarian yet continuing to enact traditional gender roles and hierarchies. There is an emerging consensus that gender inequality persists because of people's continued reliance on sexist ideology or gendered assumptions that constitute women as innately distinct from and inferior to men. Sexist ideology changes its form to accommodate to changing socio‐economic conditions. Contemporary forms of sexism are old ways of legitimizing male power articulated in new and creative ways, often by incorporating feminist arguments. To effectively recognize and address “new sexism,” scholars and practitioners require new, innovative research frameworks. Our objective in writing this article is two‐fold. First, we seek to advance discursive (i.e., focused on language in use) approaches to the study of sexism. Second, we present the results of a discursive analysis of “new” sexist discourse in the context of couple therapy. The study provides preliminary evidence that, despite endorsing egalitarian norms, couples studied continue to rely on gender binaries and remain entrenched in old‐fashioned patterns of gender inequality. Implications of these results for the practice of couple therapy and for future research are discussed.     

A Multi‐Family Group Intervention for Adolescent Depression: The BEST MOOD Program

Depression is the most common mental disorder for young people, and it is associated with educational underachievement, self‐harm, and suicidality. Current psychological therapies for adolescent depression are usually focused only on individual‐level change and often neglect family or contextual influences. The efficacy of interventions may be enhanced with a broader therapeutic focus on family factors such as communication, conflict, support, and cohesion. This article describes a structured multi‐family group approach to the treatment of adolescent depression: Behaviour Exchange Systems Therapy for adolescent depression (BEST MOOD). BEST MOOD is a manualized intervention that is designed to address both individual and family factors in the treatment of adolescent depression. BEST MOOD adopts a family systems approach that also incorporates psychoeducation and elements of attachment theories. The program consists of eight multifamily group therapy sessions delivered over 2 hours per week, where parents attend the first four sessions and young people and siblings join from week 5. The program design is specifically aimed to engage youth who are initially resistant to treatment and to optimize youth and family mental health outcomes. This article presents an overview of the theoretical model, session content, and evaluations to date, and provides a case study to illustrate the approach.     

Mentalizing Family Violence Part 2: Techniques and Interventions

This is the second of two companion papers that provide an overview of mentalization‐based concepts and techniques when working with the seeming “mindlessness” of intra‐family violence. The focus of this paper is on general mentalization‐oriented approaches and specific interventions that aim to (1) disrupt the non‐mentalizing cycles that can generate intra‐family violence and (2) encourage the emergence of patterns of family interactions that provide the foundation for non‐violent alternatives. Various playful exercises and activities are described, including the taking of “mental state snapshots” and “selfies” in sessions and staging inverted role‐plays, as well as using theatrical masks and creating body–mind maps and scans. These can make “chronic” relationship issues come alive in session and permit “here and now” experiences that generate a safe context for mentalizing to take place. At the core of the work is the continuous focus on integrating experience and reflection. Without acute awareness of the thoughts and feelings occurring in the sessions, mere reflection is not likely to enable change. By increasing mentalizing in the family system, family members’ trusting attitudes grow, both within and outside the family.