Ethnoracial comparisons in anxiety and depression outcomes among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander college students

We explored differences in distress scores at intake as well as the change in anxiety and depression scores over the course of 12 therapy sessions for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students. Data were collected from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (N = 256,242). Results support the notion that NHPI college students experience anxiety and depression in therapy differently from other ethnic groups with moderate-to-large magnitudes of effect.     

A New Multilevel CART Algorithm for Multilevel Data with Binary Outcomes

The multilevel logistic regression model (M-logit) is the standard model for modeling multilevel data with binary outcomes. However, many assumptions and restrictions should be considered when applying this model for unbiased estimation. To overcome these limitations, we proposed a multilevel CART (M-CART) algorithm which combines the M-logit and single level CART (S-CART) within the framework of the expectation-maximization. Simulation results showed that the proposed M-CART provided substantial improvements on classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specific over the M-logit, S-CART, and single level logistic regression model when modeling multilevel data with binary outcomes. This benefit of using M-CART was consistently found across different conditions of sample size, intra-class correlation, and when relationships between predictors and outcomes were nonlinear and nonadditive.     

Perinatal maternal mental health and infant socio-emotional development: A growth curve analysis using the MPEWS cohort

Pregnancy and the early post partum period are widely understood as a critical period for the infant’s emotional development and the earliest influence shaping social interaction. The present study aims to understand the potential influence of both antenatal and postnatal maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms on socio-emotional outcomes in offspring aged 12 months. The study used longitudinal data from a prospective cohort study on Australian pregnant women and their children. Data were available for 282 mothers and their children. Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms were measured in early pregnancy, trimester three of pregnancy, six and 12 months postpartum. Social and emotional development in children was measured using the Brief Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) at 12 months. Using growth curve analysis of 4 waves of repeated measurement to examine intercept and slope, we found that both initial maternal depression and anxiety symptom levels, and the growth of these symptoms over time, predicted more problems with children’s social and emotional development. In the final model anxiety accounted for 19% of the variance in child socio-emotional problems and depression 23% of variance. The results emphasise the importance of perinatal maternal mental health as a potential risk factor for child development. This carries important implications for policy development, such as the need to build early identification and early intervention models in to the current clinical practice for perinatal care, specifically, to develop targeted screening, assessment and interventions to address maternal mental health issues for at-risk parents during pregnancy, and continuing monitoring of young children whose mothers have experienced perinatal mental health difficulties.     

Similarity to prototypical heavy drinkers and non-drinkers predicts AUDIT-C and risky drinking in young adults: prospective study

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore whether constructs within the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) predicted risky drinking as measured by AUDIT-C, drinking harms and unplanned drunkenness in a sample of UK young adults. Previous studies exploring the PWM often do not use validated measures of alcohol consumption, and the outcomes of risky drinking are underexplored. Design: An online prospective study design with 4 week follow-up was employed and 385 young adults completed the study (M age?=?21.76, SD?=?3.39, 69.6% female; 85.2% students). Main outcome measures: Intentions to get drunk, AUDIT-C, drinking harms experienced in the last 4 weeks, and unplanned drunkenness in the last 4 weeks. Results: Heavy and non-drinker prototype similarity predicted AUDIT-C, drinking harms and unplanned drunkenness when controlling for past behaviour and reasoned action pathway constructs. Intentions and willingness both mediated the relationship between prototype perceptions and AUDIT-C. Conclusion: This study supports the use of the PWM in the prediction of AUDIT-C, drinking harms and unplanned drinking in a UK sample. Prototype perceptions influenced behaviour via both reasoned and reactive cognitions. Targeting similarity to heavy and non-drinker prototypes should be the focus of future interventions in this population.     

The relationship between self-efficacy,readiness to change,and AUDIT risk levels in a sample of active duty emergency department patients

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between self-efficacy, readiness to change, and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) risk levels in a sample of active duty drinkers who were seeking care in a military emergency department. Civilian health educators screened participants for alcohol use with the AUDIT and collected sociodemographic, service, and drinking-related cognitions data from active duty patients admitted to an emergency department. A total of 787 active duty military personnel participated in the study. Almost half (48%) drank at least once a week and 32% reported consuming five or more alcoholic drinks during a typical drinking episode. One in five participants reported heavy episodic drinking weekly to almost daily. Results of a multinomial logistic regression model showed that active duty service members with a self-reported diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder since joining the military were more likely to be an at-risk or high/severe risk drinker relative to a low risk drinker. Higher controlled drinking self-efficacy was associated with a decrease in the odds of being either an at-risk or high/severe risk drinker. Increased readiness to reduce drinking was associated with an increase in the odds of being either an at risk or high/severe risk drinker. The results of this research suggest self-efficacy to control one’s heavy drinking as well as readiness to change may be important factors to consider when designing alcohol education programs within the military.     

No evidence that alcohol intoxication impairs judgments of learning in face recognition

Alcohol use is frequently involved in crime, making it crucial to understand the role of alcohol in facial recognition to maximize correct perpetrator identifications. Although the majority of the alcohol and face recognition research has investigated recognition with retrospective confidence judgments, we examined the effects of alcohol intoxication on face recognition with prospective metacognitive judgments. Participants (N = 54 university students without a history of hazardous alcohol/substance use) consumed either alcohol (mean breath alcohol concentration of 0.06 at pretest and 0.07 at post‐test) or a non‐alcoholic placebo drink. Participants then studied unfamiliar male and female faces and made judgments of learning (JOLs) for each face (i.e., predicted the likelihood of recognizing that face on a future memory test). After a brief distractor task, participants completed an old–new recognition test on which they attempted to distinguish the studied faces from new faces. It was found that the alcohol manipulation had minimal effect on face recognition performance or judgments of learning. Our results suggest that theory‐based cues about the effects of alcohol might play a greater role in retrospective judgments than prospective judgments. Although not a primary focus of the study, face recognition was better for male faces than female faces, and this occurred for both female and male participants. Limitations and implications of the research are discussed.     

And one more for the road: Commentary on the Special Issue on alcohol and eyewitness memory

Studies examining the influence of alcohol intoxication have reported mixed findings on whether it impairs eyewitness memory. Although the studies in this Special Issue investigated different questions and tested different variables, the findings of these studies collectively provide insight into mechanisms and methodological issues that may explain the ambiguous findings of alcohol intoxication and eyewitness memory. In this commentary, we first describe the experimental studies of this Special Issue. We then discuss four mechanisms that could underlie those mixed findings (alcohol myopia, disinhibition, hypervigilance, and metacognitive processes at retrieval). Last, we address methodological issues that may have contributed to those ambiguous findings (i.e., alcohol intoxication levels, automatic processing of stimuli, sensitivity of dependent variables, and possible interactions with arousal) and provide suggestions for future research to address these issues.     

Efficacy of a Brief,School‐Based Bystander Bullying Intervention on High School Students' Alcohol Use

The authors examined the efficacy of a brief bystander bullying intervention on reducing alcohol use among high school students (N = 61). As hypothesized, high‐risk drinkers in the intervention group reported reduced drinking compared with control students at a 30‐day follow‐up.     

The relationship between religion and health-related behaviours in patients with borderline personality disorder

With addictive disorders frequently co-occurring among patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), exploring factors that may influence health-related behaviours, like religious involvement, is important. This study assesses whether religious involvement is associated with smoking and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in BPD subjects. This study used data from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), which used the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule–DSM-IV (AUDADIS-IV) as its assessment instrument. The AUDADIS-IV assessed personality disorders, tobacco usage, the presence of AUDs, and religious involvement. Attending a place of worship and weekly or more frequent worship attendance were significantly associated with reduced likelihood of current smoking and AUDs among BPD subjects. AUDs were also significantly less common in those reporting higher subjective religiousness. In conclusion, people with BPD who are religiously inclined are less likely to engage in addictive behaviours, specifically smoking and AUDs.