Factor Structure, Reliability, and Construct Validity of the Wellness Inventory.

Objective: Wellness has been associated with various general medical and mental health outcomes; however, few empirically supported measures capture the breadth of the wellness construct. The first author had previously developed the Wellness Inventory through an iterative process with key stakeholders to establish face and content validity and examined the psychometric properties of the Wellness Inventory as a tool for assessing wellness across eight dimensions.

Methods: The authors assessed the Wellness Inventory by using data from self-report online surveys in three samples of data collected from two groups of respondents: students and faculty members in a public university and behavioral health providers (N=3,446; 50% White and 43% female).

Behavioral Exposure for Interoceptive Tolerance (BE-FIT): A stage II randomized clinical trial protocol.

Background: Exercise anxiety is a novel mechanism related to non-adherence to exercise and lifestyle physical activity. We developed a cognitive-behavioral treatment, Behavioral Exposure For Interoceptive Tolerance (BE-FIT), which is a manualized, values-based exposure intervention designed to target exercise anxiety that is delivered as a supplement to outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

Method: We describe a Stage II randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test BE-FIT, compared to a Health Education Control (HEC) intervention on exercise and physical activity outcomes at end-of-treatment (EOT) and follow-ups (Weeks 12, 18, and 24), and evaluate mechanisms of change (i.

An exploratory analysis of drinking motives and alcohol-related problems among Hispanic college students.

The increase in college enrollment for Hispanic college students warrants increased attention to their health and wellness. Given that a common threat to health and well-being in college students is alcohol use and that Hispanic college students are at elevated risk for alcohol-related problems, it is essential to investigate factors that might lead to heightened alcohol-related problems among this population. The present study is a secondary data analysis of an NIAAA-funded study investigating brief interventions for alcohol use among 583 heavy-drinking college students.

Testing a brief, self-guided values affirmation for behavioral activation intervention during COVID-19.

This pilot study tested a single-session digital values affirmation for behavioral activation (VABA) intervention. Hypotheses predicted the VABA intervention would be more effective than an active control condition in improving mood, decreasing COVID-19 fear/worry and depressive symptoms, and promoting positively reinforcing behaviors during early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were a diverse sample of undergraduate students ( = 296) under a state-wide lockdown.

A systematic review of the associations between protective behavioral strategies and heavy alcohol consumption and consequences among young adults.

Objective: We systematically reviewed the literature to assess the association between use of alcohol protective behavioral strategies (PBS) and young adult heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences.

Method: We followed the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis guidelines to select and review research studies that were comprised of a sample of young adults ages 18-26, included PBS derived from one of 10 validated scales as an independent variable, measured heavy alcohol use or alcohol consequences as the dependent variable, and tested the direct association between the two. Studies were gathered via PubMed, Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, APA PsycInfo, and Global Health.

Do hypothetical evaluations of alcohol related consequences change over time? Examining the influence of past and ongoing consequences.

Objective: Despite experiencing alcohol-related consequences, college students continue to drink at high rates. Hypothetical evaluations of alcohol-related consequences (i.e.

Does self-affirmation augment the effects of a mandated personalized feedback intervention? A randomized controlled trial with heavy drinking college students.

Objective: Theory and evidence indicate that affirming the value of the self before exposure to a threatening message fosters more open-minded appraisal of message content. We predicted that college students mandated to a computer-delivered personalized feedback intervention (PFI) and who engaged in a self-affirmation (SA) exercise would demonstrate reduce drinking and consequences relative to those who received an attention control.

Method: Participants were 484 undergraduates (age 18-24, 56% male, 78% White) mandated to participate in an alcohol intervention following a first-time alcohol policy violation.

Perceived belonging on campus predicts depression among heavy drinkers: A test of three moderators.

An association exists between perceived belonging and depression among college students. Because a student's sense of belongingness may vary as a function of their social identity, three identities - ethnicity, first-generation college student status, and sex - were investigated as potential moderators of this relationship. One hundred eighty-seven heavy-drinking college students (63% female; 52% non-Latinx White;  = 20 years of age) were assessed.

Comparative feasibility and preliminary efficacy of CBT for insomnia among adults seeking and not seeking addiction treatment.

Two out of three adults seeking treatment for alcohol or other substance use disorders report co-occurring symptoms of insomnia. This study compared the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) among adults seeking and not seeking treatment for substance use. Adults with alcohol or other substance use disorders (n = 22, 32% female, 82% White; M  = 39.

Examining Attitude, Norms, and Intentions as Predictors of Prospective Change in Alcohol-Induced Blackouts.

Objective: Alcohol-induced blackouts are a marker of risk such that they are strong independent predictors of experiencing other adverse alcohol-related social and health effects. Existing work informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior suggests that several of the constructs contained within it, such as perceived norms, personal attitudes toward consumption, and drinking intentions, are reliable predictors of alcohol use, related problems, and blackout experiences. However, research to date has not examined these theoretical antecedents as predictors of change in the occurrence of alcohol-induced blackout.

Religion and drinking: Differences between two campuses.

Levels of religiousness vary by geographic location, but studies of the relationship between religiousness and alcohol are often limited to one region. For our participants (N = 1124; 57.5% female), location was significantly associated with both religiousness and alcohol use.

Values of College Students Mandated to an Alcohol Intervention: A Qualitative Examination.

: Personal values motivate action and have been shown to influence behavioral choices. : The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify which values are important to college student drinkers and what underlying principles and motivations support those values. A sample of 198 students who received a university mandate to complete an alcohol education intervention following a campus alcohol policy violation wrote essays regarding their values.

Methods of training lay individuals in the use of evidence-based services for the management of mental and behavioral health disorders: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to describe how lay individuals have been trained in evidence-based therapies to manage mental and behavioral health disorders as defined by the International Classification of Diseases, version 11.

Introduction: Health service delivery by lay individuals is common in under-resourced areas. Prior systematic reviews have examined the characteristics of lay workers, the types of services they provide, and the efficacy of their services.

Comparing Alcohol Use of Pre-COVID-Era and COVID-Era Cohorts of Mandated College Student Drinkers.

Objective: Studies report mixed findings on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on college student alcohol consumption. However, the impact of pandemic restrictions on students referred to an intervention following a campus alcohol violation has not yet been studied. The current study examined alcohol use behaviors and perceived drinking norms among mandated student cohorts enrolled in the pre-COVID-19 era (fall 2019) and COVID-19 era (fall 2020).

Insomnia as a moderator of alcohol use and blackout: Potential role in acute physiological consequences.

Background: Alcohol-induced blackout is associated concurrently and prospectively with alcohol-related harm, including emergency room visits and sexual coercion. Although sleep has not been linked empirically to blackout, symptoms of insomnia have also been linked to memory impairment, in which case insomnia symptoms may compound alcohol's negative effects on memory. This study tested insomnia symptoms as a moderator of the association between heavy drinking and alcohol-induced blackout.

Use of protective behavioral strategies and blackout experience among mandated college students.

Objective: Alcohol-induced blackouts are experienced by approximately half of college students who drink. People who use protective behavioral strategies (PBS) tend to experience fewer alcohol-related consequences of drinking, but the relationship between PBS and blackouts is unknown. This study examines the associations among the use of protective behavioral strategies and blacking out.

Attitude toward heavy drinking as a key longitudinal predictor of alcohol consumption and problems.

Background: Little research has considered the importance of a person's attitude toward heavy drinking when evaluated against other well-known predictors of alcohol use and related harm including drinking motives and drinker identity. The current study aimed to evaluate whether one's favorable attitude toward heavy drinking is a unique predictor of prospectively assessed drinking-related outcomes when considered against descriptive and injunctive norms, drinking intentions, drinking motives, and drinker identity.

Methods: Participants in the current study comprised mandated students (n = 374; 54% male) who violated a campus alcohol policy and received a brief intervention (eCHECKUP TO GO).

Opportunities for reducing college drinking: The roles of drinking attitudes and blackout experience.

Background: As many as 35% of college students report having been drunk in the past month, and greater alcohol use and alcohol-related problems are associated with a positive attitude toward heavy drinking. One serious consequence of heavy drinking is alcohol-induced blackout. When they occur, alcohol-induced blackouts present a unique opportunity to increase motivation to change drinking.

Gender, acculturation, and alcohol-related consequences among college students of color.

Objective: The present study examined if identification with mainstream American culture (acculturation) and heritage culture (enculturation) are differentially associated with blackouts and other drinking consequences among male and female college students of color.

Participants: Participants were college students ( = 150) who self-identified as a racial/ethnic minority and endorsed blackouts in the past year.

Methods: Regression models were used to examine gender-by-acculturation/enculturation interaction effects on alcohol-induced blackout and other alcohol-related consequences.

Effects of acute distress and tobacco cues on tobacco demand.

Introduction: Cigarette demand, or relative value, can be assessed via analysis of performance on a hypothetical behavioral economic cigarette purchase task (CPT). Substance purchase tasks are highly amenable to manipulation, namely, external stimuli, instructional changes, or acute stressors. In this regard, the current secondary analysis evaluates the role a novel, computerized stress induction paradigm, the Contextual-Frustration Intolerance Typing Task (C-FiTT), plays in eliciting varying levels of stress and resulting demand.

Predictors of receptivity to an alcohol intervention among mandated students.

Objective: Students in violation of campus alcohol policy often must participate in an alcohol risk reduction intervention, and some mandated students express overt resistance to change. This study tested a priori hypotheses about psychological variables that might predict receptivity to an online brief alcohol intervention.

Method: Participants were 193 students (56% male, 88% underclassmen, 70% white) who were referred to the campus Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs after being cited for alcohol policy violations.

Depressive symptoms as a moderator of college student response to computerized alcohol intervention.

Background: Personalized normative alcohol feedback (PNF) is associated with decreased alcohol use among young adults. However, limited research has examined the influence of depressive symptoms on PNF efficacy. This study examined symptoms of depression as a moderator of college student response to a computerized PNF intervention for alcohol use.

The role of alcohol-induced blackouts in symptoms of depression among young adults.

Objective: Blackouts are associated with other alcohol-related consequences and depression among young adults, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. Using two separate samples, we tested the hypothesis that blackouts would be linked to symptoms of depression due in part to their association with other alcohol-related consequences.

Method: Young adults who use alcohol completed assessments at baseline in Sample 1 (N = 381, 58% female) and baseline, 3 months, and 6 months in Sample 2 (N = 603, 53 % female).