Associations of alternative cannabis product use and poly-use with subsequent illicit drug use initiation during adolescence.

Rationale: Specific cannabis products may differentially increase risk of initiating non-cannabis illicit drug use during adolescence.

Objective: To determine whether ever- and poly-use of smoked, vaporized, edible, concentrate, or blunt cannabis products are associated with subsequent initiation of non-cannabis illicit drug use.

Methods: High school students from Los Angeles completed in-classroom surveys.

Drinking with Friends: Measuring the Two-week Ecology of Drinking Behaviors.

Despite the substantial influence these acute alcohol-related problems cause globally, past research has failed historically to capture the dynamic nature of drinking events, including how multiple factors (ie, individual, group, and environmental) interact to affect event-level intoxication. Fortunately, technology (eg, transdermal alcohol monitors) and smartphone surveys have provided researchers with new avenues to measure the complex nature of alcohol consumption. This paper presents the methods of a pilot study that sought to measure event-level alcohol consumption in a natural drinking group of college students.

The Effect of Momentary Affect on Substance Use among Young Adults Who Experience Homelessness.

Little is known about the momentary patterns and predictors of substance use among young adults who experience homelessness. To enhance understanding of substance use patterns, smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was utilized to examine the real-time association between affect and substance use. : 251 young adults (aged 18-27) with history of homelessness were recruited from supportive housing programs and drop-in facilities in Los Angeles.

Examining HIV Risk and Exchange Sex Among Current and Formerly Homeless Young Adults.

This study investigated HIV risk among homeless and formerly homeless young adults by examining risky sex behaviors (e.g., condomless sex, exchange sex, and sex with multiple persons) using 90-day and daily recall methods.

Investigating Sleep Disturbance and Its Correlates Among Formerly Homeless Adults in Permanent Supportive Housing.

Background: Adults experiencing homelessness have a high burden of sleep disturbance, which may be reduced by accessing permanent supportive housing.

Objectives: To assess sleep disturbances and their correlates, including demographics, activity level, health status, age-related health issues (eg, functionality and cognitive impairment), substance use, and homelessness history in a sample of permanent supportive housing (PSH) tenants.

Research Design: Cross-sectional survey design.

Examining Sleep Disturbance Among Sheltered and Unsheltered Transition Age Youth Experiencing Homelessness.

Background: The estimated 3.5-million transition age youth (TAY) who experience homelessness in the United States annually are routinely exposed to inadequate sleep environments and other psychosocial risk factors for deficient sleep. Although staying in a shelter versus being unsheltered may facilitate sleep, research suggests that perceived safety wherever one sleeps may be just as important.

Effect of Exposure to e-Cigarettes With Salt vs Free-Base Nicotine on the Appeal and Sensory Experience of Vaping: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Alkaline free-base nicotine is bitter and a respiratory irritant. High-nicotine electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) products contain acid additives that change nicotine from a free-base to a protonated salt chemical form, which could improve the sensory experience of vaping, particularly among never smokers unaccustomed to inhaling free-base nicotine.

Objective: To determine whether exposure to e-cigarettes with salt vs free-base nicotine formulations improves the appeal and sensory experience of vaping e-cigarettes and whether nicotine formulation effects differ by e-cigarette flavor and ever combustible cigarette smoking status.

Real-Time Data Collection to Examine Relations Between Physical Activity and Affect in Adults With Mental Illness.

Adults with serious mental illness engage in limited physical activity, which contributes to significant health disparities. This study explored the use of both ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) and activity trackers in adults with serious mental illness to examine the bidirectional relationship between activity and affect with multilevel modeling. Affective states were assessed up to seven times per day using EMA across 4 days.

Longitudinal effects of permanent supportive housing on insomnia for homeless adults.

Objectives: To examine the longitudinal change in insomnia as adults transition from homelessness to permanent supportive housing (PSH) and whether additional factors may moderate this relationship.

Methods: Standardized interviews were conducted with 331 homeless participants in Los Angeles prior to moving into PSH. Outcomes were measured 3, 6, and 12 months after move-in.

Investigating Health Risk Environments in Housing Programs for Young Adults: Protocol for a Geographically Explicit Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

Background: Young adults who experience homelessness are exposed to environments that contribute to risk behavior. However, few studies have examined how access to housing may affect the health risk behaviors of young adults experiencing homelessness.

Objective: This paper describes the Log My Life study that uses an innovative, mixed-methods approach based on geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (EMA) through cell phone technology to understand the risk environment of young adults who have either enrolled in housing programs or are currently homeless.

The event-level impact of one's typical alcohol expectancies, drinking motivations, and use of protective behavioral strategies.

Introduction: Much of the past research on the excessive consumption of alcohol by college students has focused on the interplay of individual factors and typical drinking patterns, but this is not adequate to understand behavior as it occurs. The need to understand drinking at the event-level is critical in order to develop event-level prevention. To this end, this study examined a conceptual model of college students' drinking events in order to determine the potential mediating effect of drinking motives and protective behavioral strategies (PBS) in the relationship between alcohol expectancies and event-level alcohol use and consequences.

Conceptualizing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome as a Cascade of Care: A Qualitative Study With Healthcare Providers in Ohio.

Background: The opioid epidemic remains a serious issue in the United States and presents additional challenges for women of childbearing age. An increasingly common complication of opioid use is neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), or infant withdrawal from in utero exposure to opioids.

Purpose: The objective of our qualitative study was to identify service needs and barriers to care in the NAS epidemic in Ohio, which has among the highest rates of opioid use and NAS in the nation.

A Control-Theoretic Assessment of Interventions During Drinking Events.

This paper employs control-theoretic tools to provide guidelines for in-situ interventions aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol consumption at drinking events. A dynamical directed network model of a drinking event with external intervention, suitable for mathematical analysis and parameter estimation using field data is proposed, with insights from pharmacokinetics and psychology. Later, a characterization of a bound on blood alcohol content (BAC) trajectories is obtained via Lyapunov stability analysis, and structural controllability guarantees are obtained via a graph-theoretic method.

Poly-victimization and trajectories of binge drinking from adolescence to young adulthood among serious juvenile offenders.

Background: Justice involved youth exposed to multiple forms of victimization (i.e., poly-victimization) may be at risk for long term substance use problems and difficulty in self-regulation, placing them at higher risk of long-term problematic behaviors.

Examining the social ecology of a bar-crawl: An exploratory pilot study.

Many of the problems associated with alcohol occur after a single drinking event (e.g. drink driving, assault).