A systematic review of the A118G (Asn40Asp) variant of OPRM1 in relation to smoking initiation, nicotine dependence and smoking cessation.

Candidate gene studies on smoking behaviors mainly focused on dopaminergic and serotonergic genes, but genes within the µ-opioid system might also be involved. The A118G variant within the OPRM1 gene has been most often examined in relation to smoking, yielding inconsistent findings. It is largely unknown which of the alleles increases susceptibility for smoking behaviors.

Examining the effects of remote-video confederates on young women's food intake.

One's decisions about eating are at times, largely based on the observations of other people's eating behavior. Previous studies have shown that modeling of eating is a robust effect. The current research examined the impact of a video remote confederate on young women's food intake.

Do substance use risk personality dimensions predict the onset of substance use in early adolescence? A variable- and person-centered approach.

Various studies found personality to be related to substance use, but little attention is paid to the role of personality risk dimensions with regard to an early onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Therefore, the current study used a variable-centered approach to examine whether anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, sensation seeking, and impulsivity predict the onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in early adolescence. Additionally, we adopted a person-centered approach to examine whether different personality subgroups could be identified, and whether these subgroups would be predictive of substance use.

Developmental alcohol-specific parenting profiles in adolescence and their relationships with adolescents' alcohol use.

Previous studies on general parenting have demonstrated the relevance of strict parenting within a supportive social context for a variety of adolescent behaviors, such as alcohol use. Yet, alcohol-specific parenting practices are generally examined as separate predictors of adolescents' drinking behavior. The present study examined different developmental profiles of alcohol-specific parenting (rule-setting, quality and frequency of communication about alcohol use) and how these patterns relate to the initiation and growth of adolescents' drinking.

The power of social influence over food intake: examining the effects of attentional bias and impulsivity.

Numerous studies have shown that people adjust their intake directly to that of their eating companions. A potential explanation for this modelling effect is that the eating behaviour of others operates as an external eating cue that stimulates food intake. The present study explored whether this cue-reactive mechanism can account for modelling effects on intake.

The development of loneliness from mid- to late adolescence: trajectory classes, personality traits, and psychosocial functioning.

Although loneliness is a common problem across late adolescence, its developmental course has not been investigated in depth in this period of life. The present study aims to fill this gap by means of a five-wave cohort-sequential longitudinal study spanning ages 15 to 20 (N = 389). Both variable-centered (i.

Smoking-specific communication and children's smoking onset: an extension of the theory of planned behaviour.

The aim of this study was to test whether maternal smoking-specific communication and parental smoking related to smoking cognitions (i.e. attitude, self-efficacy and social norm) derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour in association with smoking onset during preadolescence.

Bidirectional influences between parents and children in smoking behavior: a longitudinal full-family model.

Background: The present study investigated longitudinal associations and bidirectional influences between family members in smoking behavior using a longitudinal full-family design. Family systems provide a powerful social context in which modeling and imitation take place. In current literature, however, bidirectional associations between parents and children in smoking behavior are seldom considered.

Increased body satisfaction after exposure to thin ideal children's television in young girls showing thin ideal internalisation.

This study tested the direct effect of watching thin ideal children's television on body satisfaction in preadolescent girls (6-8 years old). A within-subject design was used in which girls (N = 51) were tested three times. They watched television clips in random order containing either (1) thin ideal animated characters or (2) animated characters with no thin ideal features or (3) 'real' human actors with no thin ideal features.

The effectiveness of a cue-reminder intervention to reduce adolescents' alcohol use in social contexts.

Aims: To examine the use of a cue-reminder to target alcohol use among youth in social contexts.

Methods: Two experiments were conducted. First, among 92 late adolescents, we tested if a cue-reminder could be effectively associated with information about empowerment, awareness and monitoring of one's own limits with regard to alcohol use.

Adolescents' conformity to their peers' pro-alcohol and anti-alcohol norms: the power of popularity.

Background: Research on adolescent development suggests that peer influence may play a key role in explaining adolescents' willingness to drink, an important predictor of drinking initiation. However, experiments that thoroughly examine these peer influence effects are scarce. This study experimentally examined whether adolescents adapted their willingness to drink when confronted with the pro-alcohol and anti-alcohol norms of peers in a chat room session and whether these effects were moderated by the social status of peers.

Problematic alcohol use and mild intellectual disability: standardization of pictorial stimuli for an alcohol cue reactivity task.

The present study focused on the first step in developing a cue reactivity task for studying cognitive biases in individuals with mild to borderline intellectual disability (ID) and alcohol use-related problems: the standardization of pictorial stimuli. Participants (N=40), both with and without a history of alcohol use-related problems and varying in IQ, were admitted to a forensic setting and were all abstinent. They were asked to rate familiarity, complexity, valence and attractiveness of pictures portraying both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Smoking cessation-specific parenting and parental smoking as precursors of adolescent smoking cognitions and quitting.

Relatively little is known about if and through which mechanisms parents influence adolescents' smoking cessation. The present study used Social Cognitive Theory as a theoretical framework to test whether parental smoking and smoking cessation-specific parenting (SCSP) predicted readiness to quit smoking and actual smoking cessation one year later. Both direct paths between parent factors and outcomes, and indirect paths via adolescents' smoking-specific cognitions (pros of smoking and quitting, and self-efficacy) were examined in a sample of 530 adolescents in the ages of 13 to 18 who smoked daily and weekly at baseline.

Alcohol use and social adjustment in adolescence: a longitudinal, multilevel study.

The study examined to what extent alcohol use among Dutch adolescents (1,421 adolescents, aged 12-16) was related to sociability and whether the social context affects this association. Data were based on self-reports and peer reports during 2005 and 2006. The results indicated that in contrast to previous assumptions, alcohol use did not predict changes in subsequent sociability.

Stereotypic information about drinkers and students' observed alcohol intake: an experimental study on prototype-behavior relations in males and females in a naturalistic drinking context.

Background: Cross-sectional and longitudinal research has shown that favorable drinker prototypes (i.e., perceptions about the typical drinker) are related to higher levels of alcohol consumption in adolescents and college students.

Friendship context matters: examining the domain specificity of alcohol and depression socialization among adolescents.

Driven by existing socialization theories, this study describes specific friendship contexts in which peer influence of alcohol misuse and depressive symptoms occurs. In the fall and spring of the school year, surveys were administered to 704 Italian adolescents (53 % male, M (age) = 15.53) enrolled in Grades 9, 10 and 11.

The effect of the OPRM1 and DRD4 polymorphisms on the relation between attentional bias and alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood.

Background: The incentive sensitization theory posits that in the transition from sporadic to problematic alcohol use, the incentive value of alcohol increases (wanting) while its hedonic effects (liking) do not change or decreases. The effect of the OPRM1 c.118A>G polymorphism, associated with liking and wanting, and the DRD4-VNTR polymorphism, related to wanting, on the relation between attentional bias and alcohol use was investigated.

Evaluation of a Dutch school-based depression prevention program for youths in highrisk neighborhoods: study protocol of a two-armed randomized controlled trial.

Background: Research has indicated that depression prevention programs attenuate the development of symptoms of depression in adolescents. To implement these programs on a large scale, implementation in a school setting with teachers providing the programs is needed. In the present study, the effectiveness of the Dutch depression prevention program Op Volle Kracht (OVK) provided by school teachers during school hours with adolescents from high risk neighborhoods will be tested.

Predicting nicotine dependence profiles among adolescent smokers: the roles of personal and social-environmental factors in a longitudinal framework.

Background: Although several studies have reported that symptoms of nicotine dependence can occur after limited exposure to smoking, the majority of research on nicotine dependence has focused on adult smokers. Insufficient knowledge exists regarding the epidemiology and aetiology of nicotine dependence among adolescent smokers. The objective of the present study is to identify the effects of theoretically driven social and individual predictors of nicotine dependence symptom profiles in a population-based sample of adolescent smokers.

Parental smoking and children's attention to smoking cues.

Research has shown that children with smoking parents are more likely to initiate smoking than children with non-smoking parents. So far, these effects have been explained through genetic factors, modelling and norm-setting processes. However, it is also possible that parental smoking affects smoking initiation through automatic cognitive processes.

The moderating role of working memory capacity and alcohol-specific rule-setting on the relation between approach tendencies and alcohol use in young adolescents.

Background: Dual process models of alcohol addiction propose that the transition from normative alcohol consumption to heavy drinking is the result of an imbalance in interplay between relatively impulsive or automatic and reflective or controlled processes. The current study examines whether impulsive and reflective processes are also detectable in a sample of adolescents with limited alcohol use.

Methods: Specifically, we tested the interaction between alcohol approach tendencies and 2 types of reflective processes, working memory capacity (WMC) and alcohol-specific rule-setting, on changes in alcohol use of 238 young adolescents (mean age: 13.

The strong effect of other people's drinking: two experimental observational studies in a real bar.

Research has demonstrated that when people are with heavy-drinking peers, they consume more alcohol than when they are in the company of light-drinking peers. This social influence process has usually been investigated in clinical laboratories or seminaturalistic drinking settings such as laboratory bars. The question remains whether these robust effects can be replicated in real-life drinking settings.

Parental alcohol-specific rules and alcohol use from early adolescence to young adulthood.

Background:   Several studies stress the importance of alcohol-specific rules during adolescence to prevent them from drinking early and heavily. However, most studies have short follow-up periods and do not cover the relevant developmental period in which direct parental control diminishes and adolescent alcohol use increases. The current study aimed to provide a developmental perspective on the link between alcohol-specific rules and alcohol use from early adolescence until early adulthood in the Netherlands.

Food intake in response to food-cue exposure. Examining the influence of duration of the cue exposure and trait impulsivity.

The present study experimentally tested whether the effect of olfactory food-cue exposure on young women's food intake was moderated by the duration of the cue exposure and trait impulsivity. The study employed a 2 (food-cue exposure: smell of baked cookies present vs. no-smell present) by 2 (duration of cue exposure: short-term vs.