A Genre-Specific Investigation of Video Game Engagement and Problem Play in the Early Life Course.

This study explored predictors of engagement with specific video game genres, and degree of problem play experienced by players of specific genres, during the early life course. Video game players ages 18-29 (n = 692) were recruited in and around video game retail outlets, arcades, conventions, and other video game related contexts in New York City. Participants completed a Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) of contemporaneous demographic and personality measures and a Life-History Calendar (LHC) measuring video gaming, school/work engagement, and caffeine and sugar consumption for each year of life ages 6 - present.

Trends in Video Game Play through Childhood, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood.

This study explored the relationship between video gaming and age during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. It also examined whether "role incompatibility," the theory that normative levels of substance use decrease through young adulthood as newly acquired adult roles create competing demands, generalizes to video gaming. Emerging adult video gamers (n = 702) recruited from video gaming contexts in New York City completed a computer-assisted personal interview and life-history calendar.

The Contribution of Game Genre and other Use Patterns to Problem Video Game Play among Adult Video Gamers.

AIMS: To assess the contribution of patterns of video game play, including game genre, involvement, and time spent gaming, to problem use symptomatology. DESIGN: Nationally representative survey. SETTING: Online.

The provider perception inventory: psychometrics of a scale designed to measure provider stigma about HIV, substance abuse, and MSM behavior.

Nongay identified men who have sex with men and women (NGI MSMW) and who use alcohol and other drugs are a vulnerable, understudied, and undertreated population. Little is known about the stigma faced by this population or about the way that health service providers view and serve these stigmatized clients. The provider perception inventory (PPI) is a 39-item scale that measures health services providers' stigma about HIV/AIDS, substance use, and MSM behavior.

Decision Processes about Condom Use among Shelter-Homeless LGBT Youth in Manhattan.

Health behavior interventions based on Theory of Planned Behavior address participants' personally-held beliefs, perceived social norms, and control over the behavior. New data are always needed to "member check" participants' decision processes and inform interventions. This qualitative study investigates decision processes around condom use among 81 homeless LGBT youth ages 18-26.

Video game genre as a predictor of problem use.

This study assessed how problem video game playing (PVP) varies with game type, or "genre," among adult video gamers. Participants (n=3,380) were adults (18+) who reported playing video games for 1 hour or more during the past week and completed a nationally representative online survey. The survey asked about characteristics of video game use, including titles played in the past year and patterns of (problematic) use.

Patterns of and motivations for concurrent use of video games and substances.

"Behavioral addictions" share biological mechanisms with substance dependence, and "drug interactions" have been observed between certain substances and self-reinforcing behaviors. This study examines correlates of patterns of and motivations for playing video games while using or feeling the effects of a substance (concurrent use). Data were drawn from a nationally-representative survey of adult Americans who "regularly" or "occasionally" played video games and had played for at least one hour in the past seven days (n = 3,380).

Playing video games while using or feeling the effects of substances: associations with substance use problems.

This study tested the hypothesis that playing video games while using or feeling the effects of a substance--referred to herein as "concurrent use"-is related to substance use problems after controlling for substance use frequency, video gaming as an enthusiastic hobby, and demographic factors. Data were drawn from a nationally representative online survey of adult video gamers conducted by Knowledge Networks, valid n = 2,885. Problem video game playing behavior was operationalized using Tejeiro Salguero and Bersabé Morán's 2002 problem video game play (PVP) measure, and measures for substance use problems were taken from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

The role of marijuana use etiquette in avoiding targeted police enforcement.

Internationally, where marijuana is illegal, users follow etiquette rules that prevent negative consequences of use. In this study, adherence to etiquette is hypothesized to reduce likelihood of marijuana-related police stop/search and arrest. Ethnographers administered group surveys to a diverse, purposive sample of 462 marijuana-using peer groups in several areas of New York City.

A prospective study of cannabis use as a risk factor for non-adherence and treatment dropout in first-episode schizophrenia.

Introduction: Although several studies have reported on cannabis use and adherence for first episode of psychosis patients, the findings remain unclear as to whether cannabis use is a risk factor for poor adherence in young people with first-episode schizophrenia. This study was designed to follow patients' use of cannabis and adherence in a naturalistic setting during the first 12 months of treatment. It examines whether cannabis use is a risk factor for two distinct types of non-adherence: non-adherence to medication and treatment dropout.

Intimate partner violence and HIV sexual risk behavior among Latino gay and bisexual men: the role of situational factors.

Using a probability sample of 912 Latino gay and bisexual men at bars in 3 U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Miami, New York), this study examines how participation in difficult sexual situations with interpersonal (e.

Civic norms and etiquettes regarding marijuana use in public settings in New York City.

This paper shows that active police enforcement of civic norms against marijuana smoking in public settings has influenced the locations where marijuana is smoked. It has subtly influenced the various marijuana etiquettes observed in both public and private settings. The ethnographic data reveal the importance of informal sanctions; most marijuana consumers report compliance with etiquettes mainly to avoid stigma from nonusing family, friends, and associates-they express limited concern about police and arrest.

Smoking tobacco along with marijuana increases symptoms of cannabis dependence.

Aim: User practices/rituals that involve concurrent use of tobacco and marijuana - smoking blunts and "chasing" marijuana with tobacco - are hypothesized to increase cannabis dependence symptoms.

Design: Ethnographers administered group surveys to a diverse, purposive sample of marijuana users who appeared to be 17-35 years old.

Setting: New York City, including non-impoverished areas of Manhattan, the transitional area of East Village/Lower East Side, low-income areas of northern Manhattan and South Bronx, and diverse areas of Brooklyn and Queens.

Intimate partner violence and HIV sexual risk behavior among Latino gay and bisexual men.

This study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV sexual risk behavior using a probability sample of 912 Latino gay and bisexual men from three U.S. cities.

Prevalence and stability of sexual orientation components during adolescence and young adulthood.

Analyses of three waves (6 years) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health data explored the prevalence and stability of sexual orientation and whether these two parameters varied by biologic sex, sexual orientation component (romantic attraction, sexual behavior, sexual identity), and degree of component. Prevalence rates for nonheterosexuality varied between 1 and 15% and depended on biologic sex (higher among females), sexual orientation component (highest for romantic attraction), degree of component (highest if "mostly heterosexual" was included with identity), and the interaction of these (highest for nonheterosexual identity among females). Although kappa statistics testing for temporal stability across waves were significant, they failed to reach acceptable levels of agreement and could be largely attributable to the stability of opposite-sex rather than same-sex attraction and behavior.

Retail marijuana purchases in designer and commercial markets in New York City: sales units, weights, and prices per gram.

This paper documents the bifurcation of the market for commercial marijuana from the market for designer marijuana in New York City. Commercial marijuana is usually grown outdoors, imported to NYC, and of average quality. By contrast, several varities of designer marijuana are usually grown indoors from specially bred strains and carefully handled for maximum quality.

Pubertal onset and sexual orientation in an adolescent national probability sample.

Using 6-year longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multiple measures of puberty as it occurs and of sexual orientation (romantic attraction, sexual identity), the present study attempted to replicate previous research which reported that homosexuals and heterosexuals differed in their age of pubertal onset. The study hypotheses were not confirmed for either males or females: on most pubertal measures, same-sex oriented groupings did not differ from heterosexuals. The only significant findings regarding homosexual males indicated that they were more likely to report having a later rather than an earlier onset of puberty, and the significant findings regarding homosexual females were contradictory--they tended to have an earlier onset of puberty.