Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on the Health of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander People in the United States, 2021.

Objectives: Minimal research has assessed COVID-19's unique impact on the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) population-an Indigenous-colonized racial group with social and health disparities that increase their risk for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. To address this gap, we explored the scope of COVID-19 outcomes, vaccination status, and health in diverse NH/PI communities.

Methods: NH/PI staff at partner organizations collected survey data from April through November 2021 from 319 community-dwelling NH/PI adults in 5 states with large NH/PI populations: Arkansas, California, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, mental health and treatment need in the United States during COVID-19.

Introduction: Before COVID-19, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (NH/PI) endured a heavy burden of alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use in prior US data. Responding to reports that many NH/PI communities experienced severe COVID-19 disparities that could exacerbate their ATOD burden, we partnered with NH/PI communities to assess the substance use patterns and treatment needs of diverse NH/PIs during COVID-19.

Methods: Collaborating with NH/PI community organisations across five states with large NH/PI populations, we conducted a large-scale investigation of NH/PI ATOD use, mental health and treatment need during COVID-19.

Alcohol Use Disorder Risk and Protective Factors and Associated Harms Among Pacific Islander Young Adults.

Pacific Islander (PI) young adults (age 18 to 30 years) experience elevated rates of hazardous drinking, AUDs, and alcohol-related harms. Yet, we know little about the risk and protective factors that drive, or can prevent, PI young adult hazardous drinking behaviors and AUDs due to a lack of targeted alcohol disparities research. This large qualitative study presents data from 8 focus groups with 69 PIs (51 young adults, 18 informal providers) to explore the major risk factors, protective factors, and negative consequences associated with PI young adult hazardous drinking and AUDs.

Electronic Cigarette Use and Associated Risk Factors in U.S.-Dwelling Pacific Islander Young Adults.

E-cigarette use is rapidly increasing among US young adults, heightening their risk for vaping-related illnesses. Yet, little is known about e-cigarette use among young adult Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI): an indigenous-colonized US racial group rarely described in research literature. This exploratory study provides the first known data on e-cigarette use and potential risk factors in NHPI young adults.

Hazardous drinking, alcohol use disorders, and need for treatment among Pacific Islander young adults.

Pacific Islander (PI) young adults are suspected to bear heavy risk for hazardous drinking, alcohol use disorders (AUD), and alcohol-related harms. Yet, PIs remain among the most understudied racial groups in the United States-creating a lack of empirical data documenting their alcohol use problems and treatment needs. The present study presents the first known data on PI young adults' hazardous drinking, possible AUDs, alcohol-related harms, and treatment needs.

Risk for Substance Use Disorders in young adulthood: Associations with developmental experiences of homelessness, foster care, and adverse childhood experiences.

Background: Multiple developmental risk factors for Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) during young adulthood have been identified. In this investigation, we examined the impact of homelessness, foster care, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) prior to 12th grade on the development of three common SUDs during young adulthood-Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), Tobacco Use Disorder (TUD) and Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD). Our hypothesis was that while both homelessness and ACEs are significant risk factors for young adult SUDs, foster care involvement might convey protection.

Patterns of use of other drugs among those with alcohol dependence: Associations with drinking behavior and psychopathology.

Introduction: Alcohol dependence (AD) presents with substantial clinical heterogeneity, including concurrent use of non-alcohol drugs. Here, we examine specific patterns of concurrent non-alcohol substance use during the previous year among a nationally representative sample of adults with DSM-IV AD, and estimate their population prevalence in the U.S.

Early adolescent patterns of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana polysubstance use and young adult substance use outcomes in a nationally representative sample.

Background: Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are the most commonly used drugs by adolescents in the U.S. However, little is known about the patterning of early adolescent substance use, and its implications for problematic involvement with substances in young adulthood.

The impact of alcohol on society: a brief overview.

Alcohol is the most common drug used among adults in the United States. The use of alcohol is associated with an increased risk of injuries and accidents. Even a single episode of excessive drinking can lead to a negative outcome.

Measures of substance consumption among substance users, DSM-IV abusers, and those with DSM-IV dependence disorders in a nationally representative sample.

Objective: Neither the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R), nor the DSM-IV uses measures of substance consumption as part of the diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders. Therefore, this report examined the extent to which frequency and/or quantity of consumption across a broad spectrum of substances are associated with DSM-IV diagnoses of specific substance use disorders and whether there are informative hierarchical levels of consumption among users, abusers, and those who are substance dependent in the U.S.

Factors predicting change in frequency of heavy drinking days among alcohol-dependent participants in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

Aims: To discover the predictors of change in the frequency of heavy drinking (HD) over a 4-year period in alcohol dependent (AD)-individuals identified in the general population, namely, among participants of the US National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions interviewed at Wave 1 (2001-2002) and at Wave 2 (2004-2005).

Methods: The study cohort included subjects meeting DSM-IV criteria for AD in the past year at Wave 1 (n = 1484), who were present at Wave 2 (n = 1172) and had complete data on factors of interest (n = 1123). Frequency of HD was defined as the number of HD days (HDD) (≥5 drinks per day for men and ≥4 for women).

Medications development to treat alcohol dependence: a vision for the next decade.

More than 76 million people world-wide are estimated to have diagnosable alcohol use disorders (AUDs) (alcohol abuse or dependence), making these disorders a major global health problem. Pharmacotherapy offers promising means for treating AUDs, and significant progress has been made in the past 20 years. The US Food and Drug Administration approved three of the four medications for alcoholism in the last two decades.

Gender differences in the relationship of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology to alcohol dependence: likelihood, expression and course.

Objective: To determine whether internalizing and externalizing psychopathology were differentially associated with alcohol dependence in men and women.

Methods: Four categories of lifetime psychopathology were examined: neither internalizing nor externalizing (NINE), internalizing only (IO), externalizing only (EO) and both internalizing and externalizing (BIE). Multivariate models assessed gender differences in the adjusted associations of these categories with the odds of lifetime alcohol dependence in a representative sample of 43,093 U.

Alcohol biomarkers in applied settings: recent advances and future research opportunities.

During the past decade, advances have been made in the identification, development, and application of alcohol biomarkers. This is important because of the unique functions that alcohol biomarkers can serve in various applied settings. To carry out these functions, biomarkers must display several features including validity, reliability, adequacy of temporal window of assessment, reasonable cost, and transportability.

Prospective follow-up of empirically derived Alcohol Dependence subtypes in wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol And Related Conditions (NESARC): recovery status, alcohol use disorders and diagnostic criteria, alcohol consumption behavior, health status, and treatment seeking.

Background: We have previously reported on an empirical classification of Alcohol Dependence (AD) individuals into subtypes using nationally representative general population data from the 2001 to 2002 Wave 1 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and latent class analysis. Our results suggested a typology of 5 separate clusters based upon age of onset of AD, multigenerational familial AD, rates of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), endorsement of specific AD and Alcohol Abuse (AA) criteria, and the presence of comorbid mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders (SUD). In this report, we focus on the clinical follow-up of these cluster members in Wave 2 of the NESARC (2004 to 2005).

Screening and brief intervention for underage drinkers.

In a 2007 report, the US Surgeon General called for health care professionals to renew efforts to reduce underage drinking. Focusing on the adolescent patient, this review provides health care professionals with recommendations for alcohol-related screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment. MEDLINE and published reviews were used to identify relevant literature.

Providing alcohol-related screening and brief interventions to adolescents through health care systems: obstacles and solutions.

Duncan Clark and Howard Moss identify obstacles to alcohol-related screening and treatment for adolescents and propose policy solutions.

Developmental processes and mechanisms: ages 0-10.

Little information is available on alcohol use in children up to age 10, although rates appear to be low. This age-group is not without risk, however. In fact, numerous nonspecific and specific risk factors for subsequent alcohol use are prevalent in childhood.

Characterizing and reaching high-risk drinkers using audience segmentation.

Background: Market or audience segmentation is widely used in social marketing efforts to help planners identify segments of a population to target for tailored program interventions. Market-based segments are typically defined by behaviors, attitudes, knowledge, opinions, or lifestyles. They are more helpful to health communication and marketing planning than epidemiologically defined groups because market-based segments are similar in respect to how they behave or might react to marketing and communication efforts.

Prospective study of the association between abandoned dwellings and testosterone level on the development of behaviors leading to cannabis use disorder in boys.

Background: The role of testosterone in the development of behaviors presaging cannabis use and subsequently cannabis use disorder was investigated in a prospective study of 208 boys. It was theorized that adverse neighborhood correlates with testosterone level that in turn potentiates behaviors predisposing to cannabis consumption and subsequently diagnosis of cannabis use disorder.

Methods: Proportion of boarded-up dwellings in the 1990 census tract and testosterone level were recorded at baseline (ages 10-12), followed by assessments of assaultiveness and testosterone level (ages 12-14), social dominance/norm-violating behavior (SDNVB) (age 16), cannabis use (age 19), and cannabis use disorder (age 22).