Trajectory of depressive symptoms in the context of romantic relationship breakup: Characterizing the "natural course" of response and recovery in young adults.

Young adults face stressful role transitions as well as increased risk for poor mental health, but little is known about a "natural course" of response to such events. We used the PHQ-2 to characterize the trajectory of depressive symptoms before, during, and after relationship breakup and examined subjective appraisal and sense of control as moderators. In our sample of participants reporting a single breakup during the 2-year study period (N=156), breakup was associated with a temporary increase in depressive symptoms that returned to pre-breakup levels within three months.

The longitudinal association of cumulative depression with cannabis use disorder among young adults.

Objective: This study examined whether the cumulative experience of elevated depressive symptoms from age 19 to 23 was associated with cannabis use disorder (CUD) at age 26, and whether the association varied by perceived ease of access to cannabis and perceived risk for harms from cannabis use.

Method: Data were from 4407 young adults participating in the Community Youth Development Study. Cumulative experience of elevated depressive symptoms was calculated by summing the number of times a participant scored 10+ on the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire across three biennial survey waves (age 19 to 23).

Injunctive Norms and Driving Under the Influence and Riding With an Impaired Driver Among Young Adults in Washington State.

Purpose: Alcohol- and cannabis-impaired driving behaviors remain a public health concern especially among young adults (i.e., ages 18-25).

Trajectories of loneliness during COVID-19 pandemic and associations with mental health and substance use.

We examined patterns of longitudinal trajectories of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic using six time points (January 2020 [pre-pandemic] to March/April 2021) and whether trajectories were associated with psychological distress (depression/anxiety) and substance use (alcohol/cannabis) outcomes in Spring 2021. Participants were 644 young adults who completed online assessments. Outcomes were regressed on most-likely loneliness trajectory adjusting for pre-pandemic measures.

Using substances to cope with social anxiety: Associations with use and consequences in daily life.

Objective: Using substances to cope with social anxiety is robustly related to negative consequences. The present study uses daily-level methods to test whether days young adults used substances to cope with social anxiety were associated with greater alcohol and cannabis use and consequences compared to use days without this motive.

Method: Participants were a community sample of young adults enrolled in a study on alcohol and cannabis use, which involved a baseline survey and five 2-week bursts of online daily surveys across 2 years.

Daily level predictors of impaired driving behaviors in young adults: Protocol design for utilizing daily assessments.

Background: Motor vehicle crashes remain a leading cause of death among young adults (ages 18-25) in the United States. Many drivers implicated in these crashes are under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, or the simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis. Extremely limited research has assessed impaired driving behaviors and their predictors at the daily level.

Examining daily associations between mental health symptoms and simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use and consequences among young adults.

Objective: The present study examined daily associations between mental health symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use and use-related negative consequences among young adults.

Young adult birthday celebrations as windows of risk for alcohol and cannabis use: 21st birthdays compared to other young adult birthdays.

Objective: Alcohol use among college students during 21st birthday celebrations constitutes a well-known example of event-specific drinking when alcohol use is both pervasive and heavy. Less is known about how 21st birthday alcohol use compares to other birthday celebrations during young adulthood, whether similar increases occur for cannabis use on 21st birthdays, and whether the "21st birthday effect" is similar for noncollege young adults. Alcohol and cannabis use during 19th to 25th birthday celebrations were explored among college and noncollege students.

Multifaceted COVID-19-Related Stressors and Associations with Indices of Mental Health, Well-being, and Substance Use Among Young Adults.

Unlabelled: Alongside direct health concerns pertaining to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the stressors and life disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic may provoke secondary concerns for health and well-being. The implications of COVID-19-related stressors may be particularly salient for young adults, who are at higher-risk for mental health concerns and substance use behaviors. We developed a multifaceted scale that assessed distinct domains of COVID-19-related stressors and examined associations between these stressors and indices of mental health, well-being, and substance use (alcohol and marijuana use).

Negative evaluation of role transitions is associated with perceived stress and alcohol consequences: Examination of the Transitions Overload Model in young adulthood using two years of monthly data.

Background: Young adulthood is characterized by transitions into and out of social roles in multiple domains. Consistent with self-medication models of alcohol use, the Transitions Overload Model (J Stud Alcohol Suppl, 14, 2002, 54) hypothesizes that one cause of increased alcohol use during young adulthood may be the stress of navigating simultaneous role transitions. This study examined the simultaneous occurrence of major developmental role transitions in the domains of education, employment, romantic relationships, and residential status and their associations with perceived stress, heavy episodic drinking (HED), and negative alcohol-related consequences.

Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for Community College Students (BASICCS): Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of web-conferencing BASICCS and supporting automated text messages.

The Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS; Dimeff et al., 1999) is an evidence-based approach to reduce high-risk drinking and associated harms; however, implementation may present challenges for community colleges (CCs) that have limited budgets and mostly non-residential students. We examined feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of BASICS for CC students (BASICCS) delivered remotely via web-conferencing with supporting automated text messages.

Antecedents, concurrent correlates, and potential consequences of young adult solitary alcohol use.

Objective: Research on young adults has found solitary alcohol use to be positively associated with negative emotions, coping motives for drinking, and negative alcohol-related consequences, but most research has been cross-sectional and based on samples of college students. We examined associations across multiple time points within a sample that was diverse with respect to educational status and age.

Methods: A community sample (N = 754, ages 18-26; 56% female) completed surveys at baseline, monthly for 2 years, and at 30-month postbaseline.

Marijuana, but not alcohol, use frequency associated with greater loneliness, psychological distress, and less flourishing among young adults.

Objective: To assess whether frequency of marijuana and alcohol use are cross-sectionally associated with indicators of social and emotional well-being including loneliness, psychological distress, and flourishing across important life domains among young adults.

Method: The study sample included 562 participants ages 22-29 who were originally recruited from an urban Pacific Northwest region in the US as part of a longitudinal study of social role transitions and alcohol use. At one assessment, participants completed an online survey that included a 3-item measure of loneliness, a 4-item measure of depression and anxiety symptoms, and a 12-item measure of flourishing as well as measures of marijuana and alcohol use frequency.

Increases in Loneliness Among Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Association With Increases in Mental Health Problems.

Purpose: Young adults are at high risk for increases in loneliness and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined increases in loneliness in a young adult sample, for whom increases were greater, and association with increases in depression and anxiety.

Method: Data from 564 young adults (ages 22-29, 60.

A Marijuana Consequences Checklist for Young Adults with Implications for Brief Motivational Intervention Research.

Measures assessing marijuana-related consequences or problems experienced by young adults have typically been adapted from measures assessing alcohol consequences. These measures may not fully reflect the specific unwanted or perceived "not so good" effects of marijuana that are experienced by young adults. Thus, using these measures may present a gap, which needs to be addressed, given that reports of consequences are often utilized in brief motivational personalized feedback interventions.

Physical and mental health issues facing community college students.

To examine health concerns among community college (CC) students by (1) identifying and coding the self-reported health issues facing CC students and (2) examining demographic and psychosocial variables associated with health categories. 946 CC students ( = 26.37) recruited from January 2017 to February 2017 who completed a screening survey for a larger study.

A Daily Study Comparing Alcohol-Related Positive and Negative Consequences for Days With Only Alcohol Use Versus Days With Simultaneous Alcohol and Marijuana Use in a Community Sample of Young Adults.

Background: Alcohol and marijuana are psychoactive substances commonly used by young adults and are independently associated with numerous acute and long-term consequences. Many young adults engage in simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use to cross-fade (i.e.

Behavioral economic demand for alcohol among young adults who engage in simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use.

Young adults (YAs) who engage in simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use (SAM) may combine substances due to enhanced subjective effects, and as a result, may place greater value (e.g., spend more resources) on alcohol relative to YAs who consume alcohol but do not engage in SAM.

Does it work and does it last? Effects of social and drinking behavior on same- and next-day mood.

Both social and drinking behavior have the potential to modify mood. However, if social drinking enhances positive mood and reduces negative mood, as compared to non-drinking social behavior, then interventions to reinforce non-drinking via sober social activity are undermined. Using multilevel modeling analyses, we compared end-of-day mood on drinking days versus non-drinking days, and on days spent with other people as compared to days spent primarily alone.

Daily Motives for Alcohol and Marijuana Use as Predictors of Simultaneous Use Among Young Adults.

Objective: Research on substance use motives typically examines each substance separately. However, simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use-that is, using alcohol and marijuana at the same time so that their effects overlap-is common among young adults. This study examines day-to-day fluctuations in motives for using alcohol and/ or marijuana among young adult substance users as predictors of alcohol, marijuana, and SAM use across days.

Identifying Barriers to Mental Health Service Utilization Among Heavy Drinking Community College Students.

There are limited findings on mental health prevalence and service utilization rates among community college (CC) students. Utilizing a heavy drinking CC sample, the current study examined: 1) prevalence of mental health symptoms, 2) mental health service utilization and perceived unmet service need, and 3) barriers to service utilization. Participants were 142 CC students who were heavy alcohol users (70% female; 59% White) from three public CCs in the Pacific Northwest who were participating in a larger study designed to adapt a brief intervention for high-risk alcohol use.

Unplanned Heavy Episodic and High-Intensity Drinking: Daily-Level Associations With Mood, Context, and Negative Consequences.

Objective: Underestimating how much one will drink has been associated with greater alcohol-related consequences. Elevated mood or drinking context may relate to drinking more than planned (or intended) among college students. The aims of the current study were to test (a) whether positive and negative mood and contextual factors on a given day were associated with the likelihood of unplanned heavy drinking (defined as unplanned heavy episodic or high-intensity drinking), and (b) whether days with unplanned heavy drinking were associated with more negative consequences.

Influence of developmental social role transitions on young adult substance use.

Young adulthood (ages 18-25) is a developmental period characterized by numerous transitions in social roles. This period is also associated with increased risk of substance use and negative-consequences. Changes in developmental social role status can be related to changes in substance use.

The Efficacy of an Event-Specific, Text Message, Personalized Drinking Feedback Intervention.

Tailgating drinking prior to a football game is a type of event-specific drinking associated with increased alcohol use and related problems. Personalized drinking feedback interventions (PFI) are efficacious in reducing alcohol use and problems. The current study aimed to advance understanding of event-specific interventions by examining: (1) the efficacy of an event-specific, text message PFI on tailgating alcohol outcomes, and (2) the extent to which intervention effects generalize to "typical" alcohol outcomes at 1-month follow-up.