Behavioral Activation mHealth Application for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

Introduction: Behavioral activation (BA) is an effective intervention for both depression and substance use disorders. Combining BA with a standard smoking cessation intervention may improve quit rates by addressing depressive symptoms, a key barrier to quitting. This study preliminarily evaluated the acceptability and efficacy of the BA-based Actify! mobile health application (mHealth app) for smoking cessation.

Understanding parental vaccine refusal: Implicit and explicit associations about vaccines as potential building blocks of vaccine beliefs and behavior.

Objective: A movement of parents refusing vaccines for their children has contributed to increasingly large outbreaks of diseases that are preventable by vaccines. Research has identified multiple factors that relate to parents' vaccination behaviors (i.e.

"Sex Seems Less Important When You Are Worried About a Deadly Virus." A Content Analysis of Reported Reasons for Changes in Sexual Behavior and Satisfaction During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted various sexual behaviors and levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction by performing a content analysis of participants' (N = 1051 American adults) responses to open-ended survey questions. Results revealed a variety of impacts that increased, decreased, or otherwise qualitatively changed sexual behavior and satisfaction. Major themes included emotions and mental health, changes in routines, social distancing and fears related to COVID-19, and changes in romantic relationships.

Longitudinal relations between physical activity and alcohol consumption among young adults.

Objective: Recent research has revealed positive associations between alcohol use and physical activity. However, findings from these studies have been inconsistent, and longitudinal designs have been underutilized. Therefore, the present study examined longitudinal associations between physical activity and alcohol use in a sample of young adults.

Fluctuation in the sense of belongingness during college moderates within-person associations between perceived injunctive norms and subsequent drinking.

Objective: Explanations for associations between social norms and drinking often focus on wanting to fit in, gain social approval, and/or avoid social exclusion. From this perspective, students who believe that drinking is strongly linked to social approval should be more motivated to drink, especially if their sense of social approval or belongingness in college is low. To evaluate this hypothesis, we examined changes in drinking as a function of fluctuations in perceived injunctive norms (i.

A Behavioral Activation Mobile Health App for Smokers With Depression: Development and Pilot Evaluation in a Single-Arm Trial.

Background: The integration of Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BAT-D) into smoking cessation interventions is a promising approach to address depression as a barrier to quitting. However, this approach has only been tested as a face-to-face intervention, which has low reach.

Objective: The aims of the study were to develop a BAT-D mobile health app with high potential reach and determine its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects on theory-based behavioral processes of behavioral activation, reduced depressive symptoms, and smoking cessation.

Mood selectively moderates the implicit alcohol association-drinking relation in college student heavy episodic drinkers.

Multiple studies indicate that implicit alcohol-related associations (i.e., indices of relatively fast, spontaneous processes) predict drinking.

A review of implicit and explicit substance self-concept as a predictor of alcohol and tobacco use and misuse.

Background: This paper provides an overview of the self-concept as it relates to substance use. Self-concept has a long history in psychological theory and research; however, substance self-concept (e.g.

Implicit alcohol associations, especially drinking identity, predict drinking over time.

Objective: There is considerable excitement about implicit alcohol associations (IAAs) as predictors of college-student hazardous drinking; however, few studies have investigated IAAs prospectively, included multiple assessments, or controlled for previous drinking. Doing so is essential for showing the utility of these associations as predictors, and ultimately, targets for screening or intervention. Therefore, 3 IAAs (i.

Moderators of implicit and explicit drinking identity in a large US adult sample.

Drinking identity (viewing oneself as a drinker) is a potential risk factor for problematic drinking in US undergraduate samples. Whether that risk extends to a broader, more general US sample is unknown. Additionally, there are critical, unanswered questions with respect to moderators of the drinking identity-problematic drinking relationship; an important issue for designing prevention efforts.

Attempted Training of Alcohol Approach and Drinking Identity Associations in US Undergraduate Drinkers: Null Results from Two Studies.

There is preliminary evidence that approach avoid training can shift implicit alcohol associations and improve treatment outcomes. We sought to replicate and extend those findings in US undergraduate social drinkers (Study 1) and at-risk drinkers (Study 2). Three adaptations of the approach avoid task (AAT) were tested.

Correlates of public support toward federal funding for harm reduction strategies.

Background: Historically, US federal policy has not supported harm reduction interventions, such as safe injection facilities (SIFs) and needle and syringe programs (NSPs), which can reduce the burden associated with injection drug use. Given recent increases in abuse of both legal and illegal opioids, there has been a renewed debate about effective ways to address this problem. The current study (1) assessed participants' support for SIFs and NSPs, and (2) evaluated several demographic factors (e.

Habit doesn't make the predictions stronger: implicit alcohol associations and habitualness predict drinking uniquely.

Introduction: As research on implicit (in the sense of fast/reflexive/impulsive) alcohol associations and alcohol advances, there is increasing emphasis on understanding the circumstances under which implicit alcohol associations predict drinking. In this study, we investigated habitualness of drinking (i.e.

Evaluating implicit drinking identity as a mediator of drinking motives and alcohol consumption and craving.

Introduction: Implicit drinking identity (i.e., cognitive associations between the self and drinking) is a reliable predictor of drinking.

Normative perceptions of non-medical stimulant use: associations with actual use and hazardous drinking.

Unlabelled: Approximately 10% of US college students are engaged in non-medical use of prescription stimulants (NMUPS) and that use is linked to concerning health, educational, and societal consequences. Few studies have assessed normative perceptions surrounding NMUPS. Accordingly, we examined self-reported use and normative perceptions for NMUPS and demographic factors that may be associated with them.

Wounds that can't be seen: implicit trauma associations predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Background And Objectives: Prominent theories suggest that explicit and implicit cognitive biases are critical in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, studies evaluating implicit PTSD-related cognitive biases are rare, and findings are mixed. We developed two adaptions of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the "traumatized self" IAT (evaluations of the self as traumatized vs.