Acceptance of Drug Use Mediates Future Hard Drug Use Among At-Risk Adolescent Marijuana, Tobacco, and Alcohol Users.

Alternative high school (AHS) students typically report higher levels of alcohol and other drug use compared to students attending traditional high schools. Greater use of such drugs as heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine in this at-risk population may be driven, in part, by a greater latitude of acceptance toward substance use in general, which may accelerate the transition from gateway drugs to hard drugs. Seven hundred seventy-seven adolescents (mean age 16.

Sociodemographic and metabolic risk characteristics associated with metabolic weight categories in the Women's Health Initiative.

Unlabelled: To identify sociodemographic and metabolic correlates of weight categories in postmenopausal women.

Methods: The Women's Health Initiative enrolled 161 808 postmenopausal women ages 50-79. We included those free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and with CVD risk factors and biomarkers ( = 19 412).

Incidence of diabetes according to metabolically healthy or unhealthy normal weight or overweight/obesity in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative.

Objective: To determine the relationship of metabolic weight categories with incident diabetes mellitus (DM) in postmenopausal women.

Methods: The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled 161,808 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years. We included those with cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarkers and free of CVD and prevalent DM (n = 17,043) at baseline.

Is (poly-) substance use associated with impaired inhibitory control? A mega-analysis controlling for confounders.

Many studies have reported that heavy substance use is associated with impaired response inhibition. Studies typically focused on associations with a single substance, while polysubstance use is common. Further, most studies compared heavy users with light/non-users, though substance use occurs along a continuum.

The Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index for Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Problems: A Comprehensive Modern Psychometric Study.

Objective: The Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI) has been used extensively as a measure of alcohol-related problems experienced by adolescents and young adults. The present study aimed to comprehensively examine the psychometric profile and criterion-related validity of an 18-item RAPI adapted to measure negative consequences resulting from alcohol and other drug use in an at-risk adolescent population.

Method: Categorical confirmatory factor analysis and the graded response model were used for evaluations of the latent factor structure, item properties, test information, and item invariance across gender, age groups (middle vs.

Share of Advertising Voice at the Point-of-Sale and Its Influence on At-Risk Students' Use of Alternative Tobacco Products.

Introduction: As adolescent tobacco use shifts from traditional cigarettes to alternative products, it is important to understand the influence of point-of-sale (POS) advertising on product use. This research investigated whether the percentage of POS advertising for a particular product, known as the share of advertising voice (SAV), moderated the relationship between exposure to POS tobacco advertisements and tobacco use among at-risk youth.

Methods: Longitudinal self-report data from 746 students attending 20 alternative high schools in southern California was merged with observational data cataloging 2101 advertisements for cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco from 87 tobacco retail outlets within a half mile of the schools.

Trajectories of cannabis-related associative memory among vulnerable adolescents: Psychometric and longitudinal evaluations.

Indirect tests of memory associations relevant to cannabis have been shown to be useful in explaining and predicting adolescent cannabis use habits. This study sought to increase the understanding of adolescent cannabis-related associative memory and cannabis use behavior over time. A longitudinal sample of alternative high school students (N = 775) was assessed yearly for 3 years.

The prevalence and marketing of electronic cigarettes in proximity to at-risk youths: An investigation of point-of-sale practices near alternative high schools.

This study examines the point-of-sale marketing practices used to promote electronic cigarettes at stores near schools that serve at-risk youth. One hundred stores selling tobacco products within a half mile of alternative high schools in Southern California were assessed for this study. Seventy percent of stores in the sample sold electronic cigarettes.

Predictive utility and measurement properties of the Strength of Implementation Intentions Scale (SIIS) for condom use.

Background: Implementation intentions are situation-linked action plans that increase health behaviors such as condom use. Few studies have measured the strength of implementation intentions, especially regarding condom use. Non-injection drug users are at high risk for HIV due to risky sexual practices.

Negative affect in at-risk youth: Outcome expectancies mediate relations with both regular and electronic cigarette use.

Despite the general trend of declining use of traditional cigarettes among young adults in the United States, alternative high school students continue to smoke cigarettes and electronic cigarettes at rates much higher than do students attending regular high schools. Challenging life circumstances leading to elevated levels of negative affect may account for increased smoking behavior in this population. Further, a belief in the negative affect-reducing qualities of nicotine may mediate this effect.

Adolescents at risk for drug abuse: a 3-year dual-process analysis.

Aims: To test longitudinal additive and synergistic dual-process models in youth at documented risk for drug use. The specific dual-process approach examined suggests that engaging in drug use behaviors results from a dynamic interplay between automatically activated associative memory processes and executive reflective/control processes.

Design: This 3-year, three-wave population-based prospective study used mobile computer-based assessments.

Affective decision-making moderates the effects of automatic associations on alcohol use among drug offenders.

Background: This study used a dual-process model of cognition in order to investigate the possible influence of automatic and deliberative processes on lifetime alcohol use in a sample of drug offenders.

Objective: The objective was to determine if automatic/implicit associations in memory can exert an influence over an individual's alcohol use and if decision-making ability could potentially modify the influence of these associations.

Methods: 168 participants completed a battery of cognitive tests measuring implicit alcohol associations in memory (verb generation) as well as their affective decision-making ability (Iowa Gambling Task).

Emotional eating and routine restraint scores are associated with activity in brain regions involved in urge and self-control.

Researchers have proposed a variety of behavioral traits that may lead to weight gain and obesity; however, little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these weight-related eating behaviors. In this study, we measured activation of reward circuitry during a task requiring response and inhibition to food stimuli. We assessed participants' emotional eating, external eating, and two subscales of dietary restraint-routine restraint and compensatory restraint-using the Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire.

Self-regulation interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in adolescents.

This study evaluated the efficacy of self-regulation interventions through the use of drink-specific implementation intentions and drink-specific Go/No-Go training tasks as compensatory strategies to modify inhibitory control to reduce intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). In a between-subjects randomized manipulation of implementation intentions and Go/No-Go training to learn to inhibit sugary drink consumption, 168 adolescents reporting inhibitory control problems over sugary drinks and foods were recruited from high schools in southern California to participate. Analysis of covariance overall test of effects revealed no significant differences between the groups regarding calories consumed, calories from SSBs, grams of sugar consumed from drinks, or the number of unhealthy drinks chosen.

Neurological changes in brain structure and functions among individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse: A review.

Objective: Review literature focused on neurological associations in brain structure among individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA).

Methodology: A review of literature examining physiological irregularities in brain structures of individuals with a history of CSA was conducted.

Results: Results revealed that a history of CSA was associated with irregularities in the cortical and subcortical regions of the brain.

The development of a new condom use expectancy scale for at-risk adults.

Rationale: Engaging in risky sexual behavior increases transmission of HIV.

Objective: The present study used previously elicited salient outcomes of condom use to examine the factor structure and test the predictive utility of a condom use expectancy scale.

Methods: Participants were drug offenders from court ordered drug diversion programs in Southern California.

Evaluation of internal validity using modern test theory: Application to word association.

Word association tests (WATs) have been widely used to examine associative/semantic memory structures and shown to be relevant to behavior and its underpinnings. Despite successful applications of WATs in diverse research areas, few studies have examined psychometric properties of these tests or other open-ended cognitive tests of common use. Modern test theory models, such as item response theory (IRT) models, are well suited to evaluate interpretations of this class of test.

Altered dynamics between neural systems sub-serving decisions for unhealthy food.

Using BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques, we examined the relationships between activities in the neural systems elicited by the decision stage of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and food choices of either vegetables or snacks high in fat and sugar. Twenty-three healthy normal weight adolescents and young adults, ranging in age from 14 to 21, were studied. Neural systems implicated in decision-making and inhibitory control were engaged by having participants perform the IGT during fMRI scanning.

Poor ability to resist tempting calorie rich food is linked to altered balance between neural systems involved in urge and self-control.

Background: The loss of self-control or inability to resist tempting/rewarding foods, and the development of less healthful eating habits may be explained by three key neural systems: (1) a hyper-functioning striatum system driven by external rewarding cues; (2) a hypo-functioning decision-making and impulse control system; and (3) an altered insula system involved in the translation of homeostatic and interoceptive signals into self-awareness and what may be subjectively experienced as a feeling.

Methods: The present study examined the activity within two of these neural systems when subjects were exposed to images of high-calorie versus low-calorie foods using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and related this activity to dietary intake, assessed by 24-hour recall. Thirty youth (mean BMI = 23.

Neural correlates of a Go/NoGo task with alcohol stimuli in light and heavy young drinkers.

Inhibitory processes are highly relevant to behavioral control affecting decisions made daily. The Go/NoGo task is a common task used to tap basic inhibitory processes important in higher order executive functioning. The present study assessed neural correlates of response inhibition during performance of a Go/NoGo task in which NoGo signals or tests of inhibitory control consisted of images of beer bottles.

Application of item response theory to tests of substance-related associative memory.

A substance-related word-association test (WAT) is one of the commonly used indirect tests of substance-related implicit associative memory and has been shown to predict substance use. This study applied an item response theory (IRT) modeling approach to evaluate psychometric properties of the alcohol- and marijuana-related WATs and their items among 775 ethnically diverse at-risk adolescents. After examining the IRT assumptions, item fit, and differential item functioning (DIF) across gender and age groups, the original 18 WAT items were reduced to 14 and 15 items in the alcohol- and marijuana-related WAT, respectively.

Inhibitory control effects in adolescent binge eating and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and snacks.

Inhibitory control and sensitivity to reward are relevant to the food choices individuals make frequently. An imbalance of these systems can lead to deficits in decision-making that are relevant to food ingestion. This study evaluated the relationship between dietary behaviors - binge eating and consumption of sweetened beverages and snacks - and behavioral control processes among 198 adolescents, ages 14 to 17.

Response inhibition moderates the association between drug use and risky sexual behavior.

Background: HIV infection is problematic among all drug users, not only injection drug users. Drug users are at risk for contracting HIV by engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

Objective: The present study sought to determine whether inhibitory processes moderate the relationship between problematic drug use and HIV-risk behaviors (unprotected sex and multiple sex partners).

Functional imaging of implicit marijuana associations during performance on an Implicit Association Test (IAT).

This research evaluated the neural correlates of implicit associative memory processes (habit-based processes) through the imaging (fMRI) of a marijuana Implicit Association Test. Drug-related associative memory effects have been shown to consistently predict level of drug use. To observe differences in neural activity of associative memory effects, this study compared 13 heavy marijuana users and 15 non-using controls, ranging in age from 18 to 25, during performance of a marijuana Implicit Association Test (IAT).