Drink and Be Merry? Gender, Life Satisfaction, and Alcohol Consumption Among College Students.

This study examined the impact of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems on several domains of life satisfaction (LS) in a sample of 353 college students. Alcohol use was associated with lower general satisfaction and anticipated future satisfaction among women. Female abstainers reported higher general and anticipated future satisfaction than did female heavy drinkers. Female students' alcohol use was unrelated to their academic, family, dating, or social satisfaction. Drinking among men showed a positive, curvilinear relation to social satisfaction but was unrelated to other domains of LS. Alcohol-related problems were associated with decreased LS among both men and women. These findings suggest that alcohol use by young adults is associated with both positive and negative outcomes that may be gender specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustained effects of the single-sex secondary school experience on attitudes, behaviors, and values in college.

Extending an earlier study (V. E. Lee and A. S. Bryk; see record 1987-02510-001), this research investigates sustained effects of single-sex and coeducational secondary school on the attitudes, values, and behaviors of young men and women, measured 2 or 4 years after high school graduation. The sample from High School and Beyond consists of 1,533 college students who had attended 75 Catholic high schools, 45 of which were single-sex. Longitudinal data were available biennially from their high school sophomore year (1980) until their college senior year (1986). Although sustained effects of single-sex secondary schooling appear for both sexes on college choice and postcollege interests, effects on young women extend to attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The single-sex educational experience, especially during the formative adolescent period, appears to enable young women to overcome certain social-psychological barriers to their academic and professional advancement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexuality and the commission of physical violence to partners and non-partners by men and women.

In 2 studies of physical violence and sexuality among college students, more than 75% of men and more than 60% of women reported committing physical violence in the past year, including more women to partners and more men to non-partners. More than 90% of men who committed violence to partners were also violent to non-partners. In Study 1, among 193 men and 203 women, people who committed violence had higher scores on sexual depression and general depression than did people who were not violent. People violent to non-partners had more sexual preoccupation and more alcohol use problems than did other people. In Study 2, among 160 college men and 138 college women, people in 4 violence groups did not differ in total sexual fantasies or sexual functioning. The findings support the importance of differentiating between violence toward partners and toward non-partners among both men and women and suggest a role of depression in partner violence and antisocial features in violence toward non-partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective associations among alcohol use-related sexual enhancement expectancies, sex after alcohol use, and casual sex.

Higher levels of alcohol use have consistently been related to higher rates of sexual risk taking; however, it is not clear whether this relationship is causal. This study examined the concurrent and predictive associations among alcohol use-related sexual enhancement expectancies, drinking alcohol before engaging in sex, and casual sex during the transition into emerging adulthood and whether these associations differed for men and women. Data came from 590 men and women who were interviewed 3 times at 6-month intervals after high school. Growth curve analyses indicated that alcohol-related sexual enhancement expectancies were related to casual sex indirectly through drinking before sex but did not predict change in either of these behaviors. However, increases in drinking before sex predicted increases in casual sex over time. The findings provide some support for prevention programs that focus on alcohol-related sexual expectancies to reduce sexually transmitted illnesses among emerging adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction between the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism and proximal and distal environments in alcohol dependence during emerging and young adulthood.

The manifestation of alcohol dependence at different developmental stages may be associated with different genetic and environmental factors. Taking a developmental approach, we characterized interaction between the dopamine receptor 4 variable number tandem repeat (DRD4 VNTR) polymorphism and developmentally specific environmental factors (childhood adversity, college/Greek organization involvement, and delayed adult role transition) on alcohol dependence during emerging and young adulthood. Prospective data were obtained from a cohort of 234 White individuals (56% women, 44% men) who were followed up at ages 18 through 34. A longitudinal hierarchical factor model was estimated to model a traitlike persistent alcohol dependence factor throughout emerging and young adulthood and 2 residual statelike alcohol dependence factors limited to emerging adulthood and young adulthood, respectively. We accounted for those alcohol dependence factors by modeling 3 two-way interaction effects between the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism and the 3 developmentally specific environment factors. Carriers of the DRD4 long allele showed greater susceptibility to environmental effects; they showed more persistent symptoms of alcohol dependence as childhood adversity increased and more alcohol dependence symptoms limited to emerging adulthood as college/Greek organization involvement increased. Alcohol dependence among noncarriers of the long allele, however, did not differ as a function of those environments. Although replication is necessary, these findings highlight the importance of repeated phenotypic assessments across development and modeling both distal and proximal environments and their interaction with genetic susceptibility at specific developmental stages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do College Students Drink More Than Their Non-College-Attending Peers? Evidence From a Population-Based Longitudinal Female Twin Study.

The association of college attendance with alcohol use and alcohol use disorders was examined in a population-based young adult female twin sample identified from a systematic search of birth records. College-attending women consumed a larger overall volume of alcohol than did their non-college-attending peers, but they were not more likely to be diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder. Significant associations between college attendance and alcohol involvement were probed using 3 different complementary research designs: multivariate cross-sectional analyses, longitudinal analyses of the precollege and college years, and cotwin-control analyses of twin pairs discordant for attending college. Although demographic and lifestyle characteristics accounted for most or all of the association between college attendance and alcohol involvement, there was 1 aspect of drinking behavior, occasionally consuming large quantities of alcohol, that remained significantly associated with college attendance even after controlling for these characteristics or for genetic and family background factors. These results are consistent with the conclusion that some aspect of the college experience may be an important environmental risk factor for this pattern of drinking among young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization Over the Life Span: A Comparison of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Siblings.

Lifetime victimization was examined in a primarily European American sample that comprised 557 lesbian/gay, 163 bisexual, and 525 heterosexual adults. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) participants were recruited via LGB e-mail lists, periodicals, and organizations; these participants recruited 1 or more siblings for participation in the study (81% heterosexual, 19% LGB). In hierarchical linear modeling analyses, sexual orientation was a significant predictor of most of the victimization variables. Compared with heterosexual participants, LGB participants reported more childhood psychological and physical abuse by parents or caretakers, more childhood sexual abuse, more partner psychological and physical victimization in adulthood, and more sexual assault experiences in adulthood. Sexual orientation differences in sexual victimization were greater among men than among women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young-adult malt liquor drinkers: Prediction of alcohol problems and marijuana use.

Malt liquor (ML) is a cheap, high alcohol content beverage that is marketed to appeal to young adults. Findings from the few published studies of ML use suggest that it may be associated with excessive drinking, alcohol problems, and the use of illicit drugs. The authors conducted separate hierarchical multiple regressions to examine the role of ML use and psychosocial variables (e.g., personality, ML motives) in alcohol-related problems and marijuana use. Demographic characteristics served as controls. The sample consisted of 639 (456 men, 183 women) young adults (M = 22.9 years, SD = 4.2) who regularly (≥40 oz/week) consumed ML. ML use significantly and positively predicted alcohol problems, ML-specific problems, and marijuana use, above and beyond their associations with typical alcohol use. Marijuana was the illicit drug of choice, and 46% reported concurrent use of marijuana and ML. Those who concurrently used ML and marijuana began drinking at a younger age and reported more substance use (particularly marijuana) and more alcohol-related problems than did nonconcurrent users. These results suggest that ML use may represent a risk for alcohol problems and marijuana use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and social motives and drinking behavior.

This longitudinal study of 1,447 first-time college students tested separate time-varying covariate models of the relations between academic and social motives/behaviors and alcohol use and related problems from senior year of high school through the end of the second year in college. Structural equation models identified small but significant inverse relations between academic motives/behaviors and alcohol use across all time points, with relations of somewhat larger magnitude between academic motives/behaviors and alcohol-related problems across all semesters other than senior year in high school. At all time points, there were much larger positive relations between social motives/behaviors and alcohol use across all semesters, with smaller but significant relations between social motives/behaviors and alcohol-related problems. Multi-group models found considerable consistency in the relations between motives/behaviors and alcohol-related outcomes across gender, race/ethnicity, and family history of alcohol problems, although academic motives/behaviors played a stronger protective role for women, and social motives were a more robust risk factor for Caucasian and Latino students and individuals with a positive family history of alcohol problems. Implications for alcohol prevention efforts among college students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

IgE, IgA, and IgG responses to common yeasts in atopic patients

To assess the incidence of HIV infection and risk factors associated with HIV seroconversion among patients attending clinics for sexually transmitted diseases (STD), medical record reviews were conducted in 12 clinics in 7 U.S. cities. The records of all patients who initially tested negative for HIV from 1991 through 1996 and who received at least one additional HIV test during the study period were reviewed. In each of 7 cities, 5 to 112 patients seroconverted. Of the 286 seroconverters identified in total, 53% (152 of 286) were heterosexual men and 28% (81 of 286) were women. HIV incidence rates among men who have sex with men (MSM) ranged by city from 0.81 to 7.0 new infections/100 person-years. Rates among heterosexual men and women ranged from 0.018 to 1.2 infections/100 person-years. Multivariate analyses showed that drug use was associated with HIV seroconversion only among heterosexuals. Most new HIV infections in these clinics are being transmitted heterosexually and are associated with drug use. Nevertheless, MSM, particularly young MSM, are at greatest risk for HIV in this population: 1 of 47 seroconvert/year. The effective use of targeted prevention efforts depends upon the continued ability to monitor the incidence of HIV infection.     

Age of onset of first alcohol intoxication and subsequent alcohol use among urban American Indian adolescents.

The objective was to assess the effect of early onset intoxication on subsequent alcohol involvement among urban American Indian youth. The data come from the American Indian Research (AIR) project, a panel study of urban Indian youth residing in King County, Washington. Data were collected annually from the adolescent and his/her primary caregiver from the 1988–89 school year to the 1996–97 school year, providing a total of nine waves of data. Early intoxication (by age 14) was related to delinquency, family history of alcohol abuse or dependence, poverty, broken family structure, less family cohesiveness, and more family conflict. The effects of these characteristics were, therefore, partialed out in testing effects of early intoxication on later alcohol involvement. Two-part latent growth models of alcohol use and alcohol problems were specified. Effects of early onset intoxication on these trajectories, as well as lifetime alcohol abuse or dependence by the transition to young adulthood, were examined. Findings indicate that adolescents who experienced their first intoxication early (by age 14), used alcohol more heavily from the ages of 16 to 18, experienced more problems related to the alcohol's use from the ages of 16 to 18, and were more likely to have a diagnosed alcohol disorder by the final wave of data collection. Congruent with similar studies in the general population, early intoxication appears to be associated with a deleterious course of alcohol involvement during adolescence and into the transition to young adulthood among urban American Indian youth. Implications for prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identifying two potential mechanisms for changes in alcohol use among college-attending and non-college-attending emerging adults.

This study tested whether pro-alcohol peer influences and prosocial involvement account for increases in drinking during the transition into emerging adulthood and whether these mechanisms differ depending on college attendance and/or moving away from home. The authors used structural equation modeling of prospective data from 825 young men and women. For 4 groups defined by college and residential status, more drinking in the spring of 12th grade predicted more pro-alcohol peer influences the following fall, and more pro-alcohol peer influences in the fall predicted increases in drinking the following spring. Going to college while living at home was a protective factor against increases in drinking and selection of pro-alcohol peer involvements. Prosocial involvement (measured by involvement in religious activities and volunteer work) was not significantly related to post-high school drinking except among college students living away from home. Prevention efforts should focus on (a) reducing opportunities for heavy drinking for college and noncollege emerging adults as they leave home and (b) increasing prosocial involvement among college students not living at home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transitioning into and out of large-effect drinking in young adulthood.

As individuals age beyond the college years into young adulthood, many exhibit a tendency to moderate or "mature out of alcohol" involvement. The current study classified effect-drinking statuses in young adults and examined transitions among statuses using latent transition analysis, a latent variable state-sequential model for longitudinal data. At 3 occasions over 7 years (Years 1, 4, and 7), 443 men (47%) and women (mean age of both at baseline?=?18.5 years; 51% with family history of alcoholism) responded to 3 past-30-day items assessing drinking and subjective effects of drinking: whether the respondent drank alcohol, felt high, and felt drunk. Latent statuses included abstainers (14% at Year 1), limited-effect drinkers (8%), moderate-effect drinkers (23%), and large-effect drinkers (54%). Respondents with family history of alcoholism were less likely to transition out of large-effect drinking than those without family history. Men exhibited more severe initial effect-drinking statuses and lower transition probabilities into less severe effect-drinking statuses than women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The temporal relationship between alcohol consumption and HIV-medication adherence: A multilevel model of direct and moderating effects.

Previous studies documenting an association between alcohol use and HIV medication nonadherence, have been unable to distinguish between-persons characteristics from within-person characteristics representing the temporally linked effects of alcohol. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) explored within- and between-person predictors of adherence during the past 14 days, as well as factors that moderate the event-level effects of alcohol consumption among 272 HIV-positive men and women with alcohol problems. On days in which participants drank, they had almost 9 times higher odds of medication nonadherence, with each drink increasing the odds by 20%. The cognitive and alcohol factors had significant between-person effects on adherence. Individuals with strong and rigid beliefs about the importance of strict medication adherence were significantly more affected by each dose of alcohol, while individuals with more alcohol use and problems were less affected by each drink. Regimen complexity increased the effects of having 1 or more drinks. These results highlight the importance of promoting medication adherence among alcohol-using adults, especially among patients with complex regimens or with high confidence and positive attitudes toward HIV medication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DSM-IV alcohol disorders in a general population sample of adolescents and young adults

AIMS/DESIGNS: As part of the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology (EDSP) study, results from the baseline cross-sectional assessment of DSM-IV alcohol disorders are presented for a sample of 14-24-year-olds residents in Munich, Germany (N = 3021; 71% response rate). FINDINGS: Life-time prevalence of DSM-IV alcohol abuse (men: 15.1%; women; 4.5%) was found to be considerably more prevalent than dependence (men: 10.0%; women 2.5%) with few cases among respondents younger than 16 years of age; 12-month prevalence of abuse was 8.4% among men and 2.7% among women and of dependence was 7.3% among men and 2.2% among women. Results show that peak incidence of alcohol disorders occurs at 16-17 years of age and that early initiation into alcohol use is associated with an increasing odds of disorder onset, especially for dependence among women. Exploratory analysis of retrospectively assessed diagnostic stability show: a temporal progression to abuse and then dependence, that nearly half of past abuse diagnoses are in remission, abuse remission is more common than progression to dependence, and dependence is highly persistent, especially among women. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol disorders are frequent in adolescent and young adults being characterized by transient abuse and less prevalent but persistent dependence syndromes. The relatively high prevalence of dependence diagnoses in this young population wit few years of alcohol use is discussed with regard to the clinical validity of DSM-IV criteria in adolescents and young adults.     

Smoking: high hazards in high school

BACKGROUND: Young people in school are at an impressionable age, peer pressures are intense, and the probability that they will pick up a high-risk behavior, such as smoking, is high. The key to reduction of smoking among adults is to target our prevention efforts at young adults and teens. OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and trend of smoking among young adults and teens and to formulate guidelines on smoking reduction to guide those who counsel young people. STUDY DESIGN: The study design is cross sectional. METHODS: This study is based on the data from the Oklahoma Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the National Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System - the two systems that monitor the prevalence of behaviors that most influence health. RESULTS: The prevalence of smoking among young adults (age 18-24) in Oklahoma is high at more than 21%. The disturbing feature is that it is higher among young females than among young males. The prevalence of smoking among young adults is the highest among high school dropouts and is more than 38%. It is lower among high school graduates (about 28%) and lowest among college graduates (about 18%). The percentage of smoking among students who classify themselves as current smokers rises from 23% to 30% as the students progress from grade 9 to 12 and the percentage of frequent smokers increases from 8% to 16%. CONCLUSIONS: Guidelines suggested for counselors are: 1. Along with smoking, look for comorbid behaviors such as alcohol use, drug abuse, and high-risk sexual behavior. 2. Ask whether the student has easy access to free cigarette samples. 3. Check whether the teen is trying to lose weight; suggest appropriate methods for losing weight if smoking is being used for losing weight. 4. Target health education efforts early in a student's school career starting in elementary school, but concentrate especially at the 8th or 9th grade level to have maximum preventive impact.     

Gender-Specific Misperceptions of College Student Drinking Norms.

This study evaluated perceptions of same-sex and opposite-sex gender-specific versus gender-nonspecific drinking norms among college students (115 men, 111 women). This research is consistent with previous findings that college students overestimate the quantity and frequency of drinking among their gender-nonspecific peers and demonstrates that both men and women overestimate the quantity and frequency of the drinking of their same-sex peers. The findings suggest that perceived same-sex norms are more strongly associated with problematic drinking than are gender-nonspecific norms and that perceived same-sex drinking norms are stronger predictors of alcohol consumption for women than for men. Results suggest that interventions incorporating normative feedback should be framed differently for women than for men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of drinking protective behavioral strategies in association to sex-related alcohol negative consequences: The mediating role of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol use has been implicated as a risk factor for sexual negative consequences, such as unprotected sexual intercourse. The present research was conducted to examine the relationship between drinking protective behavioral strategies and consensual sex-related alcohol negative consequences, and whether this relationship varied by gender. Additionally, typical number of drinks during sexual behavior was evaluated as a potential mediator of this association. Heavy drinking, sexually active college students (N = 297, 50.2% women) completed self-report measures of drinking protective behavioral strategies, alcohol consumption, and sex-related alcohol negative consequences. Findings indicated that women who used drinking protective behavioral strategies more frequently were less likely to experience sex-related alcohol negative consequences whereas this relationship was not significant for men. For women, this relationship was mediated by the typical number of drinks consumed during sexual behavior. The current research demonstrates that use of drinking protective behavioral strategies is related to a reduction in women's sex-related risks when drinking. Findings are discussed in terms of alcohol myopia theory. Implications for interventions aimed to reduce higher risk sexual behavior among college students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender moderates the relationship between substance-free activity enjoyment and alcohol use.

Laboratory research suggests that there is an inverse relationship between substance use and substance-free reinforcement, but the relevance of this relationship to the prevention of human substance abuse remains somewhat unclear. The present study evaluated the relationship between alcohol use and enjoyment from substance-free activities in a sample of college students who had previously completed an alcohol intervention (N = 107; 55% women; 45% men). The authors used a modified 30-day timeline follow-back interview to collect data on enjoyment from specific substance-free activities that occurred in the evening. Regression analyses revealed that there was a negative association between alcohol consumption and substance-free activity enjoyment for women but not for men. Women who reported greater enjoyment on abstinent evenings reported lower past-month alcohol consumption. Greater average enjoyment from substance-free activities was associated with greater motivation to change drinking among men and women. Although further research is required to determine procedures for increasing participation in substance-free activities and to explicate possible gender differences, these results suggest that increasing enjoyable substance-free activities may be an important prevention component. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)