The Roles of Prevention Messages, Risk Perception, and Benefit Perception in Predicting Binge Drinking among College Students

To account for the effect of prevention-message exposure on binge drinking among college students, I hypothesized a conceptual model outlining potential mechanisms including perceived probability of negative consequences (PPNC), perceived severity of negative consequences (PSNC), perceived probability of positive consequences (PPPC), and perceived beneficiality of positive consequences (PBPC) from binge drinking, based on the two-step process model. I conducted an online survey at a public university in the US (N = 278). Findings suggested only PBPC was significantly related to binge drinking and the relationship was positive; prevention-message exposure was not directly associated with binge drinking, but was positively associated with PPNC, PSNC, PPPC, and PBPC; none of the mediational paths was significant; higher risk perception (interaction between PPNC and PSNC) was significantly related to less binge drinking, while benefit perception (interaction between PPPC and PBPC) was not predictive of binge drinking. Implications of findings were discussed.

Sensation seeking moderates television's cultivation of alcohol and tobacco beliefs: Evidence from a national study of French adolescents

BACKGROUND

Television (TV) is a key socialization agent, especially amongst youth. According to cultivation theory, youth heavily exposed to TV content, where positive images of smoking and drinking abound, should hold more positive beliefs concerning drinking and smoking outcomes. This research investigates the role of the sensation-seeking personality trait in moderating this TV cultivation effect.

METHODS

A French national research company contacted its panel members with children aged 13-17. Parents completed a short survey and were asked for consent for their child to participate in a study. The children were then contacted, informed, and asked for assent. Assenters completed a survey that included measures of TV exposure, personality traits, drinking and smoking behaviors, and beliefs about the outcomes associated with drinking and smoking (expectancies). Parental drinking, smoking, and strictness were included as controls.

RESULTS

Survey data from 1040 adolescents (54.2% males) and their parents reveal that the relationship between cumulative TV exposure and drinking and smoking behavior, mediated through expectancies, is strongest amongst high sensation seeking adolescents. The moderated mediation analysis shows that sensation seeking trait moderates the relationship between TV exposure and the beliefs adolescents hold about the consequences of alcohol and tobacco use, which themselves are related to greater likelihood to engage in substance use.

CONCLUSION

Key personality traits and TV exposure levels must be accounted for to identify youth at risk of using substances at a time when many lifelong maladaptive behaviors and beliefs form.

The link between optimism bias and attention bias: A neurocognitive perspective

Both optimism bias and reward-related attention bias have crucial implications for well-being and mental health. Yet, the extent to which the two biases interact remains unclear because, to date, they have mostly been discussed in isolation. Examining interactions between the two biases can lead to new directions in neurocognitive research by revealing their underlying cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms. In the present article, we suggest that optimism bias and reward-related attention bias mutually enforce each other and recruit a common underlying neural network. Key components of this network include specific activations in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex with connections to the amygdala. We further postulate that biased memory processes influence the interplay of optimism and reward-related attention bias. Studying such causal relations between cognitive biases reveals important information not only about normal functioning and adaptive neural pathways in maintaining mental health, but also about the development and maintenance of psychological diseases, thereby contributing to the effectiveness of treatment.

An Expert Map of Gambling Risk Perception

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the moderating or mediating role played by risk perception in decision-making, gambling behaviour, and disordered gambling aetiology. Eleven gambling expert clinicians and researchers completed a semi-structured interview derived from mental models and grounded theory methodologies. Expert interview data was used to construct a comprehensive expert mental model 'map' detailing risk-perception related factors contributing to harmful or safe gambling. Systematic overlapping processes of data gathering and analysis were used to iteratively extend, saturate, test for exception, and verify concepts and emergent themes. Findings indicated that experts considered idiosyncratic beliefs among gamblers result in overall underestimates of risk and loss, insufficient prioritization of needs, and planning and implementation of risk management strategies. Additional contextual factors influencing use of risk information (reinforcement and learning; mental states, environmental cues, ambivalence; and socio-cultural and biological variables) acted to shape risk perceptions and increase vulnerabilities to harm or disordered gambling. It was concluded that understanding the nature, extent and processes by which risk perception predisposes an individual to maintain gambling despite adverse consequences can guide the content of preventative educational responsible gambling campaigns.

Risk perception in gambling: a systematic review

Perception of the consequences of risk affects motivation and behaviour. In gambling, distorted expectations and preferences towards outcomes are associated with significant social and clinical harms. A systematic review was conducted to examine the relationship between gambling risk perception and behaviour. Sixteen studies met inclusion criteria. Studies provided evidence that disordered gamblers hold both more optimistic overall perceptions of risk, and a mixture of more positive and more negative specific outcome expectations. Preliminary evidence suggests a range of contextual and individual differences moderate risk perception affecting decision-making. Disordered gamblers appear to sustain motivation to gamble, despite more negative expectations and experiences, via cognitive processes that result in preferential emphasis on positive over negative outcomes. Given potential differences in the perception of risk between various categories of gamblers, clinicians should take into account how gamblers in treatment view gambling as a risky behaviour. Improving the accuracy of such perceptions may reduce the propensity for risk-taking behaviours.

Intertemporal tradeoffs: perceiving the risk in the benefits of marijuana in a prospective study of adolescents and young adults

PURPOSE

Intertemporal tradeoffs characterize the decision to use drugs: pleasure now traded off against the possibility of pain later. Traditional approaches have examined whether individuals use drugs because they either seek immediate benefit or fail to appreciate long-term risk. We asked whether risk taking might also result from failing to appreciate benefits. We refer to this as risk in the benefits (RIBs), an understanding that one's first drug experience can be so good, that a person may not want (or be able) to stop, putting him/her on a path that leads directly to addiction.

METHODS

In total, 304 participants, 160 adolescents and 144 young adults, participated in a longitudinal study on marijuana use and other risky health behaviors.

RESULTS

The failure to perceive the RIBs of marijuana use led to increased risk taking 1 year later within 3 different health behaviors: alcohol, tobacco, and sexual risk-taking. Greater appreciation of RIBs predicted significantly less future risk taking over-and-above all the traditional cognitive and behavioral predictors, and RIBs were the only significant cognitive predictor when all were included in 1 model. RIBs also partially mediated the relationship between past and future risk taking, over and above the strongest predictors of risk taking.

CONCLUSIONS

Failing to appreciate the impact of short-term benefits within the context of long-term risk increased future risk taking. Interventions that enhance the salience of RIBs may represent a new approach to reducing the likelihood that individuals will take risks with their health.

I. Adolescent problem gambling: Developing a gambling expectancy instrument

Positive and negative outcome expectancies have been found to play a significant role in adolescents' decisions to engage in drug and alcohol use. In light of the parallel risk and protective factors among high-risk behaviors, youth gambling outcome expectancies were explored through the development of the 23-item Gambling Expectancy Questionnaire (GEQ) using a sample of 1,013 students aged 12 to 18. The resulting GEQ consists of three positive expectancy scales (enjoyment/arousal, self-enhancement, money) and two negative expectancy scales (overinvolvement, emotional impact). The potential utility of this scale is discussed.

II. The utility of outcome expectancies in the prediction of adolescent gambling behaviour

The Gambling Expectancy Questionnaire (GEQ; Gillespie, Derevensky & Gupta, 2006, previous article) suggests that adolescents hold a variety of positive and negative outcome expectancies related to gambling. Significant age, gender, and DSM-IV-MR-J gambling group differences were identified on the scales of the GEQ (i.e., enjoyment/arousal, self-enhancement, money, overinvolvement, emotional impact) in this study. Direct logistic regression among adolescent gamblers was performed separately for males and females to predict group membership in either social or problem gambling categories. The results provide insightful information suggesting that non-gamblers, social gamblers, at-risk gamblers, and probable pathological gamblers (PPGs) differ in the strength of their expectancies of both the positive and negative outcomes of gambling behaviour. In particular, PPGs highly anticipate both the positive and negative outcomes of gambling. Among males, these perceptions differentiate those who gamble excessively and those who do not. For females, outcome expectancies may have less predictive value. These findings were interpreted in terms of their implications for prevention, treatment, and future research.

Peer influence on risk taking, risk preference, and risky decision making in adolescence and adulthood: an experimental study

In this study, 306 individuals in 3 age groups--adolescents (13-16), youths (18-22), and adults (24 and older)--completed 2 questionnaire measures assessing risk preference and risky decision making, and 1 behavioral task measuring risk taking. Participants in each age group were randomly assigned to complete the measures either alone or with 2 same-aged peers. Analyses indicated that (a) risk taking and risky decision making decreased with age; (b) participants took more risks, focused more on the benefits than the costs of risky behavior, and made riskier decisions when in peer groups than alone; and (c) peer effects on risk taking and risky decision making were stronger among adolescents and youths than adults. These findings support the idea that adolescents are more inclined toward risky behavior and risky decision making than are adults and that peer influence plays an important role in explaining risky behavior during adolescence.