Temporal precedence of self-regulation over depression and alcohol problems: Support for a model of self-regulatory failure

Differential Pathways of Risky Drinking via Coping Motives in College and Noncollege Young Adults

The current study tested a mediation model of psychological functioning (i.e., perceived stressors, psychological distress, and self-regulation) and risky drinking through a drinking to cope pathway comparing college and noncollege young adults. Participants were 623 young adult drinkers (M age = 21.46) who completed an online survey. Multigroup analyses examined the proposed mediation model for college students and nonstudents. For nonstudents, the indirect effects of psychological distress to alcohol use outcomes (i.e., alcohol quantity, binge drinking frequency, and alcohol-related problems) via coping motives was significant. Further, coping motives significantly mediated the positive effects of self-regulation on alcohol quantity, binge drinking frequency, and alcohol-related problems. For students, greater psychological distress was associated with greater coping motives, which in turn, related to greater alcohol-related problems. Coping motives significantly mediated the positive effect of self-regulation on binge drinking frequency. Findings highlight the different pathways that may result in risky drinking and alcohol problems based on young adult's educational attainment. These results have important clinical implications, particularly for those who have not attended college.

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of social anxiety scale for social media users and cross-sectional investigation into this disorder among college students

BACKGROUND

Recent years have seen an increased incidence of social anxiety due to increasing intensive use of social media, especially among young adults.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to translate the original English version of Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU) into Chinese, examine its applicability among Chinese College students via reliability and validity indexes, and investigate the influencing factors contributing to SAS-SMU.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among a cohort of 1307 Chinese college students, 486 males and 821 females, aged 20.75 ± 3.13 years old. The original version of SAS-SMU was translated into Chinese using the backward and forward translation procedure. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor (CFA) analysis were used for construction of underlying factor structure. Criterion-related validity was assessed using Interaction anxiousness scale (IAS) and the "extraversion" domain of Eysenck Personality Short Scale (EPQ-R-S). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was computed for evaluation of internal consistency. A multivariate stepwise linear regression analysis was conducted for determining the potential correlates of SMU-related social anxiety.

RESULTS

The final Chinese version of SAS-SMU had 21 items. Item analysis, exploratory factor, EFA, and CFA jointly supported a three-factor structure of the translated version, defined as social recognition anxiety, interaction anxiety, and privacy concern anxiety, respectively. The three-factor structure of this scale showed configural, metric, scalar measurement invariance across gender. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale and its three subscales were 0.96, 0.93, 0.94, and 0.91, respectively. The mean SAS-SMU overall score for each college student was 51.63 ± 16.32, with 21.64 ± 7.24 (recognition anxiety), 17.10 ± 6.30 (interaction anxiety), 12.90 ± 4.61 (privacy concern anxiety) for each subscale, respectively. IAS score, mobile phone addiction index (MPAI) score, EPQ-E score, time spent on social media per week, relationship with parents, childhood life status, whether being an only child, and cyber bullying experience can explain 51.1% of the variance of SMU related social anxiety.

CONCLUSION

Based on the data, the Chinese version of SAS-SMU has shown to be satisfactory in psychometric properties. Subjects prone to interaction anxiousness, addictive smartphone use, extraversion personality trait, bad relationship with parents, unfortunate childhood life, only-child status, and having cyberbullying experience tend to have a higher level of SMU related social anxiety.

Limitations of cross-lagged panel models in addiction research and alternative models: An empirical example using project MATCH

OBJECTIVE

Models of addiction often posit bidirectional and dynamic associations between constructs relevant to the etiology and maintenance of addictive behaviors. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) is commonly used in addiction research but has been critiqued for not appropriately adjusting for between-person variance. Alternatives to the CLPM have been suggested but remain underutilized. The primary purpose of this article is to highlight interpretational limitations of the CLPM and to provide examples of alternative models.

METHOD

We specified CLPM, Random-Intercept CLPM, and a Latent Curve Model with Structured Residuals using four waves of data from Project MATCH (n = 1,201). We modeled prospective relations among depression symptoms and temptation to drink. Substantive inferences and assumptions across models were compared.

RESULTS

The CLPM provided the most evidence of significant cross-lagged paths but the poorest fit to the data compared to other models. Alternative models found little evidence of prospective within-person associations, and more evidence for between-person associations and wave-specific within-person relations between depression symptoms and temptation to drink.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights shortcomings of the CLPM and details alternative models to consider. Addiction researchers should consider alternatives to the CLPM to more optimally delineate relations among constructs across time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhanced Brief Motivational Intervention for College Student Drinkers With ADHD: Goal-Directed Activation as a Mechanism of Change

College students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for alcohol-related problems and disorders relative to their typically developing peers. Despite risk, the optimal therapeutic approach for reducing problem alcohol use in students with ADHD, and mechanisms of change underlying treatment effects in this population, are largely unknown. The current study evaluated putative mechanisms of change in a randomized controlled trial of two harm reduction interventions for college student drinkers with ADHD (N = 113; 49% male): brief motivational intervention plus supportive counseling (BMI + SC) versus brief motivational intervention plus behavioral activation (BMI + BA). Results showed that participants in the BMI + BA condition engaged in more goal-directed activation and less avoidant behavior over the course of treatment compared to those in the BMI + SC condition, in turn predicting reductions in alcohol-related negative consequences. Effects were more robust 1 month following intervention, and diminished by 3 months. Sensitivity analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of treatment condition on alcohol-related negative consequence via reductions in avoidance over treatment. Post hoc moderated mediations showed that BMI + BA engaged target mechanisms more robustly for students with more severe ADHD and depressive symptoms compared to BMI + SC. These findings support the application of BMI + BA intervention, particularly in targeting goal-directed activation and avoidance/rumination in at-risk student drinkers with ADHD.

Modeling the onset of a depressive episode: A self-regulation perspective

Major depression is an episodic disorder which, for many individuals, has its onset in a distinct change of emotional state which then persists over time. The present article explores the utility of combining a dynamical systems approach to depression, focusing specifically on the change of state associated with episode onset, with a self-regulation perspective, which operationalizes how feedback received in the ongoing process of goal pursuit influences affect, motivation, and behavior, for understanding how a depressive episode begins. The goals of this review are to survey the recent literature modeling the onset of a depressive episode and to illustrate how a self-regulation perspective can provide a conceptual framework and testable hypotheses regarding episode onset within a dynamical systems model of depression.

Changes in Young Adults' Alcohol and Marijuana Use, Norms, and Motives From Before to During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE

Alongside the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with several secondary health effects. There is concern for increased substance use motivated by coping with stress, anxiety, depression, and boredom-all of which may be elevated during the pandemic. The current study examined intraindividual changes (from pre-COVID to during COVID) in young adults' alcohol and marijuana use, perceptions of peers' use (i.e., norms), and motives for use.

METHODS

A community sample of young adults (N = 572; Mage= 25.14; 60.8% women) was recruited in Washington State. By using a repeated-measures design, data were collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020) and again during the initial acute phase of the pandemic (April/May of 2020).

RESULTS

Young adults, on average, increased alcohol use frequency but decreased the amount consumed per drinking occasion. No changes in marijuana use were identified. Young adults (on average) perceived that peers had increased the frequency and total amount of alcohol use and perceived that peers were engaging in heavier marijuana use than prior to COVID-19. For alcohol use motives, there was a significant increase in depression coping motives and significant decreases in social, enhancement, and conformity motives. Boredom motives for marijuana use significantly increased, while celebration motives decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

Using a prospective design with a sample initially recruited in Washington State, these data indicate that (a) young adults' patterns of alcohol use may have changed, (b) young adults tend to think that peers are engaging in heavier alcohol/marijuana use than before the pandemic, and (c) motives for using alcohol/marijuana may have changed during the pandemic.

The role of alcohol-induced blackouts in symptoms of depression among young adults

OBJECTIVE

Blackouts are associated with other alcohol-related consequences and depression among young adults, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. Using two separate samples, we tested the hypothesis that blackouts would be linked to symptoms of depression due in part to their association with other alcohol-related consequences.

METHOD

Young adults who use alcohol completed assessments at baseline in Sample 1 (N₁ = 381, 58% female) and baseline, 3 months, and 6 months in Sample 2 (N₂ = 603, 53 % female). Bootstrapped confidence intervals were used to examine the direct and indirect effects of blackouts on depressive symptoms, using cross-sectional mediation analysis in Sample 1 and a counterfactual approach with longitudinal data in Sample 2.

RESULTS

In both samples, alcohol-induced blackouts were associated with alcohol-related consequences, which in turn were associated with symptoms of depression. In Sample 1, blackouts had both direct and indirect (mediated) effects on depressive symptoms. In Sample 2, blackouts measured at baseline only had an indirect effect on depressive symptoms six months later through other alcohol-related consequences at three months.

CONCLUSIONS

Among heavy-drinking college students, the majority of whom reported minimal symptoms of depression, blackouts were associated with increases in other alcohol-related consequences, which in turn were associated with increases in symptoms of depression. These findings suggest that prevention and intervention efforts targeting blackouts may help reduce other alcohol-related consequences among young adults.

Depressive symptoms as a moderator of college student response to computerized alcohol intervention

BACKGROUND

Personalized normative alcohol feedback (PNF) is associated with decreased alcohol use among young adults. However, limited research has examined the influence of depressive symptoms on PNF efficacy. This study examined symptoms of depression as a moderator of college student response to a computerized PNF intervention for alcohol use.

METHODS

College students (N = 212, 59% female) who reported drinking in a typical week completed baseline and one-month assessments as part of a previously published intervention trial. We randomized participants to alcohol PNF (n = 153) or assessment only (n = 59). We used regression models to examine the interaction between PNF and symptoms of depression on alcohol outcomes at one-month follow-up.

RESULTS

One in four participants screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of depression. Depressive symptoms did not moderate intervention effects on drinking quantity. However, PNF was only associated with reduced frequency of heavy episodic drinking and lower probability of any alcohol-related consequence in the context of mild to moderate (not minimal) symptoms of depression.

CONCLUSIONS

PNF is more effective than assessment alone in reducing drinking quantity, regardless of symptoms of depression. However, it may only be more effective in decreasing frequency of heavy episodic drinking and the probability of alcohol-related consequences among those experiencing mild to moderate (as opposed to minimal) symptoms of depression. Alcohol intervention trials should assess symptoms of depression and consider them in data analysis.

Longitudinal Associations Between Perceptions of Peer Group Drinking Norms and Students' Alcohol Use Frequency Within College Sport Teams

BACKGROUND

Students' alcohol use behaviors are shaped by the attitudes and behaviors of others, especially the peers within students' proximal social groups. Explaining the association between perceived drinking norms and alcohol use, researchers propose contradicting pathways that focus on conformity (i.e., social norms predict alcohol use) and projection (i.e., alcohol use predicts perceived norms). The current study examined the extent to which conformity and projection processes were evident in the association between college student alcohol use and the perceived alcohol use norms for students' club sport teams.

METHODS

The sample comprised 1,054 college students (61% female) nested in 35 intact same-sex club sport teams. On 3 separate occasions during a single school year (3-month lag), participants reported drinking frequency and perceptions of descriptive and injunctive group drinking norms. We employed random intercepts cross-lagged panel modeling to estimate prospective within-person associations separately from stable trait-like between-person associations.

RESULTS

Descriptive and injunctive group drinking norms were both positively related to students' alcohol use frequency at the between-person level. Individuals nevertheless demonstrated variability at the within-person level. Results revealed a strong contemporaneous association between descriptive norms and alcohol use frequency within each timepoint, but no prospective associations. Models including perceptions of injunctive drinking norms demonstrated similar contemporaneous associations with alcohol use frequency, but also identified significant prospective associations signifying conformity.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings align with previous research reporting a strong and positive association between student's self-reported alcohol use and subjective peer alcohol use norms. After disentangling within- and between-person effects to probe for conformity and projection processes, the current findings are somewhat contrary to previous research that has reported reciprocal relationships between social norms and alcohol use behavior. Further investigation of the potential conformity and projection mechanisms of social norms is critical to advance norm-based strategies to reduce harm.