Substance Use & Misuse最新文献

Background: African American/Black (hereafter referred to as Black) persons who smoke constitute a tobacco disparities group in the United States. Within the Black population, female smokers experience a disproportionate percentage of these disparities and are less likely to quit cigarettes than their male counterparts. Two factors implicated in female smokers' relatively worse quit success are (1) motives to smoke to reduce negative affect and (2) expectancies that smoking will reduce negative affect.

Objectives: The present study sought to test sex differences in these two clinically relevant cognitive constructs and evaluate the indirect effects of sex and severity of problems when trying to quit via smoking motives and expectancies for negative affect reduction among Black adults who smoke. Participants included 103 Black adults who smoke daily (72% male; M_age = 44.5 years, SD = 11.5 years).

Results: Results revealed sex differences in both negative affect reduction motives and expectancies, as well as a partial indirect effect for sex on the severity of problems when trying to quit through negative affect reduction motives (a₁b₁ = 0.18, 95% CI [0.04, 0.38]) but not negative affect reduction expectancies (a₂b₂ = -0.01, 95% CI [-0.11, 0.09]) in a simultaneous model of indirect effects.

Conclusions: These findings shed light on the complex relationship between race, sex, and severity of problems when trying to quit, particularly when complicated by smoking motives and expectancies. Current data should be considered when developing sex-specific, tailored smoking cessation interventions for Black women.

Objective: The use of crowdsourcing for addiction research has increased exponentially in recent years, but the extent to which the populations we expect results to generalize to might be engaging in substance use while participating in remote research has not been formally quantified. Understanding rates of day-of-study substance use on crowdsourcing platforms may be especially relevant given immediately recent use can alter cognitive and behavioral decision-making processes (e.g., attention, behavioral economic drug purchase tasks) that are often the focus of online substance use research.

Method: The purpose of this study is to (1) characterize rates of substance use (i.e., alcohol, cannabis, or both) among 790 Prolific workers on the day of the study, within the past three hours, and since starting the study; (2) provide sample demographic descriptive statistics, typical substance use patterns, and their associations with day-of use; and (3) evaluate whether day-of use is associated with time taken to complete the study and performance on attention checks.

Results: Day-of use was greater than 10%, primarily consisted of cannabis use, and several general use patterns were associated with day-of use (e.g., past year binge drinking was associated with day-of cannabis use). Day-of use was not associated with longer study completion times; attention check analyses were inconclusive.

Conclusion: Considering these results, we provide suggestions for best practices when crowdsourcing data for addiction research and advocate for future studies that use naturalistic experiments to complement laboratory drug- and alcohol-administration studies.

Background: Nicotine gum products from brands like Lucy and Rogue are relatively new arrivals to the tobacco marketplace. While studies of correlates of nicotine gum use are in their nascent stage, data from social media can be used to stay abreast of user experiences with novel tobacco products. This study leveraged machine learning to identify topics of Twitter posts about nicotine gum from the year 2022.

Methods: Twitter data was collected using the Twitter Application Programming Interface (API), with search terms "nicotine" AND "gum" OR "nic" AND "gum". 16,940 tweets from 10,353 unique users were included in the analysis. Topic modeling with Top2Vec was used to identify topics and a string search of popular brands and flavors was also conducted.

Results: Eight distinct topics were identified. Smoking and vaping cessation was the most common topic, followed by promotion, pricing, and marketing; appeal; product comparisons; perceived benefits; distrust in institutions; health concerns; and COVID-19 misinformation. The most mentioned brand was Nicorette. A tenth of the tweets contained a reference to a flavor.

Conclusion: The goal of identifying topics in nicotine gum-related conversations is to better understand the public's perceptions and experiences with nicotine gum. These findings may be used to inform survey-based research, policy targets, and health communication campaigns.

Background: Extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX, Vivitrol^®) is an effective, but underutilized, evidence-based treatment for people with opioid use disorder (POUD) who are incarcerated. Networks of family, friends, and clinicians serve as social influencers of health behaviors, including XR-NTX initiation, and are especially salient in Appalachia.

Objectives: Using a triangulation of perspectives, this study examined concordance between the social network themes that emerged from qualitative interviews with clinicians and POUD social network findings.

Methods: Audio-recorded qualitative interviews were conducted with all clinicians (n = 15) providing assessments and community-based treatment linkages to justice-involved POUDs in Kentucky's Appalachian counties. Two independent coders coded the transcribed interviews. Social network data were collected from POUDs who completed prison-based treatment programs and were recently released from prison (n = 52).

Results: Three themes related to POUDs' social network barriers of XR-NTX emerged from the clinician interviews: (1) networks with limited knowledge of XR-NTX, (2) homophily in networks, and (3) limited support networks. From the perspective of the POUD, knowledge of XR-NTX was nonexistent within their networks, aligning with the clinician theme. Homophily was prevalent in some attributes (e.g., employment), but only 31.8% of POUD networks had used drugs, providing mixed support for this theme. In concordance with clinicians, POUDs received high levels of emotional support, but lacked instrumental, financial, and treatment support from networks.

Conclusions: The network characteristics of Appalachian POUDs recently released from prison create challenges associated with recovery, which may be addressed through network and educational interventions.

Background: Links between social anxiety and risky drinking in college are well documented, but the specifics of this relationship are mixed and likely complex. Impulsivity may play a critical role in enhancing vulnerability for risky drinking in individuals with social anxiety. Objectives: Here we examined how impulsivity moderates the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use in college students. 515 undergraduates (18-24 years) who endorsed at least moderate levels of alcohol use were included. Participants completed self-report questionnaires to quantify social anxiety, impulsive personality traits, and alcohol use. A series of correlations and stepwise linear regressions were conducted to examine social anxiety, impulsivity, biological sex, and their interactions as predictors of amount of alcohol use. Results: We found that multiple facets of impulsivity moderated the relationship between social anxiety and amount of alcohol use. Social anxiety was associated with more alcohol use in participants with high lack of premeditation, while social anxiety was associated with less alcohol use in participants with low lack of premeditation, low negative urgency, and high sensation seeking. Sex interacted with social anxiety; low levels of impulsivity seemed to be protective. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that social anxiety and certain facets of impulsivity (lack of premeditation, sensation seeking) interact to predict alcohol use in undergraduates. These findings highlight the complex and important relationships between social anxiety, impulsivity, and risky drinking in college students.

Background: Motivation and readiness to change are critical first steps in preventing relapse into substance dependence. Therefore, examining their antecedents is essential for effective therapeutic interventions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-compassion, mindfulness, striving to compensate for inferiority, and readiness to change in individuals with substance abuse.

Methods: A cross-sectional correlational study design using structural equation modeling was employed. A total of 305 individuals with substance abuse, referred to outpatient rehabilitation centers in Ardakan City, Iran, were selected using a purposive sampling method. Data were collected using the Freiburg Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Readiness to Change Scale. Data were then analyzed using correlation analysis and structural equation modeling.

Results: Self-compassion exhibited a significant direct effect on striving to compensate for inferiority and readiness to change (p < 0.01). Additionally, striving to compensate for inferiority had a significant direct effect on readiness to change, while mindfulness showed a significant direct effect on self-compassion, readiness to change, and striving to compensate for inferiority (p < 0.01). Self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness and readiness to change while striving to compensate for inferiority played a significant mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion, mindfulness, and readiness to change (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that enhancing self-compassion, mindfulness, and striving to compensate for inferiority can significantly contribute to increasing readiness to change in individuals struggling with substance abuse.

Background: In this study, we explored the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and childhood protective factors (i.e., resilience) with outpatient treatment outcomes among youths receiving buprenorphine-based medication for opioid use disorder over a six-month period. Methods: An observational study was conducted among 42 participants utilizing the modified Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire and the Southern Kennebec Healthy Start Resilience survey. Treatment outcomes included the end of treatment, buprenorphine-based medication treatment nonadherence, and opioid relapse. Cox proportional hazard models were fit for all treatment outcomes. Results: Reported adverse childhood experiences were high compared with the national average and demonstrated a significant inverse association with time to buprenorphine treatment nonadherence. Total resilience score was not significantly associated with any treatment outcome. Analysis of potential confounders and other covariates likewise demonstrated no relationship. Conclusions: Higher reported adverse childhood experience scores were associated with greater hazard of buprenorphine-based medication nonadherence. This finding underscores the need for ACE screening and trauma-informed care in this population.

Background: Place of last drink (POLD) is a law enforcement strategy designed to decrease the service of alcohol to intoxicated patrons (i.e., overservice). When officers respond to an alcohol-related incident, they inquire about and record the place where the involved individuals last drank alcohol; this information can help identify licensed alcohol establishments that show a pattern of overserving alcohol. We evaluated the effects of a POLD initiative on various types of crime.

Methods: The POLD initiative was conducted in the state of Minnesota (USA). We compared 26 intervention jurisdictions to 26 matched comparisons. Outcomes were six crime measures (e.g., driving under the influence, violent, nonviolent). Predictors were levels of participation and implementation of POLD. We fit a separate Poisson regression model for each crime outcome and each predictor.

Results: In all models, we found little difference in crime rates between intervention and comparison jurisdictions. No effect on crime was observed for either participation or implementation levels of POLD. However, we found implementation levels were relatively low across jurisdictions.

Conclusion: This study adds to a very limited literature addressing the effects of POLD on public health harms such as crime. The particular POLD initiative did not appear to affect crime rates. We found POLD implementation levels showed considerable room for improvement and could help to explain some of the lack of effects of POLD on crime. More research is needed in additional localities and to assess whether specific aspects of implementation could help to strengthen POLD efforts.

Introduction: Flavorings are one of the major appealing factors of current tobacco products, especially for young adults. They constantly evolve, and new flavorings are introduced to the market every year, but little is known about user profiles of flavored tobacco products (FTPs). Methods: We analyzed young adult (ages 18-24) tobacco product users (N = 4,707) from Wave 5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. We applied bivariate analyses to compare individuals who use FTP and non-FTPs by different flavor types (i.e., menthol/mint, fruit, candy/sweets, and tobacco). Parameter estimates were weighted by applying the sample and replicate weights for the complex study design to produce population-representative estimates. Results: Sixty percent of the current combustible tobacco users and 90% of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) users were FTP users. FTP users were more likely to be multiple product users than non-FTP users. Being non-Hispanic White, drinking alcohol in the past year, experiencing internalizing problems in the past month, and having tobacco dependence were associated with FTP use. Flavored ENDS users had different sociodemographic characteristics by flavor types but did not differ significantly in vaping-related behaviors (e.g., frequency). Also, preferred flavors differed among tobacco user groups (i.e., ENDS, hookah, and cigars). Conclusions: FTPs appear to be gaining popularity among young adults and tend to show co-use with multiple tobacco products and other substances. Future studies are warranted to monitor the risk factors of young adult FTP use, especially in the context of flavor ban on ENDS products.

Background and objectives: We examined associations between sources of social influence (i.e. close friends, other underage people present) within specific settings with the number of drinks underage youth consumed.

Methods: Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey with 422 underage youth in California (14 to 19 years old) who reported past-6-month alcohol use. Participants were asked to think about the last time they drank alcohol in the past 6 months at: restaurants, bars/nightclubs, own home, another's home, outdoors, and fraternities/sororities. Outcomes were the number of whole drinks participants drank the last time in each setting. Independent measures were social characteristics of these drinking events including number of people <21 years old present, number of close friends present, number of <21 years old who consumed alcohol, and number of close friends who consumed alcohol. We also assessed socio-demographics and accounted for the overall exposure to each setting in the past 6 months.

Results: Using negative binomial regression models, the number of close friends was positively associated with number of drinks consumed at restaurants, another's home, and outdoors. The number of close friends drinking was positively associated with the number of drinks at restaurants, own home, another's home, and outdoors. Number of people <21 years old was positively associated with number of drinks at own home, and number of people <21 years old who consumed alcohol was positivity associated with number of drinks consumed at restaurants, own home, another's home, and outdoors.

Conclusions: Results suggest that social influence from close friends and from other underage youth are context-specific.