Examining psychological inflexibility as a transdiagnostic process across psychological disorders

The current cross-sectional study examined psychological inflexibility, a process in which behavior is rigidly guided by psychological reactions rather than direct contingencies or personal values, as a transdiagnostic process relevant to a range of depressive, anxiety, substance use and eating disorders. A sample of 972 first-year college students between 17 and 20 years of age completed self-report measures of psychological inflexibility and psychological distress as well as a structured diagnostic interview. Psychological inflexibility was significantly higher across a range of current and lifetime depressive and anxiety disorders as well as lifetime history of eating disorders, relative to students with no disorder, even after controlling for general psychological distress. Findings were mixed for substance use disorders, with a more consistent pattern for lifetime history than for current disorders. Psychological inflexibility was also related to having comorbid depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders relative to only having one of these diagnoses. Results are discussed in relation to research on psychological inflexibility as a transdiagnostic pathological process and target for interventions

Reducing Youth Access to Alcohol: Findings from a Community-Based Randomized Trial

Underage drinking continues to be an important public health problem and a challenge to the substance abuse prevention field. Community-based interventions designed to more rigorously control underage access to alcohol through retailer education and greater enforcement of underage drinking laws have been advocated as potentially effective strategies to help address this problem, but studies designed to evaluate such interventions are sparse. To address this issue we conducted a randomized trial involving 36 communities to test the combined effectiveness of five interrelated intervention components designed to reduce underage access to alcohol. The intervention was found to be effective in reducing the likelihood that retail clerks would sell alcohol to underage-looking buyers, but did not reduce underage drinking or the perceived availability of alcohol among high school students. Post hoc analyses, however, revealed significant associations between the level of underage drinking law enforcement in the intervention communities and reductions in both 30-day use of alcohol and binge drinking. The findings highlight the difficulty in reducing youth drinking even when efforts to curtail retail access are successful. Study findings also suggest that high intensity implementation of underage drinking law enforcement can reduce underage drinking. Any such effects of enhanced enforcement on underage drinking appear to be more directly attributable to an increase in perceived likelihood of enforcement and the resultant perceived inconveniences and/or sanctions to potential drinkers, than to a reduction in access to alcohol per se

Evidence-based Kernels: Fundamental Units of Behavioral Influence

This paper describes evidence-based kernels, fundamental units of behavioral influence that appear to underlie effective prevention and treatment for children, adults, and families. A kernel is a behavior–influence procedure shown through experimental analysis to affect a specific behavior and that is indivisible in the sense that removing any of its components would render it inert. Existing evidence shows that a variety of kernels can influence behavior in context, and some evidence suggests that frequent use or sufficient use of some kernels may produce longer lasting behavioral shifts. The analysis of kernels could contribute to an empirically based theory of behavioral influence, augment existing prevention or treatment efforts, facilitate the dissemination of effective prevention and treatment practices, clarify the active ingredients in existing interventions, and contribute to efficiently developing interventions that are more effective. Kernels involve one or more of the following mechanisms of behavior influence: reinforcement, altering antecedents, changing verbal relational responding, or changing physiological states directly. The paper describes 52 of these kernels, and details practical, theoretical, and research implications, including calling for a national database of kernels that influence human behavior

The Relationship of University Department Organization to The Characteristics of Academic Tasks

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