Parent–teen communication and pre-college alcohol involvement: A latent class analysis

Although parent–adolescent communication has been identified as important in delaying the onset and escalation of alcohol use, both the strength and direction of observed associations have varied in prior research with adolescents and college students. The current study categorizes parents according to alcohol-related communication and relates these categories to other parenting factors and late adolescent alcohol involvement. Method: As part of a larger study, 1007 college-bound teens and their parents were assessed. Teens were asked to report on their drinking behavior, and parents were asked about the occurrence of several specific alcohol-related communications with their teen, as well as additional parenting characteristics. Profiles of parent alcohol-related communication were derived using latent class analysis. Once the best fitting solution was determined, covariates were entered predicting class membership and investigating how classes were associated with additional parenting characteristics and teen alcohol use. Results: A five-class solution provided the best fit to the data: Frequent, All Topics (28%); Moderate, All Topics (25%); Frequent, General Topics (25%); Frequent, Consequences and Limits (12%); and Infrequent, All Topics (10%). Covariate analyses demonstrated class differences with regard to parental modeling, monitoring, knowledge, and parent–teen relationship satisfaction, as well as for students\u27 intentions to join fraternities/sororities and alcohol use. Conclusions: Findings from the current study add to a small but growing literature supporting the continuing influence of parents in late adolescence and suggest that the frequency and specificity of parent–teen communication are potentially informative for refined parent-based preventive interventions

Trajectories of Alcohol Use and Consequences in College Women with and without Depressed Mood

College students with depressed mood face heightened risk for experiencing drinking-related negative consequences. However, few studies have examined prospective patterns of alcohol consequences among depressed students. In the present investigation, we assessed how first-year college women’s trajectories of heavy episodic drinking (HED) and alcohol consequences differed as a function of depressed mood at college entry. Participants were 233 heavy drinking incoming first-year college females (61% White) at a mid-sized west coast university. Participants completed an online baseline survey, attended a single brief group intervention session, and completed 1- and 6-month post-intervention follow-up surveys. Depressed mood, alcohol consumption, and alcohol consequences were assessed at each time point. We employed latent growth curve analyses. Females with depressed mood, versus without depressed mood, experienced greater levels of alcohol consequences overall, particularly during transitions to college. However, contrary to hypotheses, participants with depressed mood (vs. without) exhibited significantly steeper declining trends in consequences, controlling for treatment condition, age, race, and ethnicity, and despite stable drinking levels, depressed mood, and use of protective behaviors over time. Potential explanations and suggestions for future research are discussed

Factores asociados al consumo de drogas ilícitas en estudiantes de secundaria, universitarios y población general en Colombia

Tesis doctoralSegún los estudios poblacionales que se realizan en Colombia desde 1992, el consumo de drogas ilegales crece en Colombia de manera sostenida. Tales estudios presentan análisis descriptivos, distribuciones porcentuales y prevalencias, sin que se ahonde en el escrutinio de los factores que están incidiendo en las cifras de consumo. Con el interés de ahondar en la comprensión de éste fenómeno, facilitar su predicción y contribuir con su atención integral, en esta investigación se propone identificar factores individuales, familiares y del contexto, asociados al consumo de drogas ilegales en Colombia. Para alcanzar dichos propósitos se realizan dos investigaciones: 1) una revisión sistemática sobre los factores que inciden en el consumo de drogas ilegales y 2) la formulación de tres modelos de factores asociados al consumo de drogas ilegales en Colombia y la clasificación del tipo de consumidores, a partir de los factores identificados previamente. Se analizaron las bases de datos de estudios nacionales realizados con población general, estudiantes de secundaria y estudiantes universitarios, en las cuales se utilizó la metodología del Sistema Interamericano de Datos Uniformes sobre Consumo de Drogas. Inicialmente se establecieron en cada uno de los tres grupos analizados, los factores relacionados con el consumo de sustancias ilícitas y las clases latentes de consumidores, los cuales permitieron plantear tres modelos de factores asociados al consumo, uno para cada población. Se encontró que el consumo de drogas ilícitas en el último año, se asoció en las tres poblaciones, con tener amigos y familiares consumidores de drogas ilícitas; haber iniciado el consumo de tabaco y alcohol, y tener una baja percepción del riesgo con respecto al uso de marihuana. Por su parte, con el análisis de clases latentes se identificaron tres clases entre los consumidores de drogas ilícitas en la población general, seis clases entre escolares y cuatro clases entre universitarios. Los resultados indican factores que pueden ser considerados para orientar la prevención del consumo de drogas ilegales y su atención integral.1. INTRODUCCIÓN 2. JUSTIFICACIÓN Y PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 3. OBJETIVOS 4. ESTUDIO 1: REVISIÓN SISTEMÁTICA SOBRE LOS FACTORES ASOCIADOS AL RIESGO DEL CONSUMO DE DROGAS ILEGALES 5. ESTUDIO 2: FORMULACIÓN DE MODELOS DE CONSUMO DE DROGAS ILÍCITAS EN COLOMBIA, CON ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA, UNIVERSITARIOS Y POBLACIÓN GENERAL 6.REFERENCIAS 7. ANEXOSDoctoradoDoctor en Psicologí

Feasibility of audit methods to study access to substance use treatment

Audit studies represent an emerging method for examining disparities in access to care, like substance use treatment, whereby fake patients (i.e., actors) attempt to procure a service with one or more characteristics isolated across condition. This allows for manipulation of variables, like insurance status, that are normally fixed or impossible to standardize with precision when studying actual patients. This pilot study explored whether these methods were feasible for the examination of community-based substance use treatment access. Masked telephone calls (n=48) were made to providers (k=8) in a single city seeking an appointment. A male and female patient made calls in three insurance status conditions: no insurance, state-funded insurance, and private insurance. All other subject characteristics were held constant. Results showed an audit design to be a feasible method for examining disparities in access and demonstrated substantial barriers to voluntary treatment. Implications and future directions are discussed