Mental Health Risk Profiles and Related Substance Use During Coronavirus Pandemic Among College Students Who Use Substances

The party's not over: Living situation, perceived party norms, and drinking games behavior among college students during the pandemic (COVID-19)

Objective: Playing drinking games (DGs) is a common, socially-interactive risky drinking activity. During the pandemic, many students either returned home to live with their parents or remained on campus. Because DGs often require social interaction, playing DGs in-person can increase students' risk for COVID-19 exposure. Thus, we examined whether living situation and perceptions of one's college/university as a party school increased risk for playing DGs in-person during a pandemic. Method: Students who reported recent alcohol use from 12 colleges/universities (n = 874; Mage = 19.38/SDage =  1.40; 75.6% White) completed self-report measures of alcohol use, DGs participation, demographics, and residential status in Fall 2020 to Spring 2021. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. Results: Overall, 62.8% of students played DGs in-person during the pandemic. Those who lived with roommates were at increased risk compared to those who lived with parents. Conclusions: Given health risks of playing DGs in-person, targeted efforts may be warranted among at-risk students.

Alcohol Protective Behavioral Strategy use and Negative Consequences Across Heavy Alcohol Users and Risky Drinkers

This study investigated differences in alcohol protective behavioral strategy (PBSA) use and negative consequences (ARNC) experienced among heavy alcohol users and non-heavy alcohol users, and risky and non-risky drinkers. Participants were from 12 universities in the United States (n = 2,163 college students, Mage = 19.47), predominantly identified as White (74%), and female (68.7%), who completed measures of typical weekly drinking, risky drinking, ARNC, and PBSA use. ANOVAs revealed that the heavy alcohol users and risky drinkers reported significantly fewer total PBSA, subtype strategy use, and greater negative consequences than their counterparts. Harm reduction interventions may benefit from identifying and targeting college students who are engaging in heavy alcohol use and risky drinking regardless of sex.

Neither a problem nor my problem: Risk factors for underage drinking disengagement among college students

OBJECTIVE

Underage drinking disengagement (UDD; cognitive restructuring/minimizing agency) measures attitudes about the acceptability and responsibility of drinking. We examined demographic correlates of UDD, as well as the moderating effects of legal drinking status on the association between UDD and drinking.

PARTICIPANTS

College student drinkers (n = 893; Mage = 19.48, range = 18-25; White = 74.1%; female = 68.1%) from a multi-site study.

METHODS

An online confidential survey included the UDD Scale for College Students and the AUDIT-C.

RESULTS

White and multiracial, underage students, or those living with others endorsed greater cognitive restructuring disengagement than Hispanic students, legal-age students, or those living alone or with parents, respectively. Greek membership and greater "party school" perceptions were related to more cognitive restructuring and minimizing agency. The associations between UDD and alcohol use were not moderated by legal drinking age status.

CONCLUSION

Identifying and educating students at risk for UDD on the ramifications associated with underage drinking could combat drinking.

An examination of the effects of ADHD symptoms and sex on the relation between cannabis protective behavioral strategies and cannabis consequences

The risk for cannabis-related problems is elevated among young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. It is unknown whether the use of cannabis protective behavioral strategies (PBS) mitigates this risk for college students with ADHD. Prior research finds that college students who use alcohol and report high levels of ADHD symptoms particularly benefit from employing alcohol PBS, and these relations are strongest for male students. Thus, this study examined the moderating effects of ADHD symptoms and sex assigned at birth on the relation between cannabis PBS use and cannabis-related problems among college students who use cannabis. Participants were 384 college students (66.9% female, 57.8% white non-Hispanic, Mage = 19.29) from 12 United States universities who reported past-month cannabis use. Participants completed measures of demographics, ADHD symptoms, past-month cannabis frequency and related problems, and cannabis PBS use via an online survey. There was a significant interaction of ADHD hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, PBS use, and sex on cannabis-related problems, controlling for cannabis use frequency. The strength of the negative association between PBS use and problems depended on level of ADHD symptoms for females, but not for males. However, there were no interactive effects for ADHD inattentive symptoms. These results supplement the literature base on relations between PBS use and ADHD symptoms in college students, extending support for their use to cannabis users. Importantly, promoting PBS use to female college students who are high in hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms is recommended.

Development and validation of the Personal Assessment of Responsible Drinking Identity (PARDI) with a college student sample

Recent research shows a link between identity and behavior change. Despite the existence of several measures that assess components of drinking identity, no measures examine the idiosyncrasies of a "Responsible Drinking Identity," though responsible drinking is an aim of many alcohol-related interventions. The present study created a measure of responsible drinking identity, the Personal Assessment of Responsible Drinking Identity (PARDI). Two cross-sectional designs and a prospective follow-up were used to develop and assess the psychometric properties of the PARDI. Study 1 used a U.S. national sample of college students who endorsed alcohol use (n = 911) to conduct an Exploratory Factor Analysis. Study 2 consisted of college students from a Southeastern University (n = 1,096) and was used to conduct a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, as well as evaluate convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and incremental validity. A subsample from Study 2 was then assessed after 1 month (n = 194). The follow-up examined test-retest reliability and predictive validity. The PARDI consists of four identity-based factors that are indicative of responsible drinking. The measure had adequate validity across all domains and good test-retest reliability. The measure appears to predict future protective behaviorial strategies (safe drinking behaviors), which mediates the relationship between the PARDI and both future alcohol use and consequences, suggesting safe or responsible drinking identity may drive a key behavioral target of substance use interventions. The PARDI may offer a tool to aid in quantifying underlying constructs of identity and behavior change in substance use interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived Stress, Psychological Flexibility Profiles, and Mental Health During COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis

Purpose

Although the link between psychological flexibility and healthy functioning has been widely analyzed, the employed measurements often lacked accuracy. The current study introduced a person-centered approach that identified subgroups of college students across the dimensions of the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) and explored how these subgroups relate to a risk factor (perceived stress) and mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, negative affect, and positive affect) in the context of COVID-19.

Methods

A sample of 659 participants (M_age = 19. 99, SD = 1.27; 57.97% females) completed the questionnaires online. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to determine the optimal number of subgroups or profiles. Then, multinomial logistic regression and analyses of variance were used to identify variables associated with profile membership.

Results

LPA identified three distinct profiles (active strategy, inconsistent strategy, and passive strategy). Furthermore, multinomial logistic regressions indicated that students with high perceived stress were more likely to be in the passive strategy group than the active strategy group (β = -0.104, OR = 0.901, p < 0.001) and the inconsistent strategy group (β = -0.087, OR = 0.917, p < 0.001). Additionally, analyses of variance revealed that the three profiles differed in depression (η² = 0.062, p < 0.001), anxiety (η² = 0.059, p < 0.001), negative affect (η² = 0.047, p < 0.001), and positive affect (η² = 0.048, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The current study employed LPA based on the PPFI to identify and confirm three profiles of psychological flexibility. We found that perceived stress and mental health outcomes were associated with these three profiles. This study offers a new perspective on understanding psychological flexibility through a person-centered approach. Furthermore, interventions aimed at reducing college students' perceived stress during the COVID-19 crisis are critical for preventing the deterioration of psychological flexibility.

Evaluating the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Scale (PBSM) short-form: Support for a two-factor structure and measurement invariance

BACKGROUND

The present study evaluated the two-factor structure of the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Scale (PBSM-SF) Short-Form, a 13-item measure of harm reduction behaviors related to cannabis use. Additionally, the PBSM was evaluated for measurement invariance based on sex and state cannabis legalization status.

METHOD

Participants were 1,048 college students (M_age = 19.00) reporting past 30-day cannabis use who primarily identified as White (75.5%) females (64.9%) recruited from 11 universities in 11 states representative of the United States. All participants provided demographic information and completed the PBSM-SF, Marijuana Use Grid assessing cannabis use frequency, Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised assessing hazardous cannabis use, and Brief Marijuana Consequences Questionnaire evaluating negative consequences.

RESULTS

The two-factor structure (i.e., Quantity and Context) of the PBSM-SF identified in Mian et al. (2021) was supported in the present study. Additionally, analyses demonstrated evidence of convergent and concurrent validity. Finally, the two-factor PBSM-SF demonstrated some degree of invariance by sex and state legalization status.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides additional support for a two-factor model of PBSM-SF (i.e., Quantity and Context) that functions similarly for men and women college students as well as for students from states without legalized cannabis use and states with legalized cannabis use.