scholarly journals Effect of COVID-19 Disruptions on Young Adults' Affect and Substance Use in Daily Life

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Papp ◽  
Chrystyna D Kouros
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse

Objective: Guided by accounts of adjustment in daily life as a key indicator of health, the current study examined prospective changes in young adults’ emotions and substance behaviors assessed during a normative baseline period and during the acute COVID-19 disruption period in late March/early April 2020. The COVID-19 assessment also collected psychosocial risk factors expected to moderate changes in adjustment across time. Method: Participants included 295 young adults (70.8% female; ages 18-21 at baseline), drawn from an ongoing study of daily behaviors and health in college life that oversampled for recent substance behaviors, who completed both the baseline and COVID-19 assessments. Hypotheses were tested using analyses of repeated-measures data that included covariates of length of time between assessments and sampling group status. Results: Direct tests in support of hypotheses indicated an increase in negative affect (d = .67, p < .001), and greater alcohol use (d = .75, p < .001) and marijuana use (d = .58, p < .001), in daily life across time. Levels of positive affect (d = .08, p > .05), nicotine use (d = .01, p > .05), and prescription drug misuse (d = .003, p > .05) did not reliably change in tests of direct models. Moderation tests indicated several risk factors for experiencing steeper increases in negative affect, and increased likelihood of marijuana and nicotine use, in daily life across time. Conclusions: Findings offer implications for future research and clinical efforts to improve young adult adjustment in response to the pandemic.

scholarly journals Real-time Momentary Mood as a Predictor of College Students’ Prescription Drug Misuse in Daily Life: Direct Links and the Moderating Role of Background Mental Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Papp ◽  
Chrystyna D Kouros ◽  
John Joseph Curtin ◽  
Shari M. Blumenstock
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse

The present study addressed calls for research to identify real-time predictors of prescription drug misuse (Schepis et al., 2020) by testing young adults’ momentary reports of their negative mood and positive mood as predictors of event-level misuse in daily life. We implemented a 28-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedure that collected individuals’ mood and other contextual experiences in moments preceding prescription drug misuse. Consistent with models of problematic substance use as a means to reduce negativity (Khantzian, 1997), results from hierarchical generalized linear modeling indicated within-person links between higher than usual negative mood and greater likelihood of prescription misuse in daily life. Contrary to the hypothesis, misuse was also more likely when preceded by elevated positive mood. We found consistent support for the hypothesized between-person effects, with prescription misuse in daily life associated with higher average levels of negative mood, and lower average levels of positive mood, across the reporting period. We further predicted that individuals reporting greater levels of social anxiety, depression, and externalizing symptoms would evidence stronger links between their momentary negative mood and prescription misuse. Partial support for this moderation hypothesis was found, with the positive within-person link between negative mood and prescription misuse significantly stronger among individuals higher (vs. lower) on social anxiety and depression. Results provide support for intricate connections between young adults’ momentary mood, mental health symptoms, and prescription drug misuse.

scholarly journals Initiation into prescription drug misuse: Differences between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and heterosexual high-risk young adults in Los Angeles and New York

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1289-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Kecojevic ◽  
Carolyn F. Wong ◽  
Sheree M. Schrager ◽  
Karol Silva ◽  
Jennifer Jackson Bloom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse

scholarly journals Combinations of prescription drug misuse and illicit drugs among young adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 941-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian C. Kelly ◽  
Brooke E. Wells ◽  
Mark Pawson ◽  
Amy LeClair ◽  
Jeffrey T. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse

scholarly journals Development and Acceptability of a Method to Investigate Prescription Drug Misuse in Daily Life: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Papp ◽  
Shari M. Blumenstock ◽  
Chrystyna D Kouros
Keyword(s):  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Risk Group ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Time Factors ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse ◽  
Ecological Momentary

Background: Prescription drug misuse and abuse is an established public health challenge, and young adults are particularly affected. There is a striking lack of real-time, naturalistic data collection assessing intentions to misuse and other precipitating factors at the time of actual misuse, leaving unknown under what conditions individuals are most likely to misuse prescription medications. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) applications and protocols designed to capture this information would accelerate and expand the knowledge base and could directly contribute to prevention and treatment efforts.Objective: The objectives in the current study were to (1) describe the development and administration of a mobile application and EMA protocol designed to collect real-time factors associated with college students’ prescription drug misuse intentions and behaviors in daily life; (2) present completion rates, compliance, acceptability, and reactivity associated with the EMA protocol for participants who endorsed recent prescription drug misuse at screening (n = 300; i.e., risk group) and those who did not (n = 55; i.e., non-risk group); and (3) establish initial construct validity by linking the reports of misuse behavior in daily life collected via the EMA app to prescription drug misuse reported on a standard survey.Methods: An EMA data collection app and protocol were designed specifically to capture hypothesized contextual factors along with prescription drug misuse intentions and behaviors in daily life. Using the protocol, young-adult college students (N = 352) completed signal- and event-contingent reports over a 28-day period. When intention to misuse a prescription drug was endorsed, a brief follow-up prompt was sent 15 minutes later to collect participants’ indications of whether or not misuse had occurred.Results: Risk-group participants were significantly more likely than non-risk counterparts to endorse any prescription drug misuse intentions in daily life, to complete one or more follow-up report, and to endorse any prescription drug misuse behavior in daily life on the follow-ups (P-values < .001). Overall, participants demonstrated consistent engagement with the EMA procedures and returned an average of 74.5 reports (SD = 23.82, range 10-122). Participants in risk and non-risk groups did not differ in the number of reports they completed, the number of their reporting days, or their average completion rates (P-values > .10). Results indicated some evidence of reactivity to the momentary reporting procedure. Participants reported uniformly positive experiences and remained highly engaged throughout the reporting protocol and broader study.Conclusions: The novel EMA app and protocol provide an effective way to assess real-time factors associated with prescription drug misuse intentions and behavior in daily life. The resulting investigations offer the potential to provide highly translatable information for research and prevention efforts.

scholarly journals When the meditating mind wanders

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Delorme ◽  
Tracy Brandmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Meditation Practice ◽  
Over Time

The capacity for thought and the ability to assemble and manipulate concepts are cognitive features unique to humans. Spontaneous thoughts often occur when we are engaged in attention demanding tasks, with an increased frequency predicting negative affect. Meditation does not require thinking, however thinking occurs naturally during meditation. We develop the hypothesis that chronic thinking associated with strong emotional arousal during meditation practice might be detrimental to meditation practice and well being. One goal of meditation is to identify the arousal of emotions and thoughts, and remain equanimous with them. Over time, meditation may help dampen the attention grabbing power of these thoughts both during practice and in daily life, which may consequently help deepen meditation practice. However, when meditators fail to remain equanimous, the effects of these thoughts may be deleterious. We discuss how this hypothesis may help guide future research on meditation.

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