Predicting High-Risk Behaviors Based on Time Perspective in Iranian Adolescents by Emphasizing the Mediating Role of Decision Making and Inhibitory Response: Path Analysis

Background: Adolescence is defined as a period with multiple and intertwined physical, psychological, and social developments during which risky behaviors increases. Various factors affect the tendency and occurrence of risky behaviors. Time perspective (TP) is defined as the role of time and attitude toward time in affairs and behaviors. Executive functioning skills allow an individual to perceive stimuli from his or her environment, respond adaptively, flexibly change direction, anticipate future goals, consider consequences, and respond in an integrated or commonsense way. Objectives: This study aimed to predict risky behaviors based on TP in Iranian adolescents by emphasizing the mediating role of decision making and inhibitory response. Patients and Methods: Path analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between components of TP and risky behaviors with mediator variables, decision making, and inhibitory response among 804 high school adolescent students (including 470 males and 334 females) in Sanandaj, Iran. All participants were asked to complete the Iranian Adolescent Risk Scale and Time Perspective Scale and perform 2 computer tasks [i.e., Go/No-Go and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)]. SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 24 were used to analyze direct and indirect relationships. Results: There was a significant relationship between the components of TP and the tendency to risky behaviors. Risky decision-making and inhibitory response had a significant effect on 3 aspects of TP in predicting adolescents’ risky behaviors. These effects were both direct and indirect, of which the former effect was created by mediating the decision-making and inhibitory response. Conclusions: The components of TP, decision-making, and inhibitory response predict risky behaviors in adolescents.

Evaluation of Memory Complaints in People Living with HIV in Iran

Background: Several studies have reported that many people living with HIV (PLHIV) complain of memory impairments. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate these complaints both subjectively and objectively. Patients and Methods: For this purpose, 50 PLHIV and 50 of their companions as the control group were selected by the convenience sampling method in Shiraz, Iran, and completed Ray's auditory-verbal learning test and the Patient’s Assessment of Own Functioning Inventory (PAOFI). Data were analyzed using a t-test in SPSS. Results: Our findings showed a significant difference between PLHIV and the control group in terms of subjective memory complaints and objective memory functions. Conclusions: The overall result of the study showed that PLHIV reported more subjective memory complaints and poorer objective memory functions than the control group, regardless of the stage of the disease.

Family Structure in Association with Alcohol Use Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Context: It is proposed that family structure influences adolescent alcohol use; however, the findings are mixed, and no systematic review has been conducted to summarize the evidence. Objectives: We aimed to identify the association between family structures and adolescent alcohol consumption through a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Evidence Acquisition: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched until June 2017 for observational studies, which examined the relationship between family structure and adolescent alcohol use. A random-effects model was used to derive the overall odds ratio (OR) for the likelihood of alcohol use in different non-intact families compared with intact families (adolescents growing up with both biological parents). Results: Fifty-seven articles met the eligibility criteria for the systematic review, and 29 were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed a significant increase in alcohol use among adolescents with non-intact families (OR = 1.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 1.36) compared with adolescents with intact families in which both biological parents were present. Living with one biological parent, living in a divorced family, loss of parents, and other types of the non-intact family also significantly increased the odds of alcohol use in adolescents (P < 0.05). Conclusions: All types of the non-intact family were linked to adolescents' alcohol use. The family structure could have an essential role in reducing high-risk behaviors, including alcohol use and its consequences in adolescents.

The Mediating Role of Boredom and Mind Wandering in the Relationship Between Evolutionary Fitness and Tendency to Substance Use Among University Students

Background: Substance abuse promotes a sense of self-perceived evolutionary ability by stimulating the cortico-mesolimbic in the brain. Although the relationship between substance use and evolutionary fitness has been demonstrated, the role of mediating variables that may contribute to the relationship between self-perceived evolutionary fitness and substance use is not clear yet. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between self-perceived evolutionary fitness and the tendency to substance use and the mediating role of boredom and mind wandering in this relationship. Patients and Methods: This correlational study was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population comprised of all students at state-run universities of medical sciences in Tehran. A sample of 200 students from Iran University of Medical Sciences was selected via convenience sampling. Results: A significant negative correlation was found between evolutionary fitness and addiction potential (r = -0.75). The proposed model showed the direct effect factor of evolutionary fitness on addiction potential (β = -0.50, t = 7.90), boredom (β = -0.71, t = -14.12), and mind wandering (β = -0.46, t = -7.28). Moreover, the direct effect factor of boredom (β = 0.37, t = 5.94) and mind wandering (β = -0.02, t = -0.47) for addiction potential was established. Conclusions: Poor evolutionary fitness starts mind wandering about fitness-related issues. Eventually, this wandering leads to the unpleasant sense of boredom. Taking drugs artificially and temporarily increases evolutionary fitness and reduces one’s sense of boredom.

Nutrition Care Processes Can Improve the Nutritional Status and Quality of Life of Persons Who Use Drugs (PWUDs)

: Addiction affects the economy of countries worldwide. Nutrition plays an important role in helping persons who use drugs (PWUDs) to regain their physical and mental health, thereby increasing the probability of recovery. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of implementing the nutrition care process on PWUDs management 120 days after its implementation. Following a quasi-experimental design with pre and post-test evaluations, 268 PWUDs admitted to 8 drug treatment, and rehabilitation centers in the Philippines were recruited. Developed nutrition management guidelines containing the nutrition care process and cycle menu of calculated diet for PWUDs were provided for implementation in the rehabilitation regimen. Body mass index was used to assess nutritional status, dietary diversity score (DDS) to measure diet quality, WHO quality of life-BREF to assess the quality of life (QoL), Kessler-10 Psychological Distress Scale to determine psychological distress, and Beck’s depression inventory to assess stress level. The results indicated a 92% reduction in underweight during the study period. Participants with high DDS significantly increased from 38.43 to 91.04%. All domains of the QoL were improved, the level of severe depression was significantly decreased (6.72 to 4.48%), and decrease in the proportion of participants experiencing moderate (18.3 to 12.7%) and severe psychological distress (4.48 to 3.73%) was observed. There was no significant association between DDS and the three psychological parameters. The implementation of the nutrition care process and the recovery diets is feasible and could improve the nutritional status, QoL, and stress level of PWUDs.

Investigating the Common and Specific Role of Emotional Factors in Current Cravings and Thoughts-Imagination of Consumption in Iranian Opioid Dependent Patients

Background: Craving has an important place in the structure of the literature on consumption disorders. Objectives: The present research investigates the relationship between emotional factors (such as positive and negative effects, emotion regulation, emotion regulation strategies, emotional processing, emotional stimulation, attention to emotional stimuli, emotional separation, and emotional response) with consumption craving. Patients and Methods: The statistical population of current descriptive-correlational research consisted of all opium-dependent patients living in medium-term accommodation centers (camps) in Zahedan, Iran, from 2018 to 2019. Among 21 allowed accommodation centers, 12 were randomly selected. A purposive sampling method was used to select 243 patients. For collecting data, multiple questionnaires were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software. Results: The results of stepwise regression analysis showed that among emotional factors, emotional excitement could only predict 0.020 of variations in instant craving, and other emotional factors did not have much explanatory power. However, to predict drug carvings and desires, more emotional variables (emotional arousal, emotional processing, affection, emotion regulation, and emotional separation) were entered into the equation, and the set could predict 0.156% of drug carving. Conclusions: Cultural factors play an important role in the discussion of emotion, and it is important to consider them in the field of drug prevention. Concurrent attention is needed to be paid to the biological, psychological, and social dimensions. In addition, concurrent treatment can lead to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Substance Use and The Necessity for Harm Reduction Programs in Prisons: A Qualitative Study in Central Prison of Sanandaj, Iran

Background: For decades, harm reduction programs for addiction have been started in Iranian prisons. The programs comprise methadone maintenance treatment, antiretroviral treatment, and other harm reduction programs implemented as a triangular clinic. Despite the lack of funding to provide mental health services, particularly for substance use and harm reduction in prisons of low- and middle-income countries, Iran provides well-developed services. Objectives: The study investigated the implementation and achievements of harm reduction programs in Sanandaj prison located in the center of Kurdistan Province, west of Iran. Methods: This was a qualitative cross-sectional study. We used various information sources such as a checklist and group discussions. The participants were chosen by the purposive sample method and included prison authorities and harm reduction service providers and recipients. The data were analyzed by content analysis. Results: The harm reduction programs included opioid substitution therapy, providing information and education, voluntary counseling and testing for blood-borne diseases, providing condoms, hepatitis C virus screening, and antiretroviral treatment. Following the implementation of the program, a significant decrease in violence, self-injury, illegal drug use and shared syringes, HIV-positive new comers, and no necessity for the needle and syringe program when starting methadone treatment was reported. Conclusions: Commitment to a strict ban on the entering of drugs to the prison is a reason for the use of high-risk methods of drug use and behaviors such as injection, self-injury, or violence. Sharing syringes and needles is a major cause of the transmission of HIV and hepatitis viruses among drug users. Harm reduction programs, especially methadone maintenance treatment and antiretroviral treatment, have reduced a large proportion of drug-related harms in prisons. Scaling up the programs and their extension to post-release treatment will greatly reduce the country's health costs.