Alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic: gender, parenthood, intimate partner violence, and stress.

Some preliminary work during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that adult alcohol use increased, particularly for parents. This cross-sectional study examined the quantity and frequency of adults' alcohol use during the early stages of the pandemic. Additionally, the influences of gender, parenthood, COVID-19-related stressors and intimate partner violence (IPV) on alcohol consumption were examined. The sample consisted of 298 adults (98 parents) from across the United States who completed self-report surveys through Qualtrics at the beginning of the pandemic in May 2020. In the present study, all men reported higher levels of drinking compared to all women. Although stress levels did not impact alcohol consumption, findings indicate that increased IPV experiences were associated with higher levels of heavy drinking during the pandemic. Results also suggested that having children in the home particularly impacted drinking levels during the pandemic, above and beyond the influence of gender, IPV, and stress levels. These findings suggest that parenthood may have had a cascading influence on drinking experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Drinking to cope and coping strategies in Deaf/Hard of hearing college students.

INTRODUCTION: Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students experience unique stressors as a minority linguistic and cultural group that may contribute to problematic substance and alcohol use behavior. Proper coping strategies may be one protective factor to avoid reliance on alcohol as a means to reduce stress. METHODS: The current study compared the endorsement of coping strategies by DHH students and hearing individuals and their relationship to drinking to cope behavior. Data was collected among DHH (n = 126) and hearing students (n = 349) at a large university. RESULTS: While these two groups did not differ in their levels of problematic drinking behavior, there were differences observed in drinking to cope motives as well as in the levels of coping styles used. DHH students were found to endorse greater levels of emotion-oriented and task-oriented coping than hearing students. Drinking to cope motivations were also higher for DHH students, particularly those who endorsed greater emotion focused coping. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions and educational efforts involving coping skills is a potentially important area of focus for the DHH student population. Further implications for understanding drinking behavior in this population are discussed.

The role of affective urgency and emotion regulation in vaping susceptibility.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of E-cigarette use is increasing along with concerns about the negative health effects of their use. Understanding the psychological constructs associated with susceptibility to beginning regular e-cigarette use may be helpful for prevention efforts. Factors such as emotion regulation (ER) and impulsivity, specifically urgency, have been significantly correlated with patterns of drug addiction in the past. With few prior studies linking ER and impulsivity factors with e-cigarette susceptibility, the present study aims to assess their relationship in predicting e-cigarette susceptibility in university never-smokers. METHOD: Two hundred and twenty-five students were surveyed online using a questionnaire measuring difficulties in ER, impulsivity, and e-cigarette susceptibility. Path analysis was used to understand the relationship between positive and negative urgency and ER in predicting susceptibility to use. RESULTS: Results indicated that negative urgency was mediated by difficulties in ER to predict susceptibility while positive urgency was not significantly related to susceptibility. CONCLUSION: The results of this study offer insights into the role affective traits contribute to susceptibility to e-cigarettes, potentially improving future addiction prevention research.

Using mobile eye-tracking to assess attention to smoking cues in a naturalized environment.

INTRODUCTION: Attentional bias to drug cues is thought to contribute to maintenance of drug-use behavior among chronic drug users. Studies assessing this bias traditionally have assessed drug cues that are explicitly presented in a laboratory setting. This study tested the use of a mobile eye-tracking procedure to assess visual attention to smoking cues by smokers and non-smokers in a more naturalized environment. METHODS: A mobile eye-tracker was used to assess the number and duration of fixations made to smoking cues located in an office space environment by smokers and non-smokers while completing a sham experimental task. Smokers completed two sessions, once after 12h of abstinence and once after smoking. RESULTS: Results indicated that smokers made significantly more fixations to the smoking cues than non-smokers, regardless of smoking condition though the mean amount of time spent fixating on the cues did not differ significantly. Smokers did not differ in the number of fixations or mean fixation duration across the two smoking conditions, suggesting in this sample that a 12-h period of abstinence did not make the smoking cues more salient in this context. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the successful use of mobile eye-tracking to assess attentional biases to environmental drug cues. Results suggest that smoking cues in the environment are potentially more attention grabbing for smokers compared to non-smokers but these cues do not necessarily hold visual attention of smokers longer than that of non-smokers.

Psychophysiological assessment of emotional processing in patients with borderline personality disorder with and without comorbid substance use.

This study assessed physiological measures for the study of emotional dysregulation associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Two patient groups, the first comprised of individuals with BPD only (n = 16) and the second, individuals with BPD and co-occurring substance-use disorder (SUD; n = 35), and a group of healthy controls (n = 45) were shown standardized pictures of varying valance and arousal levels. Affective modification of startle eye-blink responses, heart rate, facial electromyography (EMG, including corrugator and zygomatic activity), and skin-conductance responses were collected during picture presentation and during a brief recovery period. Startle data during picture presentation indicated a trend toward the expected increase in startle response magnitude to negative stimuli, to be moderated by group status, with patients with BPD-SUD showing a lack of affective modification and the BPD-only group showing similar affective modification to that of controls. Heart-rate data suggested lower reactivity to negative pictures for both patient groups. Differences in facial EMG responses did not provide a clear pattern, and skin-conductance responses were not significantly different between groups. The data did not suggest differences between groups in recovery from exposure to the emotional stimuli. The startle and heart-rate data suggest a possible hyporeactivity to emotional stimuli in BPD.

Impulsivity and risk-taking in borderline personality disorder with and without substance use disorders.

Impulsivity and risk taking propensity were assessed in participants with borderline personality disorder (BPD-only; n = 19), BPD and a current or past substance use disorder (BPD-SUD; n = 32), and a matched comparison group (MC; n = 28). Participants were administered behavioral measures of two facets of the multidimensional construct of impulsivity [GoStop, delay discounting task (DDT)], one measure of risk-taking propensity [Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART)], and two self-report measures of impulsivity (i.e., Barrett Impulsiveness Scale, Eysenck Impulsiveness Scale). The BPD-SUD group, but not the BPD-only group, discounted delayed rewards faster than the MC group on the DDT, suggesting that the BPD-SUD/MC group difference may be because of the SUD rather than BPD. In contrast, both the BPD-SUD and BPD-only groups exhibited poorer behavioral response inhibition compared with the MC group, but the two BPD groups did not differ from one another. This finding suggests that the differences in behavioral response inhibition may be because of BPD rather than SUD and that behavioral response disinhibition may be a core feature of BPD. None of the groups differed on the measure of risk-taking propensity (i.e., BART). On self-report questionnaires, the BPD-SUD group reported more impulsivity than the BPD-only group and both BPD groups reported more impulsivity than the MC group. Data from the DDT and self-report measures provide partial support for the hypothesis that BPD individuals with a SUD are more impulsive than BPD individuals without a SUD on some facets of impulsivity (e.g., desire to obtain a smaller immediate reward rather than wait to obtain a larger reward in the future). Results suggest that behavioral response inhibition may be a novel treatment outcome variable for BPD treatment studies.

Subjective effects of transdermal nicotine among nonsmokers.

The subjective experience of nicotine, which may be influenced by personality traits as well as environmental factors, may be important for understanding the factors associated with the initiation and maintenance of nicotine dependence. The present study examined the effects of 7 mg transdermal nicotine among a relatively large sample (n = 91; 44 women) of college-aged nonsmokers. Using a placebo controlled, double-blind, within-subjects design, nicotine's effects were examined at rest and again after participants completed a sustained attention task. Sex and personality factors (Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Approach; BIS/BAS Scales; Carver & White, 1994) were examined as potential moderators. Overall, the effects of nicotine were generally modest and unpleasant. In the context of the cognitive task, nicotine increased nausea and negative affect but reduced fatigue, relative to placebo. In contrast, effects of nicotine during the initial 4 hr of patch administration, in which participants were in their natural environments, were moderated by individual differences in behavioral approach. Neither behavioral inhibition nor gender reliably moderated any subjective effects of nicotine. The present work suggests transdermal nicotine exerts only modest, mostly negative effects among nonsmokers. Future work should examine both contextual and personality moderators in large samples of participants who are exposed to nicotine through multiple routes of administration.

Post-trauma symptoms following indirect exposure to the September 11th terrorist attacks: the predictive role of dispositional coping.

Few data prospectively address the role of coping in the development of PTSD. In the present study, 308 undergraduates were assessed for coping prior to the 9/11 WTC attack and for PTSD symptomatology at one and three-months post-9/11. Multiple regression analyses indicated that emotion-focused coping was predictive of increased symptomatology at Month 1 and Month 3, whereas problem-focused and avoidance-focused coping were not. Specifically, analyses predicting PTSD symptom factors (Intrusions, Avoidance, Dysphoria, and Hyperarousal) indicated that greater emotion-focused coping predicted increased Dysphoria symptoms at both time points and, among females, increased levels of Hyperarousal symptoms at Month 1. The role of coping style in the development of PTSD symptomatology and its clinical implications are discussed.

Evaluation of the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Now factor structures: application of a cue reactivity paradigm.

The current study compared the psychometric properties and clinical/research utility of four distinct factor/subscale models of alcohol craving (three factor-derived models, and one rationally derived model) as measured by the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Now in social (n=52) and alcohol dependent (n=71) drinkers. All participants completed a self-report measure of alcohol abuse in addition to engaging in a structured interview and cue reactivity protocol. Participants provided self-reported craving, as well as desire to approach or avoid drinking, during a cue exposure task using separate analog scales. Factor/subscale models were compared in terms of internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and ability to predict cue-elicited approach and craving in addition to diagnostic status. All models demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and the ability to predict both cue-elicited craving and alcohol dependence status. Specific strengths and weaknesses of each model are examined and the theoretical, clinical, and research utility of the current findings are discussed.

Psychometric properties of the IES-R in traumatized substance dependent individuals with and without PTSD.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among treatment-seeking substance abusers. Despite the high prevalence of these co-occurring conditions, few PTSD screening tools have been evaluated for their utility in identifying PTSD in substance use disorder (SUD) populations. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in a sample of 124 substance dependent individuals. All participants had a history of a DSM-IV Criterion A traumatic event, and 71 individuals met diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Participants with comorbid PTSD reported significantly more symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD compared to substance dependent individuals without PTSD. Acceptable internal consistency and convergent validity of the IES-R were established among a substance dependent sample. Examination of diagnostic effectiveness suggested a cutoff value of 22 as optimal for a substance using population, resulting in adequate classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.

Relationship between PTSD symptomatology and nicotine dependence severity in crime victims.

Smoking rates are higher and cessation rates are lower among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the general population, thus understanding the relationship between PTSD and nicotine dependence is important. In a sample of 213 participants with a crime-related trauma (109 with PTSD), the relationship between PTSD status, smoking status (smoker vs. non-smoker), substance abuse diagnosis (SUD), PTSD symptoms, and sex was assessed. SUD diagnosis was significantly related to smoking status, but PTSD symptomatology and sex were not. Among smokers (n=117), increased nicotine dependence severity was associated with being male and with increased level of PTSD avoidance symptoms. Correlations indicated that PTSD avoidance and hyperarousal symptom clusters and total PTSD symptom scores were significantly related to nicotine dependence severity in males, while PTSD symptomatology in general did not correlate with dependence severity for females. The results suggest that level of PTSD symptomatology, particularly avoidance symptoms, may be important targets for smoking cessation treatment among male smokers who have experienced a traumatic event.

The effects of nicotine on the attentional modification of the acoustic startle response in nonsmokers.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: Research on nicotine and attention has mainly utilized samples of deprived smokers and tasks requiring volitional responses, raising the question of whether nicotine improves attention or simply alleviates withdrawal or improves motor speed. This study used the startle eyeblink reflex to assess nicotine effects on auditory attention in nonsmokers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-seven healthy young adult nonsmokers completed a tone discrimination task. Acoustic startle probes were presented 60, 120, 240, or 4,500 ms after the onset of two-thirds of the tones and during intertrial intervals. Attention was assessed via (1) short-lead prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle, a measure of early filtering; (2) long-lead prepulse facilitation (PPF) of startle, a measure of sustained processing; and (3) the modification of PPI and PPF by focused attention. Participants completed two laboratory sessions, once while wearing a 7-mg transdermal nicotine patch and once while wearing a placebo patch. Patches were administered in a double-blind procedure. RESULTS: Nicotine increased overall PPI, eta2(p)=0.09. Attention increased long-lead PPF, eta2(p)=0.25, but not short-lead PPI. Nicotine did not reliably enhance early or late controlled attentional processing in the sample overall. However, correlational analyses demonstrated that nicotine most improved attentional modification of short-lead PPI among participants with the weakest early attentional processing under placebo conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Nicotine enhanced early attentional filtering in general, and the effects of nicotine on early focused attention were dependent upon individual differences in placebo levels of attentional processing. The present data suggest that the effects of nicotine on attention extend beyond the alleviation of withdrawal and simple motor speeding.

Motivated attention and prepulse inhibition of startle in rats: using conditioned reinforcers as prepulses.

In humans, prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle is greater during attended prestimuli than it is during ignored prestimuli, whereas in rats, most work has focused on passive PPI, which does not require attention. In the work described in this article, researchers developed a paradigm to assess attentional modification of PPI in rats using motivationally salient prepulses. Water-deprived rats were either conditioned to attend to a conditioned stimulus (CS; 1-s, 7-dB increase in white noise) paired with water (CS(+) group), or they received uncorrelated presentations of white noise and water (CS0 group). After 10 conditioning sessions, startle probes (50 ms, 115 dB) were introduced, with the CS serving as a continuous prepulse. Three experiments examined PPI across a range of prepulse intensities (4-10 dB) and stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs; 30-960 ms). PPI was consistently reduced in the CS(+) group, particularly with a 10-dB prepulse and a 60-ms SOA. Thus, PPI in rats differed between attended and ignored prestimuli, but the effect was reversed in the results of research with humans. A fourth study eliminated the group difference by reversing the CS-water contingency. Methodological and motivational hypotheses regarding the current findings are discussed.

Factor structure of posttraumatic stress among Western New York undergraduates following the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The structure of posttraumatic stress is of both theoretical and clinical interest. In the present study, seven models of posttraumatic stress were compared using confirmatory factor analysis. A sample of 528 Western New York undergraduate students was assessed 1 and 3 months after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. At the Month 1 assessment, the current three-factor Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) model, which consists of Intrusions, Avoidance/Numbing, and Hyperarousal, did not provide a good fit to the data; however, a four-factor model consisting of factors labeled Intrusions, Avoidance, Dysphoria, and Hyperarousal did fit the data well and provided better fit than the three-factor model and other competing models. Importantly, Dysphoria spans symptoms from the traditional DSM Numbing and Hyperarousal clusters. The four-factor model continued to fit the data well at Month 3. These findings parallel the results of earlier studies which suggest that a four-factor model better reflects the nature of posttraumatic stress than do simpler models, including the DSM. The present work is consistent with a dimensional model of stress responses and calls for further longitudinal work in this area.

Craving and startle modification during in vivo exposure to food cues.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Food craving and reactivity to food cues are related to food intake. Research has shown that both startle magnitude and prepulse inhibition of startle may be useful indices of cue reactivity and drug craving. The goal of this study was to assess the utility of these paradigms for the study of food craving in food-deprived participants. METHODS: Twenty-nine non-smoking, food-deprived undergraduate participants were exposed to a counterbalanced series of food, cigarette, and neutral cues. During each 4.5-min cue, nine startle probes (102-dB white noise) were presented, and a prepulse (20-ms noise 8 dB above background) preceded 2/3 of the probes by 60 or 120 ms. Subjects were divided into those high and low in food-craving on the basis of subjective craving to food cues. Responses to food cues were compared to smoking cues to control for attention and arousal. RESULTS: Both probe-alone startle magnitude and percent prepulse inhibition were significantly reduced during the food cue compared to the smoking cue among high food cravers, but not low food cravers. These processes seemed to be independent, as cue-induced changes in prepulse inhibition were uncorrelated with cue effects on probe-alone startle magnitude. CONCLUSIONS: Both probe-alone startle magnitude and prepulse inhibition are sensitive to cue-induced craving for food, but appear to assess separate processes. Startle methodologies may prove useful in understanding basic processes that regulate food intake.

Influence of a monetary incentive upon attentional modification of short-lead prepulse inhibition and long-lead prepulse facilitation of acoustic startle.

Short-lead prepulse inhibition and long-lead prepulse facilitation of startle are greater during attended than ignored prestimuli. The present work examined whether this attentional modification is influenced by monetary incentive. Participants (43 college students) were randomly assigned to receive a small performance-based monetary incentive or were instructed to try their best. The task was to judge the duration of tones of one of two pitches during a series of 48 tones. Prepulse inhibition of startle eyeblink EMG was assessed at 60, 120, and 240 ms, and prepulse facilitation was assessed at 4,500 ms following tone onset. Short-lead percent prepulse inhibition was greater during attended than ignored prestimuli only at 120 ms among paid participants. Long-lead prepulse facilitation was greater for attended than ignored tones, but this effect did not vary with incentive condition. This study demonstrates that attentional modification of short-lead prepulse inhibition is sensitive to a monetary incentive and provides a basis for further examination of motivational effects on early attentional processing.