1,721,204 research outputs found
Incarcerated Substance Use: Does Procedural Justice Play a Role?
No full textThe U.S. has the highest number of incarcerated individuals in the world (Liu, Visher, & O’Connell, 2020). Mass incarceration comes with many social implications, including the fact that criminals are disproportionately likely to have a history of substance use (Asberg & Renk, 2012; Battle et al., 2003; McNiel, Binder, & Robinson, 2005; Mital & Carroll, 2020). Once released, criminals often relapse into these problems and fail to receive the proper help they need (Asberg & Renk, 2012; Begun, Early, & Hodge, 2016; Goldman�Hasbun, Nosova, Kerr, Wood, & DeBeck, 2019; Mital & Carroll, 2020). While there has been much discussion on why criminals have these types of issues, procedural justice has been particularly focused on in previous research (Beijersbergen, Dirkzwager, Eichelsheim, Van Der Laan, & Nieuwbeerta, 2015; Liu, Miller, & Visher, 2019; Liu et al., 2020; Tatar, Kaasa, & Cauffman, 2012). Feelings of procedural injustice have been found to correlate to various forms of misconduct, including anger and substance use (Beijersbergen et al., 2015; Tatar et al., 2012). Therefore, it was hypothesized that perceived feelings of procedural justice would correlate to lower substance use in formerly incarcerated people. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted using data from 203 formerly incarcerated individuals recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results found that the participants had overall moderate levels of substance use and that procedural justice served as a protective factor against the need for substance use interventions. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
Association Between Acculturative Stress and Drinking Among Hispanic/Latino Immigrant Undergraduates Moderated by Drinking to Cope and Social Norms
No full textSocial Influences and Health Behaviors Lab:Purpose: Past literature has demonstrated that acculturative stress is associated with drinking among immigrants while overestimating peer drinking is associated with drinking among college students. Additionally, normalized alcohol use could be related to coping motives. The present study aimed to determine if the association between acculturative stress and drinking among Hispanic/Latino immigrant undergraduates is moderated by drinking to cope and social norms. We hypothesized that acculturative stress is positively associated with drinking outcomes. We further expected associations between acculturative stress and drinking to be stronger for those who endorsed drinking to cope and for those who reported higher perceived drinking norms. Methods: Undergraduates who identified as Hispanic/Latino (N=112) completed a one-time, online survey. Participants answered measures of acculturative stress, drinking norms, and drinking behaviors (weekly drinks and alcohol-related consequences). Results: Acculturative stress was not uniquely associated with either drinking outcome. Drinking to cope was positively associated with both weekly drinks (b=0.969, p=.010) and alcohol-related consequences (b=1.590, p=.002). Drinking norms were negatively associated with alcohol-related consequences (b=-0.121, p=.021). A significant interaction between acculturative stress and drinking norms (b=.001, p=.049) suggested that the negative association between acculturative stress and alcohol-related consequences was stronger among those who reported lower norms. Conclusion: Our results indicated that acculturative stress was not associated with drinking outcomes. The immigrant paradox or unmeasured protective factors could have influenced the findings. Future studies should explore different drinking motives and acculturative stress among immigrant adults.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
Sexual Health & Social Media
No full textGreater engagement with social media sites such as Facebook have been found to increase college students’ perceptions of sexual norms by exposing the individual to content suggesting greater approval of risky sexual behavior than they have previously encountered. Previous studies have theorized that individuals are influenced by social norms because of their desire to “fit in” (normative social influence) or beliefs that others’ judgements are relatively reliable sources of evidence about reality (informational social influence) (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). One study found participants who observed sexually suggestive photos on Facebook expected a larger percentage of their peers and themselves would engage in risky sex (Young & Jordan, 2013). Yet, little research has investigated individuals’ perceptions of whether others are more influenced by social media to participate in sexual activity than they are themselves. College students completed online surveys about their UH peers’ and own social media use and sexual behavior for course credit. Paired sample t-tests were used to test hypotheses. Results suggested students believed their sexual behavior was less influenced by social media than they perceived their peers were. These results support our hypotheses, which provide a foundation for considering norms based interventions related to the influence of sexual content in social media and risky sexual behavior.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
What Roles do Depression and Stress Play in Suicidal Thoughts?
No full textAfter the fall of Saigon (1975), 3 waves of Vietnamese refugees arrived in the U.S. numbering 2.2 million. Vietnamese Americans (VA) arrived in adverse conditions (e.g., wartime trauma, tough migration journeys, low SES, language barrier) but VAï¾’s health studies are limited. Therefore, we developed The Vietnamese Aging and Care Survey (VACS) and collected health data on VA older adults (? 65 years) and their family caregivers in Houston in 2018 (N=199) and 2021 (N=202). Data revealed their adverse health conditions including a high prevalence of cognitive impairment. Based on this finding from previous research, we developed Community-Engaged Dementia Education Program (CEDEP) with the purpose to assess and improve the communityï¾’s dementia literacy in Aim 1 and develop educational materials for the community in Aim 2.Honors CollegePsychology, Department o
The Association Between Depression, Impulsivity, and Aggression
No full textImpulsive behaviors have been found to correlate with increased levels of depression and anxiety. Impulsivity and depression are also found to be leading factors in higher inclinations towards destructive behaviors such as alcohol consumption and self harm/ suicidal idealization. Some studies suggest these depressive behaviors and impulsive inclinations stem from the lack of ability for emotional regulation and coping strategies. Although there are numerous studies investigating the influences depressive and impulsive behaviors have on alcohol/substance use, there is little information regarding depression and impulsivity's influence on aggression. We hypothesized that behavioral disruptions which affect the executive functions, such as impulsive behaviors and emotional dysregulation, will result in greater levels of depression. Higher levels of depression through impulsivity will contribute to increased feelings of aggression. The present study consisted of 711 college students who completed an online survey administered through the university's SONA system. A significant indirect effect was found on impulsivity on feelings of aggression via depression scores.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
The Keys That Bind Us: Belongingness in Discord Servers
No full textThe need to belong is one of the three fundamental needs proposed and supported by self-determination theory (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness; Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2017), and its satisfaction is associated with increased human functioning and thriving (Gere & MacDonald, 2010). Aside from previous research assessing Discord's use as a distance-oriented communication tool for remote learning (Kruglyk et al., 2020; Vladoiu & Constantinescu, 2020; Razell, 2020; Fonseca Cacho, 2020), there is little research published on Discord assessing its ability to foster belongingness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between feelings of belongingness and engagement on Discord servers. An online self-report questionnaire was administered to 128 undergraduate students (78.1% female; N = 100). Results show that the most important factor in a Discord server is its behavioral engagement, above and beyond membership length, purpose (academic, extracurricular, close friends, other), and even interaction. Opportunities for behavioral engagement are important for building a stable sense of community in a variety of contexts.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
Academic Stress and Drinking to Cope: The Indirect Role of Depression in College Students
No full textCollege students are exposed to various stress factors including the stress of exams, deadlines, and maintaining a high GPA. All of these may accumulate as high levels of academic stress, eventually resulting in anxiety and depression, which can further lead to elevations in alcohol consumption. Previous research suggests that higher academic stress is positively associated with anxiety and depression, which leads to greater drinking as a coping motive. The present study examined the relationship between high levels of academic stress, anxiety, depression, and drinking as a coping motive among college students. We hypothesized that higher academic stress would be positively associated with anxiety and depression, leading to an increase in alcohol to cope motives. The study examined the relationships among academic burnout, depression, anxiety, and drinking to cope motives. Results indicated that student burnout variables were not associated directly with the outcome while depression, but not anxiety, was significantly and positively associated with drinking to cope motives. Of the three student burnout variables, two (Exhaustion and Cynicism) have positive and significant indirect effects on drinking to cope motives through their distinct associations with reported depression levels. These findings suggest the importance of managing mental health issues among college students. Understanding the impact of high academic stress levels can help inform mental health interventions and alcohol prevention programs to improve students' well-being.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
Prospective Associations Between Alcohol Use in Adolescence and Mental Health Diagnoses in Adulthood
No full textAlcohol use during adolescence may disrupt typical neurological development, thus influencing mental health conditions like attention hyperactivity/attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Existing research predominantly relies on retrospective designs. This project aims to probe the prospective relationship between adolescent alcohol use and ADHD, PTSD diagnoses reported in adulthood. This study involved 5,113 adolescents (Mage = 14.99, SDage = 1.76; 54% female, 68% Caucasian) recruited to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (AddHealth) who provided alcohol-related data (frequency of drinking, number of drinks per day, frequency of heavy drinking, frequency of drinking to intoxication, and frequency of alcohol-related problems) at Wave 1 (1994-95) and mental health diagnosis data (ADHD, PTSD) at Wave 4 (2007-08). Results indicated more frequent past-year drinking nearly doubled the likelihood of a PTSD diagnosis reported in adulthood (OR=1.90, p=0.001). Frequency of alcohol-related problems was the only alcohol variable associated with increased likelihood (OR=1.22, p=0.031) of reporting a dual ADHD-PTSD diagnosis. Collectively, these results highlight mental health risks associated with various alcohol-related behaviors during vulnerable periods of development. These results also stress the importance of early interventions that target specific drinking behaviors, not just underage drinking in general.Psychology, Department ofHonors Colleg
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