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Description
Juvenile offenders suffer from substance use disorders at higher rates than adolescents in the general public. Substance use disorders also predict an increased risk for re-offending. Therefore, it is important that these juveniles, in particular, receive the appropriate substance use disorder treatment. The present study used logistic regression to test whether race/ethnicity would moderate the match between substance use disorder diagnosis and the receipt of a substance use disorder related service in a sample of male, serious juvenile offenders. Results showed that among those with a substance use disorder diagnosis, there were no race/ethnicity differences in the receipt of the appropriate service. However, among those without a substance use disorder diagnosis, non-Hispanic Caucasians were more likely to receive substance use service than were Hispanics or African-Americans. Post-hoc analyses revealed that when using a broader definition of substance use problems, significant differences by race/ethnicity in the prediction of service receipt were only observed at low levels of substance use problems. These findings shed light on how race/ethnicity may play a role in the recommendation of substance use disorder services in the juvenile justice system.
ContributorsMansion, Andre (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Dishion, Thomas (Committee member) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Methods to test hypotheses of mediated effects in the pretest-posttest control group design are understudied in the behavioral sciences (MacKinnon, 2008). Because many studies aim to answer questions about mediating processes in the pretest-posttest control group design, there is a need to determine which model is most appropriate to test hypotheses about mediating processes and what happens to estimates of the mediated effect when model assumptions are violated in this design. The goal of this project was to outline estimator characteristics of four longitudinal mediation models and the cross-sectional mediation model. Models were compared on type 1 error rates, statistical power, accuracy of confidence interval coverage, and bias of parameter estimates. Four traditional longitudinal models and the cross-sectional model were assessed. The four longitudinal models were analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using pretest scores as a covariate, path analysis, difference scores, and residualized change scores. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to evaluate the different models across a wide range of sample sizes and effect sizes. All models performed well in terms of type 1 error rates and the ANCOVA and path analysis models performed best in terms of bias and empirical power. The difference score, residualized change score, and cross-sectional models all performed well given certain conditions held about the pretest measures. These conditions and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsValente, Matthew John (Author) / MacKinnon, David (Thesis advisor) / West, Stephen (Committee member) / Aiken, Leona (Committee member) / Enders, Craig (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Anxiety and depression are among the most prevalent disorders in youth, with prevalence rates ranging from 15% to 25% for anxiety and 5% to 14% for depression. Anxiety and depressive disorders cause significant impairment, fail to spontaneously remit, and have been prospectively linked to problematic substance use and legal problems in adulthood. These disorders often share a high-degree of comorbidity in both clinical and community samples, with anxiety disorders typically preceding the onset of depression. Given the nature and consequences of anxiety and depressive disorders, a plethora of treatment and preventative interventions have been developed and tested with data showing significant pre to post to follow-up reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the mediators by which these interventions achieve their effects. To address this gap in the literature, the present thesis study combined meta-analytic methods and path analysis to evaluate the effects of youth anxiety and depression interventions on outcomes and four theory-driven mediators using data from 55 randomized controlled trials (N = 11,413). The mediators included: (1) information-processing biases, (2) coping strategies, (3) social competence, and (4) physiological hyperarousal. Meta-analytic results showed that treatment and preventative interventions reliably produced moderate effect sizes on outcomes and three of the four mediators (information-processing biases, coping strategies, social competence). Most importantly, findings from the path analysis showed that changes in information-processing biases and coping strategies consistently mediated changes in outcomes for anxiety and depression at both levels of intervention, whereas gains in social competence and reductions in physiological hyperarousal did not emerge as significant mediators. Knowledge of the mediators underlying intervention effects is important because they can refine testable models of treatment and prevention efforts and identify which anxiety and depression components need to be packaged or strengthened to maximize intervention effects. Allocating additional resources to significant mediators has the potential to reduce costs associated with adopting and implementing evidence-based interventions and improve dissemination and sustainability in real-world settings, thus setting the stage to be more readily integrated into clinical and non-clinical settings on a large scale.
ContributorsStoll, Ryan (Author) / Pina, Armando A (Thesis advisor) / MacKinnon, David (Committee member) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The present study utilized longitudinal data from a high-risk community sample (n=254, 52.8% female, 47.2% children of alcoholics, 74% non-Hispanic Caucasian) to test questions concerning the effects of genetic risk, parental knowledge, and peer substance use on emerging adult substance use disorders (SUDs). Specifically, this study examined whether parental knowledge and peer substance use mediated the effects of parent alcohol use disorder (AUD) and genetic risk for behavioral undercontrol on SUD. The current study also examined whether genetic risk moderated effects of parental knowledge and peer substance use on risk for SUD. Finally, this study examined these questions over and above a genetic "control" which explained a large proportion of variance in the outcome, thereby providing a stricter test of environmental influences.
Analyses were performed in a path analysis framework. To test these research questions, the current study employed two polygenic risk scores. The first, a theory-based score, was formed using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from receptor systems implicated in the amplification of positive effects in the presence of new/exciting stimuli and/or pleasure derived from using substances. The second, an empirically-based score, was formed using a data-driven approach that explained a large amount of variance in SUDs. Together, these scores allowed the present study to test explanations for the relations among parent AUD, parental knowledge, peer substance use, and SUDs.
Results of the current study found that having parents with less knowledge or an AUD conferred greater risk for SUDs, but only for those at higher genetic risk for behavioral undercontrol. The current study replicated research findings suggesting that peer substance use mediated the effect of parental AUD on SUD. However, it adds to this literature by suggesting that some mechanism other than increased behavioral undercontrol explains relations among parental AUD, peer substance use, and emerging adult SUD. Taken together, these findings indicate that children of parents with AUDs comprise a particularly risky group, although likelihood of SUD within this group is not uniform. These findings also suggest that some of the most important environmental risk factors for SUDs exert effects that vary across level of genetic propensity.
Analyses were performed in a path analysis framework. To test these research questions, the current study employed two polygenic risk scores. The first, a theory-based score, was formed using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from receptor systems implicated in the amplification of positive effects in the presence of new/exciting stimuli and/or pleasure derived from using substances. The second, an empirically-based score, was formed using a data-driven approach that explained a large amount of variance in SUDs. Together, these scores allowed the present study to test explanations for the relations among parent AUD, parental knowledge, peer substance use, and SUDs.
Results of the current study found that having parents with less knowledge or an AUD conferred greater risk for SUDs, but only for those at higher genetic risk for behavioral undercontrol. The current study replicated research findings suggesting that peer substance use mediated the effect of parental AUD on SUD. However, it adds to this literature by suggesting that some mechanism other than increased behavioral undercontrol explains relations among parental AUD, peer substance use, and emerging adult SUD. Taken together, these findings indicate that children of parents with AUDs comprise a particularly risky group, although likelihood of SUD within this group is not uniform. These findings also suggest that some of the most important environmental risk factors for SUDs exert effects that vary across level of genetic propensity.
ContributorsBountress, Kaitlin (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Crnic, Keith (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / MacKinnon, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Ethnic enclaves, or neighborhoods with high ethnic densities, have been linked with positive health outcomes and lower crime rates. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance project, this study tested whether neighborhood Latino concentration prospectively predicted re-offense rates among a sample of Mexican American juvenile offenders (n = 247). Further, I tested whether the effect of neighborhood Latino concentration on re-offense was moderated by ethnic identity, Mexican orientation, and generation status. Covariates included demographics and risk factors for offending. Results showed that neighborhood Latino concentration, ethnic identity, Mexican orientation, and generation status were not predictive of re-offense rates. Gender, risk for offending, and time spent supervised during the follow-up period predicted re-offense rates one year later. The results highlight the importance of risk assessment for this high risk group.
ContributorsBui, Leena (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / White, Rebecca (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Social Networking Sites (SNSs), such as Facebook and Twitter, have continued to gain popularity worldwide. Previous research has shown differences in online behaviors at the cultural level, namely between predominantly independent societies, such as the United States, and predominantly interdependent societies, such as China and Japan. In the current study I sought to test whether self-construal was correlated with different ways of using SNSs and whether there might be SES differences within the US that were analogous to previously observed cross-cultural differences in SNS use. Higher levels of interdependence were linked with using SNSs to keep in touch with family and friends, and providing social support to others. Interdependence was also correlated with Facebook addiction scale scores, using SNSs in inappropriate situations, and overall SNS use. Implications for assessing risk for Internet addiction, as well as understanding cultural variations in prevalence of Internet addiction are discussed.
ContributorsSobota, David Stanley (Author) / Varnum, Michael (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Dorman, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
A prior experiment by Li and colleagues found that when participants rated same sex faces in physical attractiveness, their self-reports of religiosity were higher in comparison to those that rated opposite sex faces. Could this be due to participants feeling their sexuality was threatened or misunderstood? In the current experiment, we attempted to replicate these findings and extend them by using a pseudo personality test that presented false feedback to participants. This feedback explained that their personalities were similar to homosexual or heterosexual people. Four hundred and fifty participants from Amazon Mturk were randomized into these conditions. We also measured homophobia, moral values, and the believability of the experiment. Results displayed no replication of the original findings. Men were more homophobic than women, while displaying lower moral values and religiosity. Those that self-reported being more homophobic also reported being more religious and moral. In conditions of sexual threat (homosexual personality, same sex faces) and sexual comfort (heterosexual personality, opposite sex faces), self-reports of moral values increased. Participants that reported believing the feedback displayed higher religiosity in both sexual threat and sexual comfort conditions. For a more concrete understanding of the relationship between religiosity, mating goals, and threats to sexuality, more research needs to be performed.
ContributorsHobaica, Steven Matthew (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Public Programs (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Previous studies exploring variability in sentencing decisions have consistently found gender differences, such that women receive lighter sentences than men. In the proposed study, I present a new framework for understanding gender differences in sentencing preferences, including circumstances under which no gender differences should emerge. The Affordance Management Approach suggests that our minds are attuned to both group- and individual-level threats and opportunities that others afford us. I conceptualize the sentencing difference between men and women as driven by perceived affordances that assist or hinder an individual in achieving certain fundamental goals. When faced with sanctioning an offender in our community, the offender's sex, the victim's age, and environmental variables such as the ratio of men to women may influence our decision-making, because these factors have affordance implications. Thus, I hypothesized that individuals will express differences in the sentencing of offenders who commit assault, and that these differences vary by offender sex, victim age, and sex-ratio. The results indicate that, as predicted, female offenders received lighter sentencing than men when the offender committed an assault against a same-sex adult, but received equally punitive sentences as men when the assault was committed against a child. In general, results do not support a consistent effect of sex ratio as a factor when making sentencing decisions. Although results do not fully support the current study's specific hypotheses, there remains much to be gained from applying an affordance management perspective to understanding variability in sentencing between the sexes.
ContributorsUzzanti, Charlene Ann (Author) / Neuberg, Steven (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The current study utilized data from two longitudinal samples to test mechanisms in the relation between a polygenic risk score indexing serotonin functioning and alcohol use in adolescence. Specifically, this study tested whether individuals with lower levels of serotonin functioning as indexed by a polygenic risk score were vulnerable to poorer self-regulation, and whether poorer self-regulation subsequently predicted the divergent outcomes of depressive symptoms and aggressive/antisocial behaviors. This study then examined whether depressive symptoms and aggressive/antisocial behaviors conferred risk for later alcohol use in adolescence, and whether polygenic risk and effortful control had direct effects on alcohol use that were not mediated through problem behaviors. Finally, the study examined the potential moderating role of gender in these pathways to alcohol use.
Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. Results from an independent genome-wide association study of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the cerebrospinal fluid were used to create serotonin (5-HT) polygenic risk scores, wherein higher scores reflected lower levels of 5-HT functioning. Data from three time points were drawn from each sample, and all paths were prospective. Findings suggested that 5-HT polygenic risk did not predict self-regulatory constructs. However, 5-HT polygenic risk did predict the divergent outcomes of depression and aggression/antisociality, such that higher levels of 5-HT polygenic risk predicted greater levels of depression and aggression/antisociality. Results most clearly supported adolescents’ aggression/antisociality as a mechanism in the relation between 5-HT polygenic risk and later alcohol use. Deficits in self-regulation also predicted depression and aggression/antisociality, and indirectly predicted alcohol use through aggression/antisociality. These pathways to alcohol use might be the most salient for boys with low levels of socioeconomic status.
Results are novel contributions to the literature. The previously observed association between serotonin functioning and alcohol use might be due, in part, to the fact that individuals with lower levels of serotonin functioning are predisposed towards developing earlier aggression/antisociality. Results did not support the hypothesis that serotonin functioning predisposes individuals to deficits in self-regulatory abilities. Findings extend previous research by suggesting that serotonin functioning and self-regulation might be transdiagnostic risk factors for many types of psychopathology.
Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. Results from an independent genome-wide association study of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the cerebrospinal fluid were used to create serotonin (5-HT) polygenic risk scores, wherein higher scores reflected lower levels of 5-HT functioning. Data from three time points were drawn from each sample, and all paths were prospective. Findings suggested that 5-HT polygenic risk did not predict self-regulatory constructs. However, 5-HT polygenic risk did predict the divergent outcomes of depression and aggression/antisociality, such that higher levels of 5-HT polygenic risk predicted greater levels of depression and aggression/antisociality. Results most clearly supported adolescents’ aggression/antisociality as a mechanism in the relation between 5-HT polygenic risk and later alcohol use. Deficits in self-regulation also predicted depression and aggression/antisociality, and indirectly predicted alcohol use through aggression/antisociality. These pathways to alcohol use might be the most salient for boys with low levels of socioeconomic status.
Results are novel contributions to the literature. The previously observed association between serotonin functioning and alcohol use might be due, in part, to the fact that individuals with lower levels of serotonin functioning are predisposed towards developing earlier aggression/antisociality. Results did not support the hypothesis that serotonin functioning predisposes individuals to deficits in self-regulatory abilities. Findings extend previous research by suggesting that serotonin functioning and self-regulation might be transdiagnostic risk factors for many types of psychopathology.
ContributorsWang, Frances Lynn (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / MacKinnon, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The purpose of this study was to expand on existing parental socialization models of youth achievement motivation for engaging in physical activity. This study examined the extent to which youth affective reactions and expectancy-value beliefs mediated the relation between parental influence tactics and youth physical activity. More specifically, the direct and indirect effects of parents' positive, negative and sedentary-control tactics, the direct effect of parents' desire to change their child's physical activity, and the moderating role of the socio-emotional climate on the relation between parental influence tactics and child outcomes were investigated. Data were collected from 171 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade students and their parents. Pedometers were used to collect youth physical activity data and all participants completed questionnaires. Youth expectancy-value beliefs and negative affective reactions to parental influence tactics were both positively related to youth physical activity. Path analyses revealed that youth expectancy-value beliefs and negative affective reactions fully mediated the direct effects of positive and negative parental influence tactics on youth physical activity, respectively. Moreover, parents' desire to change their child's physical activity was negatively related to parent's use of positive influence tactics. Although several moderators were examined, none were statistically significant (lowest p >.05). The results suggest that additional explanatory power is gained by including a broader range of parental influence tactics and youth affective reactions in models of achievement motivation. The findings are in accord with prior recommendations made to parents with sedentary children.
ContributorsPugliese, John (Author) / Okun, Morris (Thesis advisor) / Tinsley, Barbara J (Thesis advisor) / Kulinna, Pamela (Committee member) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011