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- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: Chassin, Laurie
Description
Anxiety disorder diagnosis is a risk factor for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), but mechanisms of risk are not well understood. Studies show that anxious individuals receive greater negative reinforcement from alcohol when consumed prior to a stressor, but few studies have examined whether anxious individuals receive greater negative (or positive) reinforcement from alcohol in a general drinking context (i.e., no imminent stressor). Previous studies have also failed to examine possible moderating effects of specific drinking contexts (e.g., drinking in a group or alone). Finally, no studies have investigated mediating variables that might explain the relationship between anxiety and reinforcement from alcohol, such as physiological response to alcohol (e.g., cortisol response). Data for this study were drawn from a large alcohol administration study (N = 447) wherein participants were randomized to receive alcohol (target peak BAC: .08 g%) or placebo in one of four contexts: group simulated bar, solitary simulated bar, group sterile laboratory, solitary sterile laboratory. It was hypothesized that anxiety would be associated with positive subjective response (SR) under alcohol (above and beyond placebo), indicating stronger reinforcement from alcohol. It was also hypothesized that social and physical drinking context would moderate this relationship. Finally, it was hypothesized that anxiety would be associated with a blunted cortisol response to alcohol (compared to placebo) and this blunted cortisol response would be associated with stronger positive SR and weaker negative SR. Results showed that anxiety was not associated with positive SR in the full sample, but drinking context did moderate the anxiety/SR relationship in most cases (e.g., anxiety was significantly associated with positive SR (stimulation) under placebo in solitary contexts only). There was no evidence that cortisol response to alcohol mediated the relationship between anxiety and SR. This study provides evidence that anxious drinkers expect stronger positive reinforcement from alcohol in solitary contexts, which has implications for intervention (e.g., modification of existing interventions like expectancy challenge). Null findings regarding cortisol response suggest alcohol’s effect on cortisol response to stress (rather than cortisol response to alcohol consumption) may be more relevant for SR and drinking behavior among anxious individuals.
ContributorsMenary, Kyle Robert (Author) / Corbin, William (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Meier, Madeline (Committee member) / Grimm, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Mediation analysis is used to investigate how an independent variable, X, is related to an outcome variable, Y, through a mediator variable, M (MacKinnon, 2008). If X represents a randomized intervention it is difficult to make a cause and effect inference regarding indirect effects without making no unmeasured confounding assumptions using the potential outcomes framework (Holland, 1988; MacKinnon, 2008; Robins & Greenland, 1992; VanderWeele, 2015), using longitudinal data to determine the temporal order of M and Y (MacKinnon, 2008), or both. The goals of this dissertation were to (1) define all indirect and direct effects in a three-wave longitudinal mediation model using the causal mediation formula (Pearl, 2012), (2) analytically compare traditional estimators (ANCOVA, difference score, and residualized change score) to the potential outcomes-defined indirect effects, and (3) use a Monte Carlo simulation to compare the performance of regression and potential outcomes-based methods for estimating longitudinal indirect effects and apply the methods to an empirical dataset. The results of the causal mediation formula revealed the potential outcomes definitions of indirect effects are equivalent to the product of coefficient estimators in a three-wave longitudinal mediation model with linear and additive relations. It was demonstrated with analytical comparisons that the ANCOVA, difference score, and residualized change score models’ estimates of two time-specific indirect effects differ as a function of the respective mediator-outcome relations at each time point. The traditional model that performed the best in terms of the evaluation criteria in the Monte Carlo study was the ANCOVA model and the potential outcomes model that performed the best in terms of the evaluation criteria was sequential G-estimation. Implications and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsValente, Matthew J (Author) / Mackinnon, David P (Thesis advisor) / West, Stephen G. (Committee member) / Grimm, Keving (Committee member) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The tendency for psychopathology to aggregate within families is well-documented, though little is known regarding the level of specificity at which familial transmission of symptomology occurs. The current study first tested competing higher-order structures of psychopathology in adolescence, indexing general and more specific latent factors. Second, parent-offspring transmission was tested for broadband domain specificity versus transmission of a general liability for psychopathology. Lastly, genetic and environmental mechanisms underlying the familial aggregation of psychopathology were examined using nuclear twin-family models. The sample was comprised of five hundred adolescent twin pairs (mean age 13.24 years) and their parents drawn from the Wisconsin Twin Project. Twins and parents completed independent diagnostic interviews. For aim 1, correlated factors, bifactor, and general-factor models were tested using adolescent symptom count data. For aim 2, structural equation modeling was used to determine whether broadband domain-specific transmission effects were necessary to capture parent-offspring resemblance in psychopathology above and beyond a general transmission effect indexed by the latent correlation between a parental internalizing factor and offspring P-factor. For aim 3, general factor models were fitted in both generations, and factor scores were subsequently extracted and used in nuclear twin-family model testing. Results indicated that the bifactor model exhibited the best fit to the adolescent data. Familial aggregation of psychopathology was sufficiently accounted for by the transmission of a general liability. Lastly, the best fitting reduced nuclear twin-family model indicated that additive genetic, sibling-specific shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences contributed to general psychopathology. Parent-offspring transmission was accounted for by shared genetics only, whereas co-twin aggregation was additionally explained by sibling-specific shared environmental factors. Results provide novel insight into the specificity and etiology of the familial aggregation of psychopathology.
ContributorsOro, Veronica (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Doane, Leah D (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
ADHD is a childhood neurobehavioral disorder characterized by inordinate levels of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. The inability to withhold a reinforced response, or response inhibition capacity (RIC), is one aspect of impulsivity associated with ADHD. The first goal of this dissertation was to evaluate the fixed minimum interval (FMI) schedule as a method for assessing RIC. Chapter 2 showed that latencies were substantially more sensitive than FMI-derived estimates of RIC to the effects of pre-feeding and changes in rate and magnitude of reinforcement. Chapter 3 examined the ability of the FMI to discriminate between spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), an animal model of ADHD, and Wistar Kyoto (WKY) controls. Results from Chapter 3 showed that RIC was not substantially different between SHR and WKY rats. However, latencies were significantly shorter for SHRs than for WKYs suggesting incentive motivation differed between strains. The second goal of this dissertation was to examine the sensitivity of the SHR to nicotine. ADHD is a risk factor for tobacco dependence. The goal of Chapters 4 and 5 was to determine whether the SHR provided a model of ADHD-related tobacco sensitivity. Chapter 4 examined nicotine's locomotor and rewarding effects in adolescent SHRs using the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure. SHRs developed CPP to the highest nicotine dose tested and were sensitive to nicotine's locomotor-enhancing properties. WKY controls did not develop CPP to any nicotine dose tested and were not sensitive to nicotine's locomotor properties. However, it is likely that nicotine effects were obscured by a pseudo-conditioning to saline in WKYs. Chapter 5 demonstrated that SHRs were more active than WKYs in the open-field but not in the Rotorat apparatus. Results also showed that SHRs and WKYs were both sensitive to nicotine's locomotor sensitizing effects. However, WKYs were more sensitive than SHRs to nicotine's locomotor suppressing effects. Collectively, results from Chapters 4 and 5 show that SHRs are sensitive to the rewarding and locomotor-enhancing properties of nicotine. However, more research is necessary to confirm that SHRs are a suitable model for studying ADHD-related tobacco use.
ContributorsWatterson, Elizabeth (Author) / Sanabria, Federico (Thesis advisor) / Olive, Foster (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Neisewander, Janet (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study examined an adverse effect of an adolescent group intervention. Group interventions represent one of the most economical, convenient, and common solution to adolescent behavior problems, although prior findings from program evaluation studies have suggested that these groups can unexpectedly increase the externalizing behaviors that they were designed to reduce or prevent. The current study used data from a longitudinal, randomized controlled trial of the Bridges to High School / Puentes a La Secundaria Program, a multicomponent prevention program designed to reduce risk during the middle school transition, which has demonstrated positive effects across an array of outcomes. Data were collected at the beginning of 7th grade, with follow-up data collected at the end of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th grade from a sample of Mexican American adolescents and their mothers. Analyses evaluated long-term effects on externalizing outcomes, trajectories of externalizing behaviors across adolescence, and potential mediators of observed effects. Results showed that the adverse effect that was originally observed based on adolescent self-report of externalizing symptoms at 1-year posttest among youth with high pretest externalizing symptoms was not maintained over time and was not reflected in changes in adolescents' trajectories of externalizing behaviors. Moreover, neither of the peer mediators that theory suggests would explain adverse effects were found to mediate the relationship between intervention status and externalizing symptoms at 1-year posttest. Finally, only beneficial effects were found on externalizing symptoms based on mother report. Together, these findings suggest that the Bridges intervention did not adversely affect adolescent problem behaviors and that future studies should use caution when interpreting unexpected adverse effects.
ContributorsWong, Jessie Jong-Chee (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / West, Stephen G. (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Dishion, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The present study aimed to test the effect of role socialization processes on declines in drinking after marriage. Role socialization as it relates to marriage theorizes that after occupying a role, individuals are likely to change their behaviors to conform to role expectations of marriage, such as reductions in drinking (Yamaguchi & Kandel, 1985). Previous literature has examined declines in drinking behaviors after marriage and inferred that role socialization was the underlying process. This study is the first to directly test whether beliefs that alcohol is harmful to the marital role predicted declines in frequency of drunkenness after marriage. Ordered probit regression was used to test the effect of marriage-related motives to limit drinking on declines in frequency of drunkenness from before marriage to after marriage. Analyses revealed that marriage-related motives to limit drinking were not significantly predictive of declines in frequency of drunkenness after marriage. Only partner drinking emerged as a significant predictor of declines in frequency of drunkenness after marriage. These results highlight the need for a reliable and valid measure of role socialization processes as they relate to the marital role. Furthermore, future studies should consider studying participants at different time points after marriage and consider measuring commitment to the marital role as a moderator. Such studies will help to better understand the results of this study as well as better understand the marriage effect on drinking.
ContributorsSternberg, Ariel (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Grimm, Kevin (Committee member) / Corbin, Will (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Adolescent substance use carries a considerable public health burden, and early initiation into use is especially problematic. Research has shown that sensation seeking traits increase risk for substance use experimentation, but less is known about individual and contextual factors that can potentially protect against this risk. This study utilized a longitudinal sub sample of youth (N=567) from a larger study of familial alcoholism to examine sensation seeking in early adolescence (ages 10-15) and its relations to later substance use experimentation. Hypotheses tested whether individual executive control, parenting consistency, neighborhood disadvantage, and neighborhood ethnic concentration moderated sensation seeking’s effects on substance use experimentation using multilevel zero-inflated Poisson modeling. Across models, higher levels of sensation seeking were predictive of a higher likelihood of having initiated substance use, but sensation seeking was not significantly related to the number of different substance use classes tried. Only neighborhood disadvantage emerged as a significant moderator of the path from sensation seeking to substance use initiation. The strength of sensation seeking effects on substance use initiation increased as neighborhood disadvantage decreased below average levels, with the most advantaged neighborhoods exhibiting the strongest link between sensation seeking and substance use. There was also a trend towards the most disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibiting increased sensation seeking effects on substance use initiation. These results highlight the importance of focusing on relatively more advantaged areas as potentially risky environments for the externalizing pathway to substance use.
ContributorsJensen, Michaeline R (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Enders, Craig (Committee member) / White, Rebecca (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
There is a growing trend among community samples of young, adult women to initiate drug use for weight loss (Boys, Marsden, & Strang, 2001; Mendieta-Tan, Hulbert-Williams, & Nicholls, 2013). Research has suggested that consequential weight loss may maintain drug use (Cohen, et al., 2010; Ersche, Stochl, Woodward, & Fletcher, 2013; Sirles, 2002), which is compounded by women's perception that drugs are convenient and guarantee weight loss (Mendieta-Tan, et al., 2013). Stimulants, including cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, are notable drugs of use among college students (Johnston, et al., 2014; Teter, McCabe, LaGrange, Cranford, & Boyd, 2006). With known appetitive and metabolic effects, stimulants may be particularly attractive to college women, who are at elevated risk for increased body dissatisfaction and experimenting with extreme weight loss techniques (Grunewald, 1985; National Eating Disorder Association, 2013). A preliminary epidemiological study of 130 college women between 16- and 24-years old (Mage = 18.76, SDage = 1.09) was conducted to begin to investigate this phenomenon. Results showed women who reported use for weight control (n = 19, 14.6 %) predominantly used stimulants (68.4%), and this subgroup was severely elevated on global and subscales of eating pathology compared with college norms. Moreover, the odds of stimulant use were doubled when women engaged in a compensatory behavior, such as excessive exercise, self-induced vomiting, and laxative use. Although preliminary, these results suggest that a desire for weight control may be associated with stimulant use among college women. Women engaging in more extreme weight loss behaviors are at high risk for initiating and maintaining illicit stimulant use for weight-related reasons.
ContributorsBruening, Amanda B (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis advisor) / Grimm, Kevin (Committee member) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Although substantial research has examined individual, family, and peer factors that contribute to predicting adolescent alcohol use, limited attention has been devoted to the unique role of romantic partners and little consideration has been given to the potential importance of romantic relationship seriousness. Data from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used to assess the relation between romantic relationship seriousness and binge drinking and drinking consequences one year later among 14-18 year-olds (n= 928 adolescents; 54.1% female). Main effects of relationship seriousness and moderating effects of adolescent age, partner age, adolescent age by partner age, parental alcoholism, and gender were examined separately for each drinking outcome using zero-inflated Poisson regression (ZIP) models. Relationship seriousness and study covariate interactions were also examined. ZIP models estimate (a) a logistic regression that distinguishes between individuals whose values can only be zero on the outcome (i.e., a structural zero class) and individuals with count values ranging from zero to any other positive integer (i.e., a non-structural zero class), and (b) a Poisson regression predicting count values among the non-structural zero class. Results showed trends towards significance for relations between relationship seriousness and binge drinking and drinking consequences among non-structural zero classes. As hypothesized, increased relationship seriousness predicted less frequent binge drinking and fewer drinking consequences. The relation between relationship seriousness and binge drinking was moderated by peer alcohol use; the negative relation between relationship seriousness and binge drinking frequency was significant among adolescents who reported 0-2, but not 3, close friends who drink. The relation between relationship seriousness and number of drinking consequences was moderated by gender, adolescent delinquency (covariate), peer alcohol use (covariate), and Wave I drinking consequences (control variable). Specifically, a significant relation between relationship seriousness and number of drinking consequences was revealed only for females and only for adolescents who reported high consequences at Wave I, and was significant among adolescents who reported 0-2 close friends who drink and low delinquency. Results indicate that relationship seriousness can protect adolescents in terms of drinking outcomes, which could have implications for prevention efforts.
ContributorsCarr, Colleen (Author) / Wolchik, Sharlene (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Dishion, Thomas (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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