Jennifer P. Read - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite documented gender differences in alcohol use and consequences among college students, the impact of gender on some of the most salient correlates of college drinking has been understudied. Specifically, both theory and empirical data offer support for an etiological conceptualization of college drinking that includes both affective and cognitive factors, and the literature suggests that these factors may affect drinking differentially by gender. Yet, the nature of relations among these critical variables and the ways that they may influence alcohol consumption remain unclear. Extant studies have yielded dissonant findings, perhaps in part due to the heavy reliance on self-report data and correlational designs to assess these associations. Controlled laboratory studies in this area clearly are needed. The objective of this new investigator R21 is to develop and conduct necessary laboratory studies to explicate these associations and to delineate affective and cognitive processes underlying college drinking. The proposed research program consists of a series of three studies. In the first study, multidimensional scaling (MDS) will be used to model alcohol expectancies across genders and at differing imagined doses of alcohol. In the second study, the effects of experimentally induced mood on the accessibility of alcohol expectancies will be examined in a 2(gender) X 3 (mood) factorial design. In the third study, undergraduates will be randomly assigned to a mood condition. Mood related changes in drinking will be examined in a 2 (gender) X 3 (mood) factorial design. Moderational effects of expectancies and mediational effects of expectancy accessibility on the affect-drinking association will be examined. In accordance with the goals of the Healthy People 2000 Initiative, this research program represents a critical first step toward decreasing heavy drinking among youths. Together, the proposed studies will yield fundamental knowledge about the unique and aggregate associations among gender, affect, expectancies, and alcohol consumption. The program is innovative in its systematic experimental examination of these associations. Findings from these studies have direct and important implications for preventive interventions, as they may facilitate the development of targeted, gender-appropriate interventions to reduce heavy alcohol use and its consequences among college students.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heavy drinking among college students is prevalent and is associated with a range of negative consequences affecting both individual drinkers and university communities. Theory-driven and controlled examination of etiological processes that contribute to heavy drinking in this population is needed. Social Learning Theory (SLT; Bandura, 1977; 1986) conceptualizes alcohol use as resulting from a complex interaction of individual and environmental factors such as exposure to alcohol cues, affective state, and alcohol expectancies. In particular, alcohol expectancies are thought to mediate relations between individual/environmental factors and drinking-related outcomes. Although associations between cue, mood, alcohol expectancies, and urge to drink have been posited, little is known currently about the interactive influences of these factors. Further, studies of expectancy processes have been sparse, and moderators of such processes have not been examined. This new-investigator R03 proposes to utilize a controlled laboratory design to examine theoretical processes by which environmental (cue) and affective (negative affect) factors affect alcohol-related cognitions (expectancy, expectancy accessibility, expectancy reactivity), and urges to drink. Expectancy accessibility is measured using a novel computerized task. Both physiological and self-report measures of cue-reactivity and mood are utilized. College students (N=192) will be assigned randomly to either alcohol slide cue stimuli or non-alcoholic beverage slide cue stimuli and to either a negative or neutral affect induction paradigm (AIP) in a 2X2 design. Main and interactive effects of alcohol cue and negative affect on expectancy accessibility will be tested. Potential individual difference-level moderators of these effects (i.e., drinking status, coping motives, family alcoholism history) will be examined. Additionally, the mediational role of EA in associations between alcohol cue exposure, negative affect, and urge to drink will be tested. This research has important implications for the development of effective alcohol interventions for college students, and will lay the groundwork for future, larger-scale studies of environmental, affective, and cognitive etiological mechanisms underlying young adult drinking.

The literature shows that a significant number of young adults report trauma exposure and associated traumatic stress sequelae by the time they enter into college. Other students will be exposed to trauma and experience resulting sequelae during their college experience. Epidemiological and clinical literature has linked the etiology and course of trauma, traumatic stress sequelae (TSS), and substance use (SUB). This link may be understood from a Social Learning (SLT) framework which views substance use as an effort to cope with psychological distress associated with ongoing traumatic sequelae. Further, SLT posits that these phenomena are reciprocally related, and are affected by individual and environmental factors. Despite high rates of trauma, TSS,and SUB in college populations, theoretically guided, prospective examination of these associations and factors affecting their course in college students have been curiously absent in the empirical literature. This research seeks to provide a theoretically guided investigation of the dynamic course of traumatic stress sequelae and alcohol, illicit drugs, and tobacco use in college students. On-line survey data will be collected in 6 waves in the first year and 4 waves each year for the subsequent years. Data will be collected at two public universities. Students at SUNY Buffalo and UNC Greensboro will be contacted by e-mail in the summer prior to matriculation and will be screened via web-based survey for trauma exposure and traumatic stress sequelae. Based on this screening, a sample of 1,004 (TSS and non-TSS) students will be targeted for follow-up. Using web technology, students will be surveyed first in the Fall semester of each year in college, and will be assessed multiple times each year of the study. Prospective associations among trauma, TSS, and substance use trajectories will be examined using latent growth curve modeling. Mediators (self- efficacy) and moderators (gender, coping, social influences) will be tested consistent with Social Learning Theory, and other relevant theoretical frameworks. The impact of trauma and TSS on university drop-out rates also will be examined. This research will help to shape understanding of the TSS-SUB association, and to inform the development of targeted substance use interventions for college students. Findings also will offer valuable information for university administrators regarding student attrition and retention.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Trauma, Trauma Sequelae, and Alcohol Information Processing College students are at risk for both trauma and resulting traumatic stress sequelae (TSS). Perhaps not coincidentally, the use of alcohol (ALC) is prevalent on U.S. campuses, and is associated with myriad consequences. TSS and ALC commonly co-occur, and are posited to be causally related to one another. Yet, no research has examined interrelated cognitive mechanisms by which traumatic stress sequelae may affect alcohol use in this at-risk group. The relevance of negative emotion and information processing in understanding TSS-ALC associations is noted in both Self-Medication and Social Learning (SLT) models. Data suggest that trauma and its sequelae may alter information processing mechanisms, such that individuals with TSS demonstrate an attentional bias to relevant cues. This bias appears to be specific to emotionally relevant information. We posit that the co-occurrence of TSS and drinking may be explained by closely associated TSS and ALC information memory networks that are linked by a process of spreading activation. That is, trauma cues may activate both negative emotions and alcohol-related information in sequence, resulting in a bias to process this information in ways that are likely to lead to drinking. We propose that activation of a trauma memory network will impact alcohol information processing in three ways. First, this activation will result in a bias to process positive alcohol expectancies, most specifically, self-medication expectancies. Second, processing alcohol information will interfere with processing other emotionally irrelevant information when a trauma network is activated. Finally, alcohol will be more strongly associated in memory with positively valenced information when a trauma memory network is activated. Implicit cognition has been shown to be important for understanding alcohol use, and has been suggested to be a critical etiological factor in posttraumatic stress. Here, we use multiple tasks (expectancy reaction time;E-TASK, Modified Stroop;M-Stroop, IAT) to assess implicit TSS-ALC cognitive processes. Two experiments will examine causal paths through which trauma cues affect alcohol information processing in college students with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The first will evaluate the impact of trauma cue and PTSD on bias in processing alcohol expectancies (E-TASK) and interference in processing alcohol information (M-Stroop). The second will test the impact of cue exposure and PTSD on the evaluation (positive, negative associations) of alcohol information using the IAT. Findings will inform interventions designed to modify positive beliefs about alcohol in the interest of decreasing heavy drinking on college campuses. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The college years represent a transition into adulthood, during which students experience adult freedoms and responsibilities, and when they must learn to negotiate these in an environment where drinking is the norm. This may pose a particular challenge to those already attempting to cope with post- traumatic stress. Knowledge from this study regarding how alcohol beliefs are affected by trauma and posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) will inform interventions designed to decrease heavy and problem drinking on college campuses.

ABSTRACT Sexual assault (SA) is a significant problem affecting young adult women. The routine social activities in which women engage are a critical mechanism of assault risk, one that is not well understood. As such, directions for prevention are few. In the proposed study, we will examine the ways in which women may enter into and navigate high risk contexts and activities (routine risk activities) that are known to be associated with SA. This examination will focus on social- interpersonal goals, which we believe to be at the core of SA risk. We also will examine capacity for self-regulation, and peer influences, which may augment or buffer against this risk. Our sample will be a longitudinal community sample of young women initially recruited at ages 11-12 (R01 DA020171; Colder, PI; Read, Co-I) and now in a peak period of victimization risk. We will used a mixed method design to examine these processes as they occur dynamically in young adult women (Aim 1; weekly burst design) and we will take advantage of the historical data that we have from this sample to also test developmental processes that may lead to risk (Aim 2; longitudinal panel design). Finally, we will link dynamic, shorter-term changes in interpersonal processes to longer-term developmental processes (Aim 3).

ABSTRACT Approximately 1 in 5 U.S. college women is sexually assaulted (SA), and nearly half of these assaults involve alcohol. These assaults often occur in social settings, where others are present. Because of this, research has begun to focus on ways in which those who are a part of this social environment (?bystanders?) may be incorporated into assault prevention efforts. Seminal work by Latané and Darley (1970) underscores two conditions that must be in place in order for others in the social environment to take preventive action: a relationship with the potential victim, and a sense of personal responsibility to her. Without these, helping behavior is unlikely to occur. Typically offered in group format, to general audiences of students who may not socialize or even know one another, existing bystander-based interventions are unlikely to tap into the sense of relationship or responsibility that would catalyze action. This is a missed opportunity. In contrast, relationship and responsibility are the hallmark of friendships. Moreover, friends are central to the drinking context of college women and to the context of SA. For all of these reasons, friends are optimally positioned to act to prevent SA, and a focus on friends is a promising direction for intervention. Yet, data show that though women want to help protect their friends against SA, they report a number of barriers regarding whether, when, and how to do this. They also report lacking the necessary skills to intervene effectively. Thus, they do not feel ready to engage in SA prevention. A friend-based, motivational intervention can address these barriers, cultivating the relationship and responsibility that already exist between friends, and collaboratively addressing challenges that stand in the way of helping behavior. Accordingly, the objective of the proposed study is to develop an innovative, friend-based motivational intervention (FMI) that encourages and prepares friends to reduce SA risk. Delivered to pairs of friends (dyads), the FMI will be designed to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness for, and decrease barriers to helping behavior, and to teach and plan together for assault prevention skills. As the role of alcohol has been under-addressed in SA prevention efforts, the FMI also will explicitly attend to how intoxication may serve as a barrier to friend intervention, and strategies for overcoming this barrier. The FMI will be developed in three stages (1. Development, 2. Implementation & Refinement, 3. Preliminary Testing). In the final stage of the project, the intervention will be tested in a randomized, controlled mini-trial (FMI vs. waitlist control). Friend dyads will be followed in bi-weekly online assessments for 3 months to examine changes in helping attitudes and behaviors. Feasibility, scalability, iatrogenic effects, and whether drinking influences intervention outcomes also will be examined. Findings will offer rich information about how best to incorporate friends into sexual assault prevention, and will lay the groundwork for the next steps for the FMI.