Sex Differences in Opioid Misuse among Adults with Chronic Lower Back Pain: The Roles of Negative Affect and Related Transdiagnostic Factors.

Background: The opioid epidemic is a significant public health concern, particularly among adults with chronic pain. Although sex differences in opioid-related behaviors have been observed, little work has examined the role of negative affect and related variables in greater opioid misuse severity risk among men.

Methods: We tested whether, among 206 (72.

Anxiety and Cannabis-Related Behaviors Among Black/African American Undergraduates: The Role of False Safety Behaviors.

Black/African American individuals who use cannabis report greater increases in frequent cannabis use and more cannabis-related problems, indicating a need to identify malleable psychological factors that may play a role in cannabis-related problems to inform prevention and treatment. One such factor is false safety behaviors (FSBs), or behaviors geared toward decreasing anxiety short-term but that maintain anxiety in the long-term. Although emerging data indicate that FSBs are related to cannabis use in predominantly White samples, studies have not yet tested whether FSBs are related to cannabis use among Black/African American individuals who use cannabis.

The Impact of Timing of Alcohol Consumption on Implicit Drinking Identity Among College Students with Heavy Episodic Drinking: The Role of Social Anxiety.

College students with high trait social anxiety and heavy episodic drinking appear to consume greater quantity of alcohol, presumably because individuals with higher trait social anxiety may be more responsive to the stress-response dampening effects of alcohol in social contexts due to appraisal disruption. Yet little research has tested the impact of appraisal disruption on implicit social cognitions relevant to drinking behaviors among individuals with higher vs lower social anxiety. The current study tested whether the sequence of alcohol consumption and induction of an anticipatory social stressor interacts with trait social anxiety to predict changes in implicit drinking identity and implicit self-esteem.

Cannabis use across the menstrual cycle: The impact of negative affect and cannabis use motives.

Women experience greater state negative affect (NA) and physical symptoms during the premenstrual and menstrual phases of the menstrual cycle. Although women use more cannabis during the premenstrual and menstrual phases, no known studies have tested whether this is due to the synergistic effects of heightened NA and using cannabis to cope with increased NA or physical symptoms. This study tested whether state NA interacts with cannabis motives to predict more frequent cannabis use during these phases.

Racism and cannabis-related problems among Black adults who smoke cigarettes: The role of negative emotions in responses to experiencing racism.

Black Americans who use cannabis appear at greater risk for negative cannabis-related outcomes, and cannabis use is more common among individuals who smoke cigarettes. Race-based health disparities concerning cannabis outcomes indicate a need to identify psycho-socio-cultural factors that may play a role in cannabis use and related problems among Black Americans to inform prevention and treatment efforts. Minority stress-based models posit that stressors such as racism increase negative emotions, which may be associated with using substances such as cannabis to cope with negative emotions.

Motivational interviewing-based interventions with patients with comorbid anxiety and substance use disorders.

Individuals with substance misuse and substance use disorder (SUD) experience especially high rates of elevated anxiety, including anxiety disorders, and the co-occurrence of these conditions is related to worse treatment outcomes. Given that these patients may have little motivation to change their substance misuse if they use substances to cope with their chronically elevated anxiety, interventions that include components that target motivation may be especially useful. Thus, this paper reviews the recent extant literature on treatments developed specifically for these high-risk patients that include motivational interviewing (MI) techniques to increase motivation for behavioral change.

Sexism and Cannabis-Related Problems Among Women in the U.S.: The Role of Negative Affect and Coping-Motivated Cannabis Use.

Background: Although previous studies have highlighted the detrimental impact of sexism on other substance use and use-related outcomes among women, limited empirical attention has tested whether sexism is related to worse cannabis-related outcomes. It may be that women use cannabis to cope with negative affect related to experiencing sexism, and thus continue to use despite cannabis-related problems. However, no known studies have tested this hypothesis.

The relations of difficulties in emotion regulation and distress intolerance with cannabis problems: The role of protective behavioral strategies underutilization.

Introduction: Difficulties with emotion regulation and distress tolerance are related to more cannabis problems, yet little research has identified why this is the case. Cannabis-related protective behavioral strategies (PBS; behaviors used to mitigate cannabis related problems) are related to less cannabis consumption and related problems. Potentially, these individuals may use cannabis to alleviate the distress and/or in an attempt to regulate their emotions.

Understanding the role of cannabis use on cigarette dependence severity among individuals with e-cigarette and combustible tobacco dual use.

Background And Objectives: The use of both electronic and combustible cigarettes is related to greater rates of cannabis use. Further, cannabis use is associated with worse combustible smoking-related outcomes, yet little research has identified mechanisms underlying such relations. It may be that negative-affect-related transdiagnostic factors such as emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, and/or distress intolerance play a mechanistic role in the cannabis-tobacco interrelations.

Racism and alcohol-related problems among Black adults: The role of negative emotionality to experiencing racism.

Introduction: Although Black Americans tend to consume less alcohol than non-Hispanic/Latine White Americans, Black Americans who do drink alcohol appear at especially high risk for negative alcohol-related problems. This alcohol-based health disparity indicates a need to identify psycho-sociocultural factors that may play a role in drinking and related problems to inform prevention and treatment efforts. Minority stress-based models posit that stressors such as racism increase negative emotions, which may be associated with using substances such as alcohol to cope with negative emotions.

General and Domain-Specific Perceived Risk Demonstrate Unique Associations with Cannabis Use, Negative Outcomes, and Motivation to Change among Undergraduate Students.

College student cannabis use is at an all-time high. Although frequent heavy cannabis use is related to cannabis problems, perceived risk of cannabis use is rapidly decreasing. Yet, it is unknown whether specific domains of risk perceptions (general and domain-specific risk, risk to others and personal risk) are related to more cannabis use or related problems.

Sexism and alcohol-related problems among women: The role of social anxiety and coping motivated drinking.

Background And Objectives: Experiencing sexism is related to more alcohol-related problems, presumably via drinking to cope with negative affect associated with experiencing sexism. Yet no known studies have directly tested whether the relation of sexism to alcohol problems occurs via relevant negative emotions and drinking to cope with negative emotions. Given that sexism is a type of negative evaluation, social anxiety may be one type of negative affect that plays a role in sexism's relation with drinking behaviors.

Social Anxiety and Cannabis-Related Problems: The Serial Roles of Distress Tolerance and Cannabis Use Motives.

: Individuals with elevated social anxiety are vulnerable to experiencing negative consequences related to cannabis use. One transdiagnostic vulnerability factor that has received little attention in the social anxiety-cannabis problem relation is distress tolerance, which is associated with more cannabis use to manage negative affect broadly (i.e.

Mobile Intervention to Address Cannabis Use Disorder Among Black Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: African American or Black (hereafter referred to as Black) adults who use cannabis use it more frequently and are more likely to meet criteria for cannabis use disorder (CUD) than both White and Hispanic or Latin individuals. Black adults may be more apt to use cannabis to cope with distress, which constitutes a false safety behavior (FSB; a behavior designed to reduce psychological distress in the short term). Although FSB engagement can perpetuate the cycle of high rates of CUD among Black individuals, limited work has applied an FSB elimination treatment approach to Black adults with CUD, and no previous work has evaluated FSB reduction or elimination in the context of a culturally tailored and highly accessible treatment developed for Black individuals.

Sexual orientation-based microaggressions and cannabis use outcomes among sexual minority individuals: The impact of negative affect and coping-motivated cannabis use.

Introduction: Sexual minority individuals report significantly more cannabis use and problems than their heterosexual peers, possibly due to their frequent experiences with sexual orientation-based microaggressions. As a result, sexual minority individuals may turn to cannabis use to cope with the negative affect associated with these experiences. No known studies have tested this hypothesis; therefore, the current study tested if sexual orientation microaggressions are positively associated with negative affect (anxiety and depression), cannabis coping motives, and cannabis-related outcomes (frequency, problems); if coping motives are positively associated with cannabis-related outcomes; and if negative affect and cannabis use to cope with negative affect serially mediate the relation between sexual orientation microaggressions and cannabis-related outcomes.

Dual Electronic and Combustible Cigarette Use: Understanding the Relation of Cannabis Use with E-Cigarette Outcomes.

E-cigarette use is on the rise and many who use e-cigarettes also smoke combustible cigarettes. Dual use (i.e.

The Robust Relation of Microaggressions with Alcohol-Related Problems Among Black Individuals Who Use Alcohol: the Role of Drinking to Cope with Negative Affect.

Background: Alcohol use is an important area of health disparities among Black individuals in the United States (US). The identification of psycho-sociocultural factors that play a role in alcohol-related problems among this population can inform culturally sensitive prevention and treatment efforts. Psycho-sociocultural models of alcohol misuse posit that some Black Americans may drink (and continue to drink despite drinking-related problems) to alleviate negative affect associated with experiencing race-based discrimination.

Personalized feedback intervention for individuals with low distress tolerance who smoke cigarettes: A randomized controlled trial of a digital intervention.

Introduction: Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disability in the United States and frequently co-occurs with anxiety and depressive symptoms. A novel and integrative, theory-driven approach to address the heterogeneity of mood-related symptoms associated with cigarette use is to focus on transdiagnostic processes, such as distress tolerance, that underpin both mood-related symptoms and smoking behavior. The current study sought to develop and examine the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a digitally delivered integrated personalized feedback intervention (PFI) that addresses smoking-distress tolerance relations.

Alcohol and cannabis dual use among Black adults: Associations with alcohol use, use-related problems, and race-based discrimination.

Background And Objectives: Black adults who drink alcohol appear at risk for poor alcohol-related outcomes, yet little research has examined whether cannabis use among those who consume alcohol (alcohol-cannabis dual use) is related to worse alcohol-related consequences, as observed in predominantly White samples. Further, it may be that experiencing more race-based discrimination may be related to using multiple substances to cope with such experiences; however, no known studies have examined the impact of race-based discrimination on alcohol-cannabis dual use.

Methods: Participants were 270 Black undergraduates who endorsed past-month drinking, 112 of whom endorsed alcohol-cannabis dual use.

Cannabis and Nicotine Dual Use among Sexual Minority Individuals: Relations to Cannabis Use and Negative Affect.

: Sexual minority individuals report significantly more cannabis use and use-related problems than their heterosexual peers, and emerging data indicate sexual minority individuals who use cannabis are at greater risk for dual use of nicotine products (combustible smoking, e-cigarette use) than heterosexual individuals. Although cannabis-nicotine dual use is related to worse cannabis outcomes and negative affect, little work has identified factors related to dual use among sexual minority individuals or tested if sexual orientation-based discrimination (microaggressions, overt discrimination) is related to dual use. : The current study tested if cannabis-nicotine dual use is related to more frequent cannabis use, more cannabis-related problems, negative affect, and discrimination among sexual minority undergraduate students who endorsed current (past three-month) cannabis use ( = 328), 43.

Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Substance Use Disorders Among Psychiatric Inpatients in a Medically Underserved Area: An Intervention for Opioid Misuse.

Objectives: Opioid misuse is a serious public health concern, yet few people seek treatment for this condition. Hospitals may be one opportunity to identify those with opioid misuse and to teach them skills to help manage their opioid misuse upon discharge. We tested the relationship between opioid misuse status and motivation to change substance use among patients admitted with substance misuse to an inpatient psychiatric unit in a medically underserved area in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who attended at least 1 group session of motivation enhancement therapy combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (MET-CBT) from January 29, 2020, through March 10, 2022.

Opioid and cannabis co-use: The role of opioid use to cope with negative affect.

Introduction: The opioid epidemic is a significant public health concern, particularly among adults with chronic pain. There are high rates of cannabis co-use among these individuals and co-use is related to worse opioid-related outcomes. Yet, little work has examined mechanisms underlying this relationship.

Sexual orientation and cannabis outcomes among Black Individuals: The role of cannabis use motives.

Sexual minority individuals report greater cannabis use and cannabis use related problems relative to straight individuals. Although sociocultural models suggest that sexual minority individuals may be especially vulnerable to using cannabis for high-risk motives such as coping motives, little attention has been paid to the role of cannabis use motives among sexual minority relative to straight individuals. Thus, the current study examined the role of cannabis use motives and cannabis-related problems among Black sexual minority and straight individuals that reported current (past 3-month) cannabis use (N = 137, 28.