Biomedical subjects

Barbara C Leigh

Publications and source records attributed to Barbara C Leigh.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Spontaneous cognition and HIV risk behavior.

Theories of cognitive processes and risk behavior have not usually addressed spontaneous forms of cognition that may co-occur with, or possibly influence, behavior. This study evaluated whether measures of spontaneous cognition independently predict HIV risk behavior tendencies. Whereas a trait-centered theory suggests that spontaneous cognitions are a by-product of personality, a cognitive view hypothesizes that spontaneous cognitions should predict behavior independently of personality. The results revealed that spontaneous cognition was an independent predictor of behavior tendencies in cross-sectional analyses. Its predictive effect was stronger than drug use, a frequently emphasized correlate of HIV risk behavior in the literature, and comparable with sensation seeking in magnitude. The results suggested that a relatively spontaneous form of cognition may affect HIV risk behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Alcohol expectancies and drinking in different age groups.

AIMS: Because expectancies about the effects of alcohol change as drinking experience is accumulated, it is likely that the relationship of expectancy to drinking will differ with age. In this study, we examine the prediction of drinking behavior from positive and negative outcome expectancy at different ages. DESIGN: Data were collected as part of the National Alcohol Survey, using a multi-stage area probability sample of the household population of the 48 contiguous United States. PARTICIPANTS: US residents aged 12 and older (n = 2875). MEASUREMENTS: Survey questions included drinking habits (frequency, quantity, frequency of drunkenness, maximum quantity) and beliefs about the effects of alcohol (alcohol expectancies). FINDINGS: Structural equation models tested the relationship of positive and negative expectancy to drinking behavior in six age groups. Outcome expectancy accounted for a larger portion of the variance in drinking among younger respondents than among older respondents. However, suppression effects were common. When suppression effects were considered, positive expectancy predicted drinking better than negative expectancy only among respondents under 35, while negative expectancy was a better predictor of drinking status in most respondents over 35 years. Among drinkers, positive expectancy predominated over negative expectancy when suppression effects were considered. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that negative expectancy predicts abstention, while positive expectancy predicts level of drinking among drinkers. In expectancy research, differences between drinkers and abstainers, age of participants and the presence of suppression effects should be taken into account.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Alcohol and condom use: a meta-analysis of event-level studies.

BACKGROUND: Although it is often assumed that drinking alcohol interferes with condom use, studies on this topic have used several different methods and have yielded inconsistent findings. By examining drinking and condom use in specific sexual encounters, the role of alcohol in influencing unprotected intercourse is targeted. GOAL: The goal of the study was to assess the relationship of alcohol use and condom use in discrete sexual encounters using meta-analysis. STUDY DESIGN: Studies in the literature were identified by computerized searches of MEDLINE and PsycINFO and hand searches of reference lists. Summary odds ratios were calculated for all analyses and for subgroups formed according to type of sexual encounter (first, most recent, most recent with a new sexual partner). RESULTS: The association of alcohol use and condom use varied by type of sexual encounter: drinking at first intercourse was associated with decreased condom use (odds ratio [OR], 0.54; 95% CI, 0.44-0.66), but drinking was unrelated to condom use in recent sexual encounters (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.89-1.21) and in recent encounters with new partners (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.92-1.32). CONCLUSION: Drinking is not necessarily linked to unprotected intercourse; the relationship between alcohol use and unprotected sex depends on context and sexual experience of the partners.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Adolescent drinking and sex: findings from a daily diary study.

CONTEXT: Alcohol consumption often has been cited as increasing adolescents' risk of HIV, and several studies have shown positive relationships between drinking and risky sexual behavior among adolescents. Because most of these studies used global measures of drinking and risky sex, and conducted comparisons across persons, they could not determine whether alcohol use was a cause of risky sex or simply a correlate. METHODS: A sample of 112 U.S. adolescents completed daily diaries about their health behaviors, including drinking and intercourse, for eight weeks. In analyses using t-tests and hierarchical linear modeling, each respondent's rate of condom use after drinking was compared with his or her rate of use when not drinking, and predictors of condom use were examined RESULTS: Rates of condom use did not differ significantly between sexual events preceded by drinking (use in 54% of events) and those not preceded by drinking (use in 52% of events). Condoms were more likely to be used during sexual events with casual partners than in those with steady partners, less likely to be used on occasions when other birth control was used and more likely to be used when the sexual encounter was expected. In the multivariate analyses, the odds of condom use were not associated either with whether a teenager had been drinking before sex or with the quantity of alcohol consumed. CONCLUSIONS: These findings challenge the widely accepted hypothesis that drinking is a cause of sexual risk-taking. Rather, they underscore the need for interventions to increase teenagers'access to and ability to use condoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Content analysis of drug offenders' sketches on the draw-an-event test for risky sexual situations.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the utility of the Draw-an-Event Test for risky sexual situations (DET-RS), a nonverbal memory-based assessment tool used for productions of spontaneous content associated with risky sex. METHODS: Traditional holistic coding analysis of 298 drug offenders' content productions. RESULTS: Content analyses of DET-RS sketches provided increased understanding of substance use and other context preceding risky sexual situations with different types of sex partners. None of the sketches including drugs depicted condoms, only one of the sketches with alcohol included a condom, and only 2 sketches mentioned sexually transmitted diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The DET-RS is a useful research tool for generating nonverbal context-specific stimuli associated with risky sexual situations.

Adolescent↗