Biomedical subjects

Mark D Wood

Publications and source records attributed to Mark D Wood.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

The prevalence of alcohol, cigarette and illicit drug use and problems among dentists.

BACKGROUND: Primarily on the basis of qualitative data, use of alcohol and illicit drugs has been speculated to be higher among dentists. The authors conducted a study to assess self-reported substance use by dentists and compare these data with those regarding physicians and the general population (GP). METHODS: A total of 113 dentists (65.3 percent) and 104 physicians (63.4 percent) from a northeastern state responded to a seven-page self-report survey during the summer of 2002. The survey assessed health care professionals' alcohol, cigarette and drug use; consequences of use; disciplinary occurrences and treatment; and professional and social influences. RESULTS: Although about twice as many physicians as dentists reported heavy alcohol use, a greater number of dentists reported heavy episodic alcohol use over the past year and past month, as well as having more alcohol-use problems than physicians. Roughly twice as many physicians and three times the GP reported using anxiolytics than did dentists. More dentists than physicians reported past-year, but not past-month, minor opiate use. While more dentists reported being in social situations in which they were offered alcohol, more physicians reported being offered alcohol by pharmaceutical companies at various functions. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to previous speculation, there is little evidence from the prevalence data the authors analyzed for this report to suggest that dentists are at a greater risk of developing alcohol- or other drug-use problems than is the GP. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: While the findings of this study do not suggest that substance use is more prevalent among dentists, educational institutions and state organizations still must be vigilant in educating, monitoring and encouraging dentists to voluntarily receive treatment.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

A prospective investigation of relations between social influences and alcohol involvement during the transition into college.

OBJECTIVE: The present study used structural equation modeling to test whether prospective relations between prematriculation social influences and alcohol involvement in college were most consistent with peer selection, peer socialization or reciprocal determinism explanations and to determine if observed relations varied according to measurement interval. We tested the hypotheses that "active" (alcohol offers) and "passive" (social modeling, perceived norms) social influences would be uniquely and reciprocally associated with alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences across two and three waves of assessment. METHOD: Prospective undergraduates (N = 388) completed self-report assessments in the summer before matriculation (Wave 1), in the spring of their freshman year (Wave 2) and in the spring of their sophomore year (Wave 3). RESULTS: Reciprocal effects were observed between social influences and alcohol use in both two- and three-wave models. Some evidence was observed for reciprocal associations for social modeling with alcohol use and alcohol problems. Overall, however, only modest support was found for a reciprocal influence conceptualization of social influences in alcohol problems. For alcohol problems, the results were more consistent with selection effects. No significant reciprocal associations were observed for perceived norms. CONCLUSIONS: Findings generally support the Social Learning Theory concept of reciprocal determinism but suggest the relationship between individual drinking behaviors and the social environment varies when distinguishing between alcohol use and alcohol problems. These findings also point to the importance of distinguishing among different types of social influences when delineating processes that result from and lead to heavy drinking in college.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Alcohol use by healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated alcohol use, misuse and abuse in a sample of dentists, nurses, pharmacists and physicians. Previous studies have lacked cross healthcare group comparisons and have rarely included dentists. METHODS: As part of a larger mail survey, 479 healthcare professionals (68.7% response) completed self-report items on patterns of alcohol use, monthly drinking, heavy episodic drinking, alcohol-related dysfunction and social or professional influences. RESULTS: Dentists consumed more alcohol than other groups of healthcare professionals; however, use of alcohol by nurses may have a wider impact. The data also suggest alcohol use by healthcare professionals may be related to age, but not gender or income. Physicians received significantly more offers to drink alcohol from pharmaceutical companies and dentists received significantly more offers to drink alcohol in social situations than other healthcare professionals. CONCLUSIONS: When compared to the general population, healthcare professionals appear to drink less, however, these findings also suggest that dentists use significantly more alcohol than most other groups of healthcare professionals. Together these findings address significant knowledge gaps that exist surrounding the prevalence of and pathways promoting alcohol use and misuse by healthcare professionals.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Substance use by pharmacy and nursing practitioners and students in a northeastern state.

PURPOSE: The prevalence and predictors of substance use among pharmacists and nurses and pharmacy and nursing students were studied. METHODS: During summer 2002, pharmacists and nurses in a northeastern state were mailed an anonymous survey to determine their use of alcohol, tobacco, and commonly abused drugs; to determine their ease of access to controlled substances; and to measure their family history of alcohol and drug problems. A similar but not identical survey was distributed to pharmacy and nursing students during spring 2000. RESULTS: A total of 262 usable questionnaires were received from pharmacists and nurses (response rate, 72.8%), and 138 usable questionnaires were received from students (35.3%). Large majorities of nursing students, pharmacy students, and nurses were women. A higher percentage of pharmacists reported having used an opioid or an anxiolytic at least once in their lives (24.8% and 14.3%, respectively) than nurses (14.5% and 7.8%). Higher percentages of nursing students and nurses reported having ever used an unprescribed drug (74.5% of nursing students and 63.6% of nurses). CONCLUSION: A survey of pharmacy and nursing practitioners and students in a northeastern state provided important information on alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among these groups and highlighted the need for prevention and intervention.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Do parents still matter? Parent and peer influences on alcohol involvement among recent high school graduates.

This study investigated the influences of peer and parent variables on alcohol use and problems in a sample of late adolescents in the summer immediately prior to entry into college. Participants (N = 556) completed a mail survey assessing peer influences (alcohol offers, social modeling, perceived norms), parental behaviors (nurturance, monitoring), and attitudes and values (disapproval for heavy drinking, permissiveness for drinking), and alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated significant associations between both peer and parental influences and alcohol involvement, and showed that parental influences moderated peer-influence-drinking behavior, such that higher levels of perceived parental involvement were associated with weaker relations between peer influences and alcohol use and problems. These findings suggest that parents continue to exert an influential role in late adolescent drinking behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Mapping the continuum of alcohol problems in college students: a Rasch model analysis.

The authors conducted Rasch model (G. Rasch, 1960) analyses of items from the Young Adult Alcohol Problems Screening Test (YAAPST; S. C. Hurlbut & K. J. Sher, 1992) to examine the relative severity and ordering of alcohol problems in 806 college students. Items appeared to measure a single dimension of alcohol problem severity, covering a broad range of the latent continuum. Items fit the Rasch model well, with less severe symptoms reliably preceding more severe symptoms in a potential progression toward increasing levels of problem severity. However, certain items did not index problem severity consistently across demographic subgroups. A shortened, alternative version of the YAAPST is proposed, and a norm table is provided that allows for a linking of total YAAPST scores to expected symptom expression.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Gender, alcohol consumption, and differing alcohol expectancy dimensions in college drinkers.

Examinations of gender differences in alcohol expectancies among college drinkers typically have used self-report measures to assess single expectancy dimensions and often have been confounded by drinking level. This study examined gender differences in alcohol expectancies using 2 assessment methods. College students (N = 88) completed self-report questionnaires, including expectancy likelihood and subjective evaluation endorsements of expectancies, and a computerized expectancy accessibility task. Expectancy accessibility and endorsement were modestly correlated, with higher alcohol consumption and female gender linked to greater accessibility and endorsement of social enhancement expectancies. Gender moderated the relation between consumption and sociability expectancy accessibility; among men, heavier drinking was associated with more rapid activation of expectancies. Findings suggest complexity in associations among these variables and underscore the need to capture the multidimensionality of the expectancy construct and its relationship to alcohol use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Examining the role of drinking motives in college student alcohol use and problems.

A motivational model of alcohol involvement (M. L. Cooper, M. R. Frone, M. Russell, & P. Mudar, 1995) was replicated and extended by incorporating social antecedents and motives and by testing this model cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a sample of college students. Participants (N = 388) completed a questionnaire battery assessing alcohol use and problems, alcohol expectancies, sensation seeking, negative affect, social influences, and drinking motives. Associations among psychosocial antecedents, drinking motives, and alcohol involvement differed from those found by M. L. Cooper et al. (1995). These findings point to the importance of social influences and of positive reinforcement motives but not to the centrality of drinking motives in this population.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Social environmental selection as a mediator of gender, ethnic, and personality effects on college student drinking.

Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediational role of social environmental selection on alcohol use in cross-sectional samples of 447 students from a rural state university and 421 students from an urban private university. Results showed that male gender, White ethnicity, and sensation seeking were uniquely associated with greater alcohol use. Mediational analyses indicated that socioenvironmental factors (i.e., Greek involvement, friends' approval of drinking/getting drunk) were positively associated with alcohol use and significantly accounted for parts of the effects of ethnicity and sensation seeking, but not gender, on alcohol use. Results suggest that White students and those high on sensation seeking may drink more heavily in college, in part because they select social environments in which alcohol use is encouraged.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Changing expectancies: cognitive mechanisms and context effects.

This article presents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2002 RSA Meeting in San Francisco, organized by Reinout W. Wiers and Mark D. Wood. The symposium combined two topics of recent interest in studies of alcohol expectancies: cognitive mechanisms in expectancy challenge studies, and context-related changes of expectancies. With increasing recognition of the substantial role played by alcohol expectancies in drinking, investigators have begun to develop and evaluate expectancy challenge procedures as a potentially promising new prevention strategy. The two major issues addressed in the symposium were whether expectancy challenges result in changes in expectancies that mediate intervention (outcome relations), and the influence of simulated bar environments ("bar labs," in which challenges are usually done) on expectancies. The presentations were (1) An introduction, by Jack Darkes; (2) Investigating the utility of alcohol expectancy challenge with heavy drinking college students, by Mark D. Wood; (3) Effects of an expectancy challenge on implicit and explicit expectancies and drinking, by Reinout W. Wiers; (4) Effects of graphic feedback and simulated bar assessments on alcohol expectancies and consumption, by William R. Corbin; (5) Implicit alcohol associations and context, by Barry T Jones; and (6) A discussion by Kenneth J. Sher, who pointed out that it is important not only to study changes of expectancies in the paradigm of an expectancy challenge but also to consider the role of changing expectancies in natural development and in treatments not explicitly aimed at changing expectancies.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2003

Rethinking positive and negative aspects of alcohol use: suggestions from a comparison of alcohol expectancies and decisional balance.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have compared similar alcohol-related constructs such as alcohol expectancies and decisional balance: two conceptualizations of the positive and negative aspects of alcohol. The purpose of this study was to compare these constructs and to examine their ability to predict alcohol use and problems. METHOD: A sample of 406 college students recruited from Psychology courses at a mid-sized Northeastern University completed a questionnaire that included measures of alcohol expectancies, decisional balance, drinking indices and drinking problems. Of these students, N = 389 (73% female) were drinkers and were included in analyses. RESULTS: Positive expectancies (PE) and the pros were more related to one another than were negative expectancies (NE) and the cons. The 8-item pros scale outperformed 20 items measuring PE in the prediction of alcohol problems and performed equally well in the prediction of alcohol indices. The negative relationship of cons to alcohol indices, something not found with NE, suggested that the cons scale may include components important to the measurement of negative aspects of alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: Although expectancies, particularly PE, have been a common choice for use by researchers, these data suggest that decisional balance scales may be a better choice because their predictive ability is equal to or better than that of expectancies, and their response burden on participants is lower. Instruments that aim to measure the negative aspects of alcohol use should include severe and distal items to better capture this negative attitudinal domain.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Making the transition from high school to college: the role of alcohol-related social influence factors in students' drinking.

Using a sample of entering college freshmen (N = 311), the purposes of this study were to examine 1). whether perceived norms for college student alcohol use and problems differed by gender and level of intended Greek involvement (Greek intent); 2). associations between perceived norms, Greek intent, and alcohol use and problems; and 3). whether relations between perceived norms, Greek intent, and alcohol use and problems were moderated by gender. Results revealed no differences in levels of perceived norms for alcohol use and problems as a function of gender or intention to affiliate with a Greek letter organization. Perceived norms demonstrated consistent, significant associations with both alcohol use and problems, while Greek intent demonstrated significant associations only with alcohol problems. Examination of gender effects in associations between perceived norms, Greek intent, and alcohol use and problems revealed a number of differences in these relations. Specifically, Greek intent was significantly associated with measures of alcohol use and problems for men, but not for women. Likewise, the association between perceived norms and alcohol use and problems were significant for men, but not for women. Finally, although perceived norms were a significant predictor of heavy drinking for both men and women, the association was much stronger among male students. These findings suggest that alcohol prevention interventions may benefit from specifically targeting perceived norms among incoming students who are at highest risk (i.e., male pledges).

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Alcohol outcome expectancies and alcohol use: a latent variable cross-lagged panel study.

The relation between alcohol outcome expectancies (EXP) and alcohol use was prospectively examined over 3 years in a mixed-gender sample of college students (N = 465) at low and high risk for the development of alcoholism. Alcohol use remained fairly stable over 4 years, but EXP decreased significantly over the course of the study. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine reciprocal relations between EXP and alcohol use over 1- and 3-year intervals. Reciprocal prospective effects were demonstrated, but the nature of these effects appears dependent on the interval between measurement periods. Conceptually, these findings indicate both an etiologic role for EXP in predicting future alcohol use, and the influence of alcohol consumption on the development and maintenance of EXP. Methodologically, they point to the importance of the consideration of measurement interval in longitudinal research.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prevalence of substance use by pharmacists and other health professionals.

OBJECTIVES: To assess substance use, misuse, and abuse rates across a representative sample of dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians; compare these rates to available general population data; and determine whether pharmacists report disproportionate unauthorized or illicit substance use. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive self-report survey. SETTING: A small northeastern state. PARTICIPANTS: Stratified random sample of dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. INTERVENTIONS: Mailed 7-page survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic characteristics; lifetime, past-year, and month prevalence of substance use; frequency of use; drug-related dysfunctions; drug misuse; and abuse potential. RESULTS: Six contacts with participants in the summer 2002 resulted in a 68.7% response rate. More than one half (58.7%) of pharmacists reported using a nonprescribed drug at least once in their lifetime. Though total illicit drug use rates by pharmacists were not noticeably different from those of other health professional (HP) groups, a greater proportion of pharmacists reported lifetime use of minor opiates, anxiolytics, and stimulants. Past-year prevalence of drug use was highest among pharmacists (12.8%). Except for anxiolytics, past-year prevalence of use of most other medications by pharmacists was slightly greater than prevalence of use rates reported by physicians and more prevalent than use rates reported in the general population. As with the other HP groups, pharmacists reported low levels of substance-associated dysfunctions and potential abuse. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that lifetime nonprescribed drug use by pharmacists does not appear to be disproportionate when compared with other groups of HPs. Specific drug use rates varied across HP groups, possibly suggesting medication access facilitates drug-associated experiences by HPs. Consequently, unauthorized or illicit substance use by HPs, including pharmacists, suggests the need for more intensive educational programs on practitioner impairment.

Adult↗