Biomedical subjects

Phillip K Wood

Publications and source records attributed to Phillip K Wood.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Personality and substance dependence symptoms: modeling substance-specific traits.

Personality traits related to neuroticism and disinhibition have been consistently associated with substance use disorders (SUDs). It is unclear, however, whether different personality traits predict distinct forms of substance dependence. Additionally, it is unclear whether personality traits continue to predict alcohol, drug, and tobacco dependence after controlling for comorbid antisociality and other SUDs. The current study addresses these questions by characterizing relations between personality traits and substance dependence symptoms in a longitudinal sample of 3,720 college students. Results revealed that antisociality and certain core personality traits predicted multiple types of substance pathology. In addition, several personality traits were differentially associated with alcohol, drug, and tobacco symptomatology.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Drinking trajectories from adolescence to the mid-forties among alcohol dependent males.

OBJECTIVE: Identifying differing developmental trajectories of alcohol behavior is fundamental in building theories of alcoholism etiology and course. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in developmental pathways of alcoholism from onset of drinking into middle adulthood. METHOD: Alcohol-related behaviors and psychiatric status were assessed in 330 men from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry having a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol dependence (AD). Using a modified version of Skinner's Lifetime Drinking History, distinct drinking phases were identified that differed in terms of quantity, frequency and context of drinking. Person-year data were created to indicate whether AD criteria were or were not met for each year between drinking onset and age 41. RESULTS: Using Latent Growth Mixture Modeling, a four-class model was identified: Severe Chronic Alcoholics; Severe Non-Chronic Alcoholics (SNCA); Late Onset Alcoholics; and Young Adult Alcoholics. Counterparts for three trajectories could be found in the larger alcoholism literature, whereas the fourth type (SNCA) has not been described, notwithstanding its seeming importance and prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Present findings support the existence of different alcoholism trajectories and provide a more complete understanding of the variability of alcohol dependence over time. Findings build on the larger alcoholism literature identifying alcoholic subgroups and provide important information regarding alcoholism trajectories and associated features. Future studies are needed with regard to better understanding of the psychosocial influences related to the different alcoholism trajectories, as well as characterizing the different trajectories as individuals transition into older age.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Alcohol and tobacco use disorders in a general population: short-term and long-term associations from the St. Louis epidemiological catchment area study.

BACKGROUND: Although research using clinical and convenience samples has shown alcohol use disorders (AUD) to be highly comorbid with tobacco dependence (TD), little work has examined this association prospectively using population-based data. The AUD-TD association was prospectively examined using data from the St. Louis Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) Study and its 1-year follow-up as well as from a 16-year follow-up on a subsample of ECA data. METHOD: Respondents were 3004 (2564, 85%, at Wave 2) participants in the St. Louis household ECA sample, including 444 participants at Year 16 follow-up. At baseline, the sample was predominately White (58%; 38% Black), female (60%), and 44.3 years. Past-year AUD and TD were diagnosed at all waves according to DSM-III criteria. RESULTS: AUDs and TDs were cross-sectionally associated at Years 1, 2, and 16. Controlling for demographics, Year 1 TD prospectively predicted Year 2 AUD, and Year 1 AUD prospectively predicted Year 16 TD. We found evidence for prediction of onset and persistence of both AUD and TD at short-term but not long-term follow-up. Prospective findings were reduced and no longer reached significance when concurrent diagnoses at follow-up were included in the regression models. CONCLUSIONS: We observed short-term and long-term associations between AUD and TD. These associations were mediated through concurrent diagnoses with the other substance use disorder.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Personality and the predisposition to engage in risky or problem behaviors during adolescence.

Longitudinal data from a representative sample of 1,978 Black and White adolescents were used to examine the role of personality in multiple risk or problem behaviors. Results indicate that covariation among diverse behaviors (educational underachievement, delinquent behavior, substance use, sexual behavior) can be adequately modeled by a single higher order factor, and that impulsivity and avoidance coping serve as generalized risk factors for involvement in these behaviors. Whereas none of the personality variables examined explained change in problem behaviors once established, avoidance coping prospectively predicted involvement among a subgroup of adolescents with little or no prior involvement. Results suggest that dysfunctional styles of regulating emotions and emotionally driven behaviors are core features of risky or problem behaviors during adolescence.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Alcohol involvement and developmental task completion during young adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: Relations among young adult alcohol use disorders (AUDs), preadulthood variables (gender, family history of alcoholism, childhood stressors, high-school class rank, religious involvement, neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism) and young adult developmental tasks (baccalaureate degree completion, full-time employment, marriage) were evaluated. METHOD: Participants were 424 first-time college students (228 women) who were 18-20 years old; approximately half had a history of paternal alcoholism. Participants were assessed on five occasions over 7 years (Years 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7). RESULTS: Structural equation modeling results suggest preadulthood variables were more salient predictors of developmental tasks than AUD diagnoses, with the majority of effects due to apparent selection processes. In addition, marriage protected against later AUD diagnosis at Year 7. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of prospective multivariate models that specify potential selection, causation, socialization and reciprocal effects in order to fully examine complex relations among variables, including alcohol involvement, during major life-transition periods.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Dimensionality of alcohol dependence in young adulthood: current versus lifetime symptomatology.

OBJECTIVE: The factor structure of alcohol dependence was investigated using exploratory factor analysis, specifically contrasting models of alcohol dependence based on lifetime symptom endorsement to models based on current (i.e., past-year) symptom endorsement. METHOD: Data from the 1989 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were analyzed. DSM-IV alcohol dependence was assessed in this large community sample of current drinkers and lifetime drinkers, representative of both men and women, and ranging in age from 24 to 32. Sixteen items assessing the seven criteria of DSM-IV alcohol dependence were employed. RESULTS: A single-factor model accounted for most of the observed relationships. However, evidence of additional dimensions, characterized by tolerance and impaired control symptoms, was also identified. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support the historical tendency of distinguishing physiological (as indicated by tolerance or withdrawal symptoms) from nonphysiological dependence. Most importantly, factor solutions derived from items based on past-year symptom endorsement were consistent with those derived from items based on lifetime symptom endorsement in samples of both current drinkers and lifetime drinkers.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Alcohol use disorders and cognitive abilities in young adulthood: a prospective study.

The effect of alcohol use disorder (AUD) on cognitive and neuropsychological abilities was investigated in a prospective study of 68 freshmen who met past-year criteria for AUD on 2 or more occasions during their college years and 66 matched controls. At baseline, participants were administered a total of 14 subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, Wechsler Memory Scale, and Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery. At 7-year follow-up, most measures were readministered, along with the Reflective Judgment Interview, Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, and Plant Test. Analyses revealed few differences between AUD and control groups. However, visuospatial deficits may be present among AUD participants with poor baseline visuospatial performance. Alcohol exposure measures yielded similar patterns to those shown with AUD.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Adolescent alcohol and tobacco use: onset, persistence and trajectories of use across two samples.

AIMS: We examined the alcohol-tobacco relationship using two prospective, ethnically diverse samples. Trajectories of alcohol and tobacco use are portrayed overall and by sex and ethnicity. Using prospective analyses, we examine directional influences between alcohol and tobacco use, and we characterize initiation versus persistence of drinking and smoking as a function of use of the other substance. DESIGN, SETTING: Data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) and the Adolescent Health Risk Study (AHRS). Follow-up intervals for AddHealth and AHRS were 1 and 5 years, respectively. PARTICIPANTS: AddHealth respondents (n = 4831) were on average 14.8 years old (48% male, 23% black, 61% white) and AHRS respondents (n = 1814) were on average 16.7 years old (47% male, 44% black, 49% white). MEASUREMENTS: Two alcohol consumption variables and two smoking variables were used: drinking frequency and heavy drinking frequency, and regular (current) smoking and daily number of cigarettes. FINDINGS: Alcohol and tobacco use exhibited monotonic increases over adolescence and young adulthood. Men and white respondents reported more use than women and black respondents. Alcohol and tobacco were moderately associated at both times. Analyses revealed that prior alcohol use predicted tobacco use more strongly than the converse. Initiation of smoking was a function of prior drinking; to a lesser extent, initiation of drinking was a function of prior smoking. Persistence of smoking was a function of prior drinking and persistence of drinking was a function of prior smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Provisional support exists for the claim that alcohol use predicts tobacco use more strongly than the converse. For both drinking and smoking, onset and persistence are predicted by prior use of the other substance, and these associations were robust across sex and ethnicity.

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↗