Biomedical subjects

Rebecca L Collins

Publications and source records attributed to Rebecca L Collins.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Time trends and demographic differences in youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television.

OBJECTIVE: To examine trends in youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television across different demographic groups. METHODS: We used television ratings data on alcohol advertisements to examine trends in exposure between September 1998 and February 2002. Further, we explored the differences in exposure across demographic groups by examining group-level alcohol ad exposure across specific networks, program types, and times of day. RESULTS: We found that boys were more exposed than girls and African-Americans are more exposed than whites. Moreover, the race differential appeared to be increasing over time, whereas the gender differential appeared to increase with age. Differences in viewing patterns across race and gender contributed to the observed differences in exposure to alcohol advertising on television. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide guidance in identifying comparative vulnerabilities in exposure to alcohol advertising on television, and can aid in the development of strategies to inoculate youth against those vulnerabilities.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Are drug experimenters better adjusted than abstainers and users?: a longitudinal study of adolescent marijuana use.

PURPOSE: Experimentation with substance use is normative during adolescence and prior research suggests that adolescents who refrain from experimentation may be psychologically maladjusted. This longitudinal study compared lifetime marijuana abstainers (n = 1177), experimenters (n = 873), and frequent users (n = 205) at grade 12 on psychosocial functioning during late adolescence and young adulthood. METHODS: Participants were recruited from middle schools in 1985 (grade 7) and assessed repeatedly, including in 1990 (grade 12) and 1995 (age 23). Self-report surveys assessed lifetime substance use at grade 12, and psychosocial functioning at grade 12 and age 23. Group differences after controlling for key demographics were estimated using multivariate logistic regression and analysis of covariance. RESULTS: Adolescent abstainers from marijuana often fared better (and in no case worse) than experimenters and frequent users both concurrently and later in life on school engagement, family and peer relations, mental health, and deviant behavior. Similar results were found in ancillary analyses using a definition of adolescent "abstainer" that also accounted for cigarette and alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: Results refute the idea that adolescents who abstain from substance use are maladjusted, and suggest instead that they function better than experimenters later in life, during the transition to young adulthood.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Impact of a school-based dating violence prevention program among Latino teens: randomized controlled effectiveness trial.

PURPOSE: Given the high rate of dating violence between teens and associated deleterious outcomes, the need for effective prevention and early intervention programs is clear. Break the Cycle's Ending Violence curriculum, a three-class-session prevention program focused on legal issues, is evaluated here for its impact on Latino/a youth. METHODS: Tracks within large urban high schools that had at least 80% Latino/a students were randomized to immediate or delayed curriculum. Classrooms were randomly selected within tracks and individual student outcomes were assessed pre- and postintervention and six months later. RESULTS: Students in intervention classrooms showed improved knowledge, less acceptance of female-on-male aggression, and enhanced perception of the helpfulness and likelihood of seeking assistance from a number of sources immediately after the program. Improved knowledge and perceived helpfulness of an attorney were maintained six months later. There were no differences in recent abusive/fearful dating experiences or violence victimization or perpetration. CONCLUSIONS: The Ending Violence curriculum has an impact on teen norms, knowledge, and help-seeking proclivities that may aid in early intervention for dating violence among Latino/a students.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

High school drug use predicts job-related outcomes at age 29.

The present study examines the relationship between hard drug use in high school and occupational and job quality outcomes measured at approximately age 29. We use two different methods aimed at ruling out the possibility of spurious correlations between high school drug use and occupational outcomes: (1) directly controlling for pre-high school characteristics that may affect both high school drug use and later occupational characteristics (e.g., educational orientation, early drug use and deviant behavior); and (2) matching high school users with a subset of nonusers that have very similar characteristics and then estimating the difference in labor market outcomes for these two groups (i.e., propensity score matching). Overall, the results suggest that adolescent drug use is linked with poorer occupational and job quality outcomes as much as 10 years after high school. Interestingly, which job-related outcomes are affected by early hard drug use varies by gender. Females who use hard drugs as adolescents end up in lower skill, lower status jobs while males who use hard drugs as adolescents are more likely to end up in jobs with fewer benefits (e.g., health, retirement).

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Patterns and correlates of deliberate abstinence among men and women with HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVES: We examined correlates of deliberate sexual abstinence among gay/bisexual men, heterosexual men, and women in a national probability sample of adults with HIV. METHODS: Participants in the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS; n=1339) answered questions about oral, anal, or vaginal sexual intercourse in the past 6 months; those who reported none of these behaviors (n=415) were asked about their reasons for abstinence. Of these, 201 participants (11% of gay/bisexual men, 18% of women, 18% of heterosexual men) indicated that their abstinence was deliberate. Multivariate models were used to predict deliberate abstinence. RESULTS: In multivariate analyses, not having a primary relationship partner/spouse was a significant correlate of deliberate abstinence for all 3 groups. Higher perceived responsibility for limiting disease transmission and nondrinking status were related to deliberate abstinence only among gay/bisexual men. Worse health was associated with deliberate abstinence only among heterosexual men. CONCLUSIONS: Perhaps because HIV is more common in gay communities, abstinence choices may be more closely linked to a higher sense of responsibility for reducing transmission among gay/bisexual men, and their illness may be less of an impediment to sexual activity.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2006

Correlates of sex without serostatus disclosure among a national probability sample of HIV patients.

We examined potential correlates of sex without HIV disclosure within a sample of 875 participants from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study. Interviews with each participant assessed sexual activities with up to six recent partners, and this study included both respondent and partnership characteristics. Compared with marriage and/or primary same-sex relationships, occasional partnerships and one-time encounters were associated with sex with disclosure, and shorter relationships were more likely to involve sex without disclosure. Knowledge of partner serostatus was also associated with sex without disclosure. Women were less likely to have sex without disclosure than men having sex with men. We found an association between the perceived duty to disclosure to all partners and sex without disclosure, while we found no association in multivariate analyses between outcome expectancies and sex without disclosure.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Does solitary substance use increase adolescents' risk for poor psychosocial and behavioral outcomes? A 9-year longitudinal study comparing solitary and social users.

This longitudinal study compared Grade 8 solitary cigarette smokers (n = 541), drinkers (n = 577), and marijuana users (n = 148) with adolescents who restricted their use of these substances to social settings (ns = 562, 1,426, and 388, respectively) on adolescent functioning and young adult outcomes. In Grade 8, solitary users held more positive beliefs about the consequences of substance use, earned poorer grades, engaged in more deviant behavior, and devoted less time to school and more time to social activities. By age 23, these solitary users had lower educational attainment, poorer self-rated health, and greater substance use problems. Results indicate the importance of better understanding and addressing the needs of this understudied group of high-risk youth.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

Socio-environmental influences on adolescents' alcohol outcome expectancies: a prospective analysis.

AIMS: To investigate the prospective influence of social influence and social bonding variables on the development of alcohol outcome expectancies among adolescents with and without drinking experience. DESIGN: Longitudinal data from students in the control schools of a field trial designed to evaluate a school-based drug prevention program. SETTING: A total of 19 middle schools in South Dakota, USA. MEASUREMENTS: An alcohol outcome expectancy scale administered to 1410 students in grades 8 and 9. After using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to develop an expectancies measure, multiple-group (grade 8 drinkers versus grade 8 non-drinkers) path analysis was used to model 9th grade alcohol expectancies. Grade 8 social influence and bonding variables were used as predictors, controlling for grade 8 expectancies. FINDINGS: At the bivariate level, peer and adult influences and social bonding variables were related consistently to alcohol outcome expectancies among drinkers and non-drinkers. A bivariate relationship between alcohol advertising and alcohol expectancies was found among drinkers only. In the multivariate model, greater alcohol use by important adults predicted independently increased alcohol positivity among drinkers; greater perceived approval of alcohol use by parents and peers predicted diminished perceived potency of alcohol among non-drinkers. Advertisement exposure and social bonding variables were not independent predictors of alcohol expectancies in the multivariate model. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that attempts to alter adolescents' alcohol expectancies are likely to fail unless they address the influence of immediate social models on these beliefs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Exploring the link between substance abuse and abortion: the roles of unconventionality and unplanned pregnancy.

CONTEXT: Several studies have found a relationship between abortion and prior substance use, suggesting that a reduction in substance use might help decrease abortion rates. However, such a conclusion requires a greater understanding of the processes linking abortion and prior substance use. METHOD: Path analysis of longitudinal data from 1,224 women was used to simultaneously test two pathways from adolescent substance use to abortion by age 29, one mediated by higher rates of unplanned pregnancy and the other independent of unplanned pregnancy rates. The model was then expanded to examine how these pathways change when unconventional attitudes and behaviors (such as rebelliousness and low religiosity) are taken into consideration. RESULTS: In the analysis that did not control for unconventionality, women who reported smoking cigarettes or using marijuana or hard drugs at age 18 had an increased likelihood of subsequent unplanned pregnancy and, as a result, higher rates of abortion. In addition, women who had used marijuana had an increased likelihood of abortion independent of unplanned pregnancy rates. In the final model, unconventionality strongly predicted both abortion and unplanned pregnancy. Moreover, it explained the associations between the use of hard drugs or marijuana and abortion that were due to higher unplanned pregnancy rates. CONCLUSIONS: Unconventionality mediates certain associations between substance use and abortion, perhaps because unconventional women are more likely both to use substances and to engage in behaviors that increase their risk of unplanned pregnancy. Hence, it seems unlikely that reducing substance use will result in substantially fewer abortions.

Abortion, Legal↗

PubMed2006

Exposure to degrading versus nondegrading music lyrics and sexual behavior among youth.

BACKGROUND: Early sexual activity is a significant problem in the United States. A recent survey suggested that most sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer to have intercourse; other data indicate that unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier. Popular music may contribute to early sex. Music is an integral part of teens' lives. The average youth listens to music 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day. Sexual themes are common in much of this music and range from romantic and playful to degrading and hostile. Although a previous longitudinal study has linked music video consumption and sexual risk behavior, no previous study has tested longitudinal associations between the content of music lyrics and subsequent changes in sexual experience, such as intercourse initiation, nor has any study explored whether exposure to different kinds of portrayals of sex has different effects. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: We conducted a national longitudinal telephone survey of 1461 adolescents. Participants were interviewed at baseline (T1), when they were 12 to 17 years old, and again 1 and 3 years later (T2 and T3). At all of the interviews, participants reported their sexual experience and responded to measures of more than a dozen factors known to be associated with adolescent sexual initiation. A total of 1242 participants reported on their sexual behavior at all 3 time points; a subsample of 938 were identified as virgins before music exposure for certain analyses. Participants also indicated how frequently they listened to each of more than a dozen musical artists representing a variety of musical genres. Data on listening habits were combined with results of an analysis of the sexual content of each artist's songs to create measures of exposure to 2 kinds of sexual content: degrading and nondegrading. OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured initiation of intercourse and advancement in noncoital sexual activity level over a 2-year period. RESULTS: Multivariate regression analyses indicated that youth who listened to more degrading sexual content at T2 were more likely to subsequently initiate intercourse and to progress to more advanced levels of noncoital sexual activity, even after controlling for 18 respondent characteristics that might otherwise explain these relationships. In contrast, exposure to nondegrading sexual content was unrelated to changes in participants' sexual behavior. CONCLUSION: Listening to music with degrading sexual lyrics is related to advances in a range of sexual activities among adolescents, whereas this does not seem to be true of other sexual lyrics. This result is consistent with sexual-script theory and suggests that cultural messages about expected sexual behavior among males and females may underlie the effect. Reducing the amount of degrading sexual content in popular music or reducing young people's exposure to music with this type of content could help delay the onset of sexual behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Training pediatric residents to provide smoking cessation counseling to parents.

The objective was to assess the effectiveness of a smoking cessation educational program on pediatric residents' counseling. Residents were randomly selected to receive the intervention. Residents who were trained were compared to untrained residents. Self-reported surveys and patient chart reviews were used. Measures included changes in self-reported knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of residents, and differences in chart documentation and caretaker-reported physician counseling behaviors. The intervention was multidimensional including a didactic presentation, a problem-solving session, clinic reminders, and provision of patient education materials. Results showed that residents who were trained were more likely to ask about tobacco use in their patients' households. They were also more likely to advise caretakers to cut down on or to quit smoking, to help set a quit date, and to follow up on the advice given at a subsequent visit. Trained residents were more likely to record a history of passive tobacco exposure in the medical record. These residents also reported improved confidence in their counseling skills and documented that they had done such counseling more often than did untrained residents. Caretakers of pediatric patients who smoke seen by intervention residents were more likely to report that they had received tobacco counseling. Following this intervention, pediatric residents significantly improved their behaviors, attitudes, and confidence in providing smoking cessation counseling to parents of their pediatric patients.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Isolating the nexus of substance use, violence and sexual risk for HIV infection among young adults in the United States.

Adults aged 18 to 29 are at significant sexual risk for HIV infection. Substance use and violence are known to be associated with sexual risk in certain groups, but few studies have examined these relationships in the general population of young adults. No studies have tested whether the contributions of substance use and violence to sexual risk are independent, and few have looked at whether drug use associations with risk are specific to certain substances. Using structural modeling techniques, we examined data for 3,437 adults aged 23-24, testing for associations between three measures of sexual risk for HIV, various forms of substance use, victimization and partner violence. Alcohol use and victimization predicted high risk sex in independent samples of single and married/cohabiting adults. Marijuana use, problem drug use, and partner violence were inconsistently related to sexual risk across measures and subsamples. HIV-prevention interventions designed for young adults in the general population should target individuals who use alcohol frequently and who are victims of violence, and should address both factors, in addition to sexual risk behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

The association of partner abuse with risky sexual behaviors among women and men with HIV/AIDS.

Prior studies have found that partner abuse is related to risky sexual behavior. However, few studies have explored gender, sexual orientation, or substance use differences in this association, especially among people with HIV. We examined data from the Risk and Prevention survey from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS) sample on 726 sexually-active individuals in three gender/orientation groups (286 women, 148 heterosexual men, and 292 gay/bisexual men). The study assessed whether individuals with HIV who experienced or perpetrated abuse within a close relationship were likely to engage in unprotected intercourse with that same partner. Both abuse perpetration and victimization were significantly associated with having any unprotected intercourse. In multivariate tests, gender/orientation and substance use during sex moderated the perpetration effects. Secondary HIV prevention interventions need to take into account potentially abusive contexts in which sexual activity may occur for both men and women.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Sex on television and its impact on american youth: background and results from the RAND Television and Adolescent Sexuality study.

Many policy makers and parents have called for stricter regulation of television, fearing that the sexual content in this medium spurs adolescent sexual activity. Media theory and research over the last few decades are consistent with this notion but fall short of answering the question of whether television content is causally related to adolescent sexual behavior. This article briefly reviews this earlier work and discusses the results of several new studies based on the RAND Television and Adolescent Sexuality data set. Practitioners should discuss television use and television portrayals of sex with adolescents, and help youth to identity and avoid any adverse effects the media might have on their sexual development and sexual behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Scope of HIV risk and co-occurring psychosocial health problems among young adults: violence, victimization, and substance use.

PURPOSE: This study examines the co-occurrence of sexual risk with violence, victimization, risky substance use, and drug-related problems among young adults. METHODS: Data were collected from 3392 young adults drawn from California and Oregon as youth, as part of the RAND adolescent panel study. Logistic regression analyses were used to test differences in psychosocial health problems for participants at high, moderate, and low sexual risk, overall, and by gender. RESULTS: Nearly 80% of young adults exhibited some degree of sexual risk. Both moderate (56%) and high (22%) HIV risks were associated with multiple forms of drug use, drug-related problems, violence and victimization. Males and females had similar relative risk profiles, but females reported higher rates of victimization in the form of partner abuse and sexual coercion. Over 80% of those at high sexual risk exhibited psychosocial health problems in at least 2 other areas. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual risk-taking is widespread among young adults and typically co-occurs with other psychosocial health problems. Interventions designed for young adults at high sexual risk should take into account their additional psychosocial problems; broad media campaigns may be useful for those at moderate risk.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Saturated in beer: awareness of beer advertising in late childhood and adolescence.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine exposure, response to, and awareness of beer advertising in 2 age groups, including awareness of a Budweiser advertisement (ad) that portrayed lizards and an animated ferret. METHODS: In the spring of 2000, 1,996 fourth graders and 1,525 ninth graders attending 1 of 60 South Dakota schools participated in an in-school survey. Several indicators of advertising awareness, exposure, and response were assessed: recognition, product naming, brand naming, and liking in response to stills drawn from 4 masked television beer ads, listing of beer brands, exposure, attention to, and skepticism toward television beer ads. RESULTS: Fourteen percent of 4th graders and 20% of 9th graders recognized at least 3 of 4 sample beer ads. Seventy-five percent of 4th graders and 87% of 9th graders recognized the Budweiser ferret ad; about one in three 4th graders could name the brand it advertised, whereas more than three in four 9th graders could do so. When asked to list as many beer brands as they could, almost 29% of 4th graders listed 3 or more beer brands and 82% of 9th graders did so. Ninth graders liked beer advertisements more and paid greater attention to them, but 4th graders were exposed to them more often. CONCLUSION: Television beer ads result in high levels of beer advertising awareness in children as young as age 9, and even higher awareness among 14-year-olds. Practices that expose or appeal to youth, including use of animated characters, should be avoided by beer advertisers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Social cognitive processes mediating the relationship between exposure to television's sexual content and adolescents' sexual behavior.

This study used multiple-group structural equation modeling to test a model explaining the association between exposure to televised sexual content and initiation of intercourse among an ethnically diverse national sample of 1,292 adolescents. The authors hypothesized, on the basis of social-cognitive theory, that exposure to televised sexual content would influence adolescents' safe-sex self-efficacy, sex-related outcome expectancies, and perceived peer norms regarding sex, and that each of these would, in turn, influence intercourse initiation. Findings support a model in which the relationship between exposure to TV's sexual content and intercourse initiation is mediated by safe-sex self-efficacy among African Americans and Whites but not among Hispanics. Outcome expectancies and perceived peer norms may also mediate the link between exposure and intercourse initiation among all 3 racial/ethnic groups, although evidence of this could not be confirmed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Measuring developmental changes in alcohol expectancies.

The goal of this study was to measure shifts in alcohol expectancies from childhood into adolescence while controlling for changes in the psychometric properties of the instrument. One thousand nine hundred ninety-three 4th-grade and 1,632 9th-grade students from South Dakota rated the likelihood that 23 outcomes would result from alcohol use. These expectancies were modeled using a 2-factor confirmatory factor analysis. After differences in the psychometric properties of the instrument were controlled, the cohorts were distinguished by a large difference in Alcohol Positivity, with older participants viewing alcohol's effects more positively. Additionally, older participants displayed greater Alcohol Potency, believing that alcohol has a larger impact on all outcomes. There were also significant differences in the interpretation of the alcohol expectancies items across cohorts.

Adolescent↗