Biomedical subjects

Steven C Martino

Publications and source records attributed to Steven C Martino.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Branded packaging raises likelihood of cigarette purchasing in an experimental retail setting by increasing craving.

INTRODUCTION: Exposure to branded cigarette packaging in retail settings has been shown to be associated with purchasing behavior, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are unclear. This study tested whether cigarette craving and perceived health harms mediate the effect of branded packaging on cigarette purchasing in a simulated retail environment. METHODS: Young adults aged 21-34 who currently smoke cigarettes (n = 290) completed an experimental shopping task in the RAND StoreLab, a life-sized replica of a convenience store. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) branding present, in which branded cigarette packages were displayed; and (2) branding absent condition, in which branded elements were removed and packages were standardized in a brown-green color and uniform text. Cigarette purchases were recorded, and participants completed post-shopping measures of cigarette craving and perceived health harms. Causal effect decomposition analyses were used to assess whether these variables mediated the effect of study condition on the likelihood of purchasing cigarettes. RESULTS: Craving, but not perceived health harms, partially mediated the effect of branded packaging on cigarette purchasing. Exposure to branded packs increased the likelihood of purchasing by elevating craving (average mediated effect = 2.4%, 95% CI 0.2% - 5.0%, p = .03). CONCLUSIONS: Branded cigarette packaging appears to increase cigarette purchasing at least in part by increasing cigarette craving at point of sale. Interventions that address craving management in retail settings (e.g., just-in-time interventions, prn nicotine replacement therapy) may help mitigate the impact of branding on young adults' cigarette purchasing.

Humans↗

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

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↗

PubMed2005

Cross-lagged relationships between substance use and intimate partner violence among a sample of young adult women.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between substance use and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and perpetration among a sample of young adult women. METHOD: A sample of 509 women who participated in Waves 8 (age 23) and 9 (age 29) of a multiyear panel study and who indicated they were living with a partner or spouse at both time points provided the data for this investigation. Path analysis was used to examine the cross-lagged relationships between women's substance use and IPV victimization and perpetration over the two waves of data. RESULTS: Although strong within- and across-time associations between substance use and IPV victimization and perpetration were found at the bivariate level, substance use did not predict women's subsequent IPV victimization or perpetration in the cross-lagged model. Instead, victims of IPV at age 23 were found to be at an increased risk for later heavy drinking. Perpetrators of IPV at age 23 were less likely than nonperpetrators to report heavy drinking at age 29. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that substance use does not increase women's long-term risk of experiencing or perpetrating IPV but that victimization by IPV puts women at risk for subsequent heavy drinking.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Effects of early and later marriage on women's alcohol use in young adulthood: a prospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research shows that marriage leads to reductions in alcohol use, especially for women. Because marriage prior to age 20 (early marriage) is a marker for deviance, the protective effects of marriage may not extend to those who marry in adolescence. We compared the effects of marriage in adolescence versus young adulthood on alcohol consumption, negative alcohol-related consequences and heavy episodic drinking at age 29. METHOD: We analyzed data from 1,138 women in a longitudinal cohort followed from ages 18 to 29. The original sample was recruited from 30 California and Oregon middle schools and first surveyed at age 13. RESULTS: Women who had not married, had married early or had married between ages 20 and 29 did not differ on alcohol use at age 18. Women who married as young adults were less likely than singles to engage in any alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking or experience negative consequences and reported less alcohol use at age 29. Women who married in adolescence reported fewer negative consequences at age 29 than did singles and (if they had not divorced) were less likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking or experience any negative consequences, reported fewer consequences and consumed less alcohol. The protective effects of marriage in young adulthood were observed whether or not women divorced. Parenthood and college attendance before age 23 did not explain the marriage effect. CONCLUSIONS: Results support role theory, which posits that individuals who marry are socialized into conventional adult roles that discourage deviant behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Marijuana use from adolescence to young adulthood: multiple developmental trajectories and their associated outcomes.

This study used latent growth mixture modeling to identify discrete developmental patterns of marijuana use from early adolescence (age 13) to young adulthood (age 23) among a sample of 5,833 individuals. After the a priori removal of abstainers, 4 trajectory groups were identified: early high users, who decreased from a relatively high level of use at age 13 to a more moderate level: stable light users, who maintained a low level of use: steady increasers, who consistently increased use; and occasional light users, who began use at age 14 and used at low levels thereafter. Analyses of covariance comparing the trajectory groups on behavioral, socioeconomic, and health outcomes at age 29 revealed that abstainers consistently had the most favorable outcomes, whereas early high users consistently had the least favorable outcomes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Substance use and vulnerability to sexual and physical aggression: a longitudinal study of young adults.

Using data from 2,170 individuals who participated in Waves 8 (age 23) and 9 (age 29) of a multiyear panel study, this study examined whether alcohol and marijuana use in young adulthood increase one's risk for experiencing subsequent sexual or physical assault victimization, whether victims' own violent behavior or involvement in the sale of drugs explain any effects of substance use on victimization, and whether these associations differ by gender. Controlling for prior victimization, we found that marijuana use, but not alcohol use, predicted women's and men's subsequent sexual victimization and men's subsequent physical assault victimization, and that heavy alcohol use, but not marijuana use, predicted women's subsequent physical assault victimization. Whereas the links from marijuana use to victimization were explained by users' own violent behavior, the link from alcohol use to women's physical assault victimization was not.

Adult↗