Click citations for full text, when available.
Purpose: To test the assumption that person-first language (PFL) reduces obesity stigma, mediated by perceived personal responsibility for obesity. Design: Cross-sectional, experimental. Setting: Online, United States. Participants: 299 young adults. Measures: Participants read a vignette using PFL or identity-first language (IFL) or about someone without obesity. Participants reported perceived personal responsibility for obesity, and 3 operationalizations of obesity stigma: prejudice, stereotypes, and support for punitive policies. Mediation analyses were used to test if the manipulation affected obesity stigma, through perceived personal responsibility. Results: There was no indirect effect of PFL vs IFL on the 3 outcomes (95% CIs contained zero). However, the indirect effects of PFL vs no-obesity condition were significant (prejudice: β = 0.10, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.22, 0.01]; stereotypes: (β = 0.07, SE = 0.03, 95% CI [0.01, 0.14]); punitive punishment: (β = 0.06, SE = 0.04, 95% CI [0.15, 0.01]). Also, the indirect effects of IFL vs no-obesity condition on stereotypes (β = 0.07, SE = 0.04, 95% CI [0.0003, 0.15]) and punitive punishment (β = 0.06, SE = 0.04, 95% CI [0.15, 0.0002]) were significant. Conclusion: PFL may not affect obesity stigma as it does in the context of other marginalized groups. The effect of PFL and IFL, compared to the no-obesity condition, suggests future routes for intervention.
Objective: This study tested how individuals anticipate they will respond to opportunities to engage in simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use. Methods: Two studies utilizing a within-subjects design were conducted. Study 1 was conducted in Spring 2021 and a replication (Study 2) was conducted in Fall 2021. Participants were presented with pairs of scenarios. One scenario pair compared how willing participants expected to be to get drunk if they were sober vs. high. Another pair compared how willing participants would be to take a hit of marijuana if they were sober vs. drunk. College attending young adults (Study 1: N=173; female = 81%; Study 2: N=212; female = 49.1%) with varying degrees of substance use experience were recruited. Results: In Study 1 participants reported greater willingness to get drunk when sober than when high. This was qualified by a statistically significant interaction whereby differences were greater among those who had more experience with past 30-day heavy drinking. Similar findings emerged for willingness to use marijuana. Participants anticipated greater willingness to use marijuana when sober than when drunk. This was also qualified by a statistically significant interaction whereby differences were greater among experimental or established users of marijuana than among abstainers. Study 2 findings replicated those from Study 1. Conclusions: College attending young adults state greater willingness to remain under the influence of one substance than to engage in SAM use when opportunities arise. Simultaneous use of alcohol and marijuana among college students is likely an exception, not the rule.
Objective: The Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protection of abortion rights. Given the drastic policy changes as a result of the ruling and high exposure to media related to abortion, women opposed to the decision may have experienced distress, which could trigger maladaptive coping strategies, such as alcohol use. The present research examined how consuming abortion-related media in the weeks following the Dobbs decision impacted alcohol use intentions among women of reproductive age residing in the 13 “trigger law” states that immediately restricted abortion access. Method: A sample of 196 women (Mage = 30.52, SD = 6.9) residing in trigger law states answered questions about abortion-related media consumption, views toward the Dobbs ruling, negative affect, and alcohol use intentions. Results: Consuming more abortion-related media predicted higher alcohol use intentions for women who opposed the ruling, but not those who were in favor of abortion restrictions. Conclusions: This timely study provides evidence of how the Dobbs ruling is associated with health ramifications beyond reproduction, yielding insights about how high media exposure to large-scale, distressing events may put those most affected—women of reproductive age in states that enacted new policies restricting abortion access—at risk for alcohol use. Findings highlight an imperative direction for future research as abortion restrictions continue to be spotlighted in U.S. media and state legislatures.
Using intersectionality as our critical analytical framework, we examined 22 articles on sexual and gender diversity (SGD) published in peer-reviewed psychology journals between January and June 2022 to: (1) identify their engagement with intersectionality’s core themes; and (2) highlight key findings and directions for future intersectional SGD research. Our review includes 12 theoretical and empirical articles that addressed a breadth of topics such as intersectional stigma/discrimination, gendered racism, minority stress, and intersectional ableism. This review highlights opportunities within intersectional SGD research in psychology to provide a needed corrective to the discipline’s tradition of individualistic, single-axis research focused on predominantly White, cisgender and heterosexual people, and attend to intersectionality’s focus on intersecting power relations and commitments to social justice.
Objective: Prior research among adolescents has identified injunctive and descriptive norms as predictors of marijuana use. Yet, there is no consensus on which norm (i.e., injunctive or descriptive) or referent group (e.g., parents, peers, closest friend) is most consistently related to adolescent marijuana use. The objective of this review is to synthesize literature on perceived social norms and adolescent marijuana use and to identify the referents most commonly studied in relation to adolescent marijuana use. Method: A systematic review, following PRISMA guidelines, assessed studies published from 1998 to 2018 that reported the impact of adolescents’ perceived injunctive norms and descriptive norms on self-reported marijuana use. Seventeen peer-reviewed English-language studies met inclusion criteria. Results: Across cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, injunctive norms and descriptive norms significantly predicted adolescent marijuana use. Peer norms were the most commonly measured descriptive norm and were found to be most positively related to marijuana use. Parental norms were the most measured injunctive norm and were also positively related to use. Conclusions: Injunctive norms and descriptive norms are key factors in considering adolescent marijuana use, although peer descriptive norms may be most influential. The lack of systematic definition and measurement of marijuana use, norms, and referents was apparent in the literature. Future research should systemize norm constructs and explore differences in the norm–marijuana use relationship among adolescents with intersecting identities (e.g., gender, race) and social network referents (e.g., family, peer groups).
Objective: Although college students have higher rates of e-cigarette use compared with non–college-attending young adults, e-cigarette–abstaining college students are an understudied population. The present study was designed to create a scale assessing current e-cigarette abstainers’ motives to abstain from or initiate e-cigarette use. Method: Participants from two universities who had never used e-cigarettes (n = 281) completed an online survey. Participants indicated their e-cigarette abstention and initiation motives, and their perceived vulnerability to, willingness to use, and intentions to use e-cigarettes. Results: Analyses revealed three factors of abstention motives (avoiding health outcomes, low incentive to initiate, and concerns regarding social approval of use) and three factors of initiation motives (tobacco alternatives, social reasons, and coping with negative emotions). When demographics were controlled for, only coping motives significantly positively related to abstainers’ willingness and intentions for future e-cigarette initiation. Furthermore, only the avoiding health outcomes abstention motive was positively related to participants’ perceived vulnerability to the negative health effects of e-cigarettes. Conclusions: This study provides initial support for a scale to assess what motives abstainers may have to initiate e-cigarette use. Results indicated that coping motives may be indicators of readiness to initiate e-cigarettes.
Objective: Black women experience pronounced inequalities in alcohol use and sexual risk outcomes. Racial discrimination is a known contributor to health inequalities. However, Black women face unique and intersectional forms of discrimination beyond racial discrimination. The current study investigates how exclusion from four distinct social groups effects Black women’s negative affect and risky health cognitions. Design: Black women (N = 124; ages 18-29) were randomly assigned to be excluded in Cyberball by Black women, Black men, White women, or White men. Main Outcome Measures: Participants responded to measures of internalising (depressive, anxious) and externalising (anger) affect, heavy alcohol use willingness, and risky sex expectations. Results: Participants primarily attributed exclusion from White women to racial discrimination, exclusion from Black men to gender discrimination, and exclusion from White men to both gender and racial discrimination. When excluded by White women, participants reported the highest levels of anger, depressive affect, and anxiety. Exclusion by White men predicted the greatest heavy drinking willingness, though exclusion by Black men predicted the greatest risky sex expectations. Conclusion: This study is the first to demonstrate that exclusion from different social groups leads to differing patterns of negative affect and risky health cognitions in young adult Black women.