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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
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August 2012 - present
Publications
Publications (63)
Background
Limited research considers the quantity and potency of cannabis products along with social context on the subjective effects of real-world cannabis use.
Aims
This study examined the subjective effects of acute use as a function of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) doses and social context during cannabis use episodes....
Objective:
Health decision-making is influenced by perceived health risks and benefits. Greater understanding of these perceptions in college students, a population engaging in high rates of risky cannabis use, is needed. The primary aim of the current study was to examine both perceived risks and benefits of cannabis for short- and long-term heal...
Objectives:
Self-affirmation approaches for health behaviour demonstrate consistent small to medium effects on message acceptance, health intentions and behaviour change. There are several forms of self-affirmation (e.g., values affirmations, implementation intentions), but few empirical comparisons to guide selection in empirical work. Further, t...
Purpose: Young adults experiencing chronic pain may self-medicate with cannabis. We examined perceived risks and benefits of cannabis use among young adult users by chronic pain status, and identified relationships among perceived risks and benefits, physical and mental health, and cannabis-related problems.
Methods: Young adults reporting at leas...
Evidence supports the use of graphic warnings to educate the public about the health harms of smoking and suggests warnings eliciting negative emotional responses may be more effective. This study aimed to replicate a preliminary theory-based model whereby perceived new knowledge promotes discouragement from smoking through its impact on worry abou...
Many young adults experience chronic pain and may be more likely to self-medicate with cannabis. The present study examined perceptions of personal risks and benefits of cannabis use among young adult users, assessed if these perceptions varied by chronic pain status, and identified relationships among perceived risks and benefits, health-related q...
Justice-involved youth are at a higher risk of negative outcomes from sexual activity and alcohol use relative to their non-justice involved peers. In the current study, we tested the extent to which variability in neurocognitive response (i.e., activation in the right superior parietal lobule; rSPL) during a risky decision-making task moderated th...
Background:
As COVID-19 continues to spread globally, it is important to understand psychological factors that may influence compliance with social distancing.
Purpose:
The present study examined whether Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs were associated with social distancing, with a focus on exploring moderators of the intention-behav...
The COVID-19 global pandemic is an unprecedented health threat for which behavior is critical to prevent spread and personal factors could contribute to decisions for protective action. The purpose of this study was to describe associations of COVID-19 related behaviors capturing a snapshot in time during the height of the first wave of the pandemi...
Many young adults experience chronic pain and given its wide availability and potential pain reducing properties, young adults may use cannabis to self-medicate for pain. However, little is known about young adult users’ perceptions of potential health risks and benefits of cannabis, and whether these perceptions differ by chronic pain status. As a...
Objective:
The current study sought to identify subgroups of adult drinkers who differ in their level of association between alcohol-related Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs (attitudes, perceived norms, self-efficacy, and intentions), and explore if distinct subgroup profiles relate to alcohol use two weeks later.
Design:
Participants...
Introduction
Justice-involved adolescents are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections; one primary reason is co-occurring substance use. This study investigates the additive benefit of including alcohol and cannabis use content in a theory-based sexual risk reduction intervention, delivered using group-based motivational enhancement therap...
Smokeless tobacco use among Indian women is increasing despite prevention efforts. Evolutionary theories suggest that reproductive-aged women should be more concerned about immediate threats to reproduction than threats to survival occurring late in life. This study therefore compared an anti-tobacco intervention that emphasized near-term reproduct...
In the following chapter, we consider the concept of disease‐specific worry—a combination of negative thoughts and feelings associated with potential disease outcomes. Relative to other concerns in daily life (e.g., money), people report worrying about disease less often, and reported worry levels depend on the specific disease in question. Cardiov...
Background:
In August 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a set of 13 new graphic warnings for cigarette packaging and advertisements.
Purpose:
We evaluated these warnings relative to text-only equivalents for their ability to educate the public regarding harms of smoking and influence outcomes associated with quitting.
Methods...
Objective: This experiment examined whether people respond differently to information about where they stand relative to peer behaviour or to expert behavioural recommendations, and whether responses depend on the attainability of these standards.
Design: University students (N = 345) were randomly assigned to receive information about their exerci...
Public perception of marijuana is changing dramatically and anecdotal claims regarding the potential risks and benefits of marijuana use proliferate. These perceptions have implications for choosing to engage in marijuana use. The goal of this study was to describe perceptions of risks, benefits, and worry related to personal marijuana use and to i...
Strong health messages may result in reactance, increasing unhealthy behaviors. Reactance is purported to be derived of both cognitive and affective factors. The current study investigated the extent to which these cognitive and affective reactance components accounted for the link between message exposure on intentions and behavior. Emerging adult...
This study aims to determine the rate of chronic pain in a community sample of young adult cannabis users, assess the extent to which pain relief is an important motivation for cannabis use, and explore differences in consumption patterns and problem behaviors between users with and without chronic pain. The study design was cross-sectional. Self-s...
Because adolescence is a period of heightened exploration of new behaviors, there is a natural increase in risk taking including initial use of alcohol and marijuana. In order to better understand potential differences in neurocognitive functioning among adolescents who use drugs, the current study aimed to identify the neural substrates of risky d...
Importance
Adolescents in the juvenile justice system are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis increase this risk.
Objective
To determine whether a theory-based sexual risk-reduction intervention that included alcohol- and cannabis-focused content resulted in greater reductions in STIs tha...
A common criticism of social cognitive models predicting health behavior is their exclusion of affect—an important component of individual-level decision processes for behavior change. Yet the role of affect, and its interaction with cognitions, is complex. We provide an overview of affect and pathways through which it is proposed to influence outc...
This research examined main and interactive associations of perceived risk and worry of health and appearance smoking consequences on motivation to quit and the relative importance of each of these. Hierarchical regressions controlling for other measures found that perceived conditional risk and worry of health consequences were associated with mot...
Objective:
Although graphic cigarette warnings have important benefits that may aid in motivating smoking quit attempts and discouraging smoking initiation, 1 possible negative consequence might be psychological reactance to graphic warnings. Reactance to warnings might be shaped by stereotypical views of smokers. This research examined the associ...
Adolescence is a unique developmental period of exploration and risk, yet because regions of the brain most able to weigh consequences and self-regulate in tempting situations are still developing, many of the behaviors “typical” to adolescent exploration (e.g., alcohol use, sexual behavior) can have serious negative consequences. Youth under age 2...
Although much research on graphic cigarette warnings has focused on motivational responses, little focus has been given to how much individuals learn from these labels.
This study aims to investigate whether graphic warnings provide greater perceived new knowledge of smoking consequences compared to text-only warnings, and to test a mediational mod...
Associations between CDH13 Variants and the Initiation of Alcohol and Sexual Behavior with High-risk Hispanic and Caucasian Youth
The purpose of this research was to replicate a successful intervention to increase physical activity in a different region of the country, and explore genetic and physiological moderators of intervention efficacy drawn from a transdisciplinary theoretical framework.
A randomized controlled trial comparing a print-based physical activity interventi...
A comprehensive review of research examining intermediary mechanisms to understand the link between genetic variation and addiction liability.
Although there is scientific consensus that genetic factors play a substantial role in an individual's vulnerability to drug or alcohol addiction, specific genetic variables linked to risk or resilience rema...
Juvenile justice involved youth are at great risk for negative outcomes of risky sexual behavior including HIV/AIDS. Given the strong connection between alcohol use and risky sex in this population, it is important to consider alcohol use in interventions designed to decrease risky sexual behavior. This paper provides support for an integrative tra...
Chronic alcohol abuse is related to numerous deleterious neurobiological consequences, including loss of gray matter, damage to white matter (WM), and impairment of cognitive and motor functions. Aerobic exercise has been demonstrated to slow cognitive decline and decrease the negative neural changes resulting from normal aging and from several dis...
In two studies, we examined nonsmokers' perceptions of smokers and consequences of the perceptions. In Study 1, smokers answered questions about their sense of self, dependence on smoking, and motivation to quit. Nonsmokers answered questions about their perceptions of these characteristics. Differences between smokers' self-descriptions and nonsmo...
Marijuana and alcohol use are associated with increased sexual risk behavior among justice-involved youth. A multi-behavior intervention may reduce all three risk behaviors.
To examine the relationships among multiple risk behaviors and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs guiding the development of the MARS (Motivating Adolescents to Re...
The current study examined the relationships among marijuana dependence, a theoretical model of condom use intentions, and subsequent condom use behavior in justice-involved adolescents. Participants completed baseline measures of prior sexual and substance use behavior. Of the original 720 participants, 649 (90.13 %) completed follow-up measures 6...
Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), we sought to determine whether differences in reporting would exist for smokers who self-monitored their smoking-related negative thoughts five times daily in comparison to a non-EMA control group. One hundred seventeen smokers were randomly assigned to two conditions. Eighty-eight smokers carried person...
Affective responses during exercise are often important determinants of exercise initiation and maintenance. Current physical activity may be one individual difference that is associated with the degree to which individuals have positive (or negative) affective experiences during exercise. The objective of this study was to explore physical and cog...
Purpose:
Individuals who exercise are at lower risk for breast cancer and have better post-diagnosis outcomes. The biological mechanisms behind this association are unclear, but DNA methylation has been suggested.
Methods:
We developed a composite measure of DNA methylation across 45 CpG sites on genes selected a priori. We examined the associat...
Objective. To determine whether genetic variants suggested by the literature to be associated with physiology and fitness phenotypes predicted differential physiological and subjective responses to a bout of aerobic exercise among inactive but otherwise healthy adults. Method. Participants completed a 30-minute submaximal aerobic exercise session....
Adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system have a high incidence of risky sexual behaviors resulting in unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Substance use may be particularly important as a risk factor for unsafe sexual behavior for this group, and recent evidence suggests a possible association between marijuana use...
Background:
Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), an assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness, is regularly used as the primary outcome in exercise interventions. Many criteria have been suggested for validating such tests-most commonly, a plateau in oxygen consumption. The current study investigated the proportion of inactive individuals who reached a p...
A transdisciplinary approach incorporating biological, psychological, behavioral, and genetic factors was taken to better identify proposed moderators of the effectiveness of an intervention to increase physical activity. This paper illustrates how theory-based individual difference variables can be integrated into a complex randomized controlled t...
According to self-determination theory, a tendency to view causes of a behavior as autonomous, controlled, or impersonal can influence motivation, self-regulation, and experience. We propose that causality orientations for exercise may shape self-determined regulations for exercise by leading to more positive exercise-related affect, leading to gre...
The goal of this research is to utilize a transdisciplinary framework to guide the selection of putative moderators of the effectiveness of an intervention to promote physical activity behavior adoption and maintenance in the context of a randomized controlled intervention trial. Effective interventions to increase physical activity are sorely need...
Multiple studies suggest an association of marijuana use with increased rates of sexual risk behavior and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Most studies have focused on global associations of marijuana use with sexual risk outcomes and few have examined relevant cognitive variables. Adolescents in the juvenile justice system are at elevated ris...
The purpose of this study was to investigate smokers' thoughts and worries about their smoking behavior. Researchers have sometimes asked smokers to make such self-assessments but typically using retrospective summary judgments.
Using ecological momentary assessment, community and student smokers reported five times daily during two separate 1-week...
Research concerning motives for smoking cessation has focused on beliefs (cognitions) that people have, especially risk perceptions, with less attention directed to worry (negative affect) concerning one's smoking.
We tested a manipulation to encourage smokers to think and worry more about their smoking behavior. We contrasted risk perceptions and...
When researchers communicate the negative health risks of smoking, smokers are likely to minimize such effects. This experiment addressed a way to reduce this defensiveness: allowing smokers to affirm aspects of the self. Smokers (n= 100) and nonsmokers (n= 30) viewed eight health-warning messages about smoking. Smokers were randomly assigned to vi...
Accurate measurement of beliefs about risk probability is essential to determine what role these beliefs have in health behavior. This study investigated the ability of several types of risk perception measures and of other constructs from health behavior theories to predict influenza vaccination.
Prospective study in which students, faculty, and s...
Many women worry about the possibility of developing breast cancer, but there is conflicting evidence concerning whether cancer worry acts as a facilitator or inhibitor of breast cancer screening.
We conducted a meta-analysis of 12 prospective studies that measured worry about breast cancer at baseline and subsequent breast self-examination (BSE) o...
The influences of mood and gender on the level of risk taking that people advise for others was examined. Music was used to create positive and negative moods in male and female participants who were asked to give risk-taking advice to others for typically cautious and risky situations. As expected, the influence of mood and gender on advice for ri...
