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All Friday Fun Fact Marvelous Monday Messy Media News You Can Use Tuesday Talk
All Friday Fun Fact Marvelous Monday Messy Media News You Can Use Tuesday Talk
2/28/2018 Predicting Peer Group DevianceWhat was studied and why:Peer groups are important in shaping human behavior throughout the lifespan. Thus it is important to understand factors surrounding of whether someone becomes part of a peer group that expresses typical or deviant behaviors. The current study wanted to assess whether associating with deviant peers specifically changed across environments. The stability of peer group deviance (PGD) was studied in students who are transitioning from high school to university settings. The predictability of PGD was analyzed based on individual and family characteristics. Reference: Kendler, K. S., Myers, J., & Dick, D. (2015). The stability and predictors of peer group deviance in university students. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 50 (9), 1463-1470. How it was studied:PGD was studied through a short assessment with questioning pertaining to substance use, deviant behavior, personality, family history, and parental education. It was measured in newly arrived university studies and then 6 and 18 months later. What was found:The study found that gender, personality, family history of alcohol, drug problems, religion, and depression are all significant predictors of PGD. Most individuals sought to find peers in the university setting who were similar to the social norms and characteristics present in their high school peer groups. The bottom line:The individual plays a major role in determining PGD. The level of PGD appears to remain relatively stable as students transition from high school to university, selecting peer groups with similar characteristics (aka gender, personality, alcohol and substance use, religion) to themselves and those of past peer groups. AuthorsJonathon Figueroa, Swathi Sambatha, Sam Paek, Melissa Vongjalorn, & Jessica L. Bourdon Media headlines:What the media says:Each article does a fair job at summarizing the main findings of the original scientific study, however, they take rapidly different approaches and tones and are thus messy in opposite ways. Both explain that a study in the United Kingdom found that drinking enough alcohol to get your blood content up to .08% was associated with a decrease in pain (up to 25%) and increase in pain tolerance. Both also stress the dangerous implications of these findings, with the second article, noting that many readers may misinterpret the results as an excuse to drink more. The second article further accuses the study itself of inspiring individuals to potentially become addicted to alcohol. Journal title:What the article actually says:The actual report from the Journal of Pain provides a clear rationale for the meta analysis. The authors properly analyzed the results from all past studies that examined the relationship between alcohol and pain. This is a long and complicated process but was necessary because past studies found mixed evidence that alcohol is a pain reliever. For this current analysis, two measures of pain were used – pain threshold and pain intensity ratings. It was found that alcohol consumption was associated with a small increase in pain threshold and a moderate reduction in pain intensity ratings. These findings are important for understanding how alcohol use disorders develop – they are one piece of a big puzzle. For example, some individuals may drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol to dull physical pain. Why the media is messy:
Bottom line:The purpose of the current study was to better understand the relationship between alcohol and pain. Such information has implications for individuals with alcohol use disorders and the providers who treat them. AuthorsElizabeth C. Long & Jessica L. Bourdon Media headline:What the media says:This media article describes a scientific study which concluded that the more you drink, the more you tend to remember. Specifically, you are likely to remember things that you learned just prior to drinking. The theory behind it is that the hippocampus (the part of the brain that helps with memory) turns recollections of what you learned before drinking into long-term memories instead of short-term ones. Journal title:What the journal article actually says:A controlled experiment was conducted where participants were divided into groups who drank and those who did not. Memory tasks were completed by all participants before the experiment and the day after. The day after the experiment, those who drank exhibited improved memories of information that they were exposed to before drinking compared to no memory improvement in the sober group. There was also a positive correlation between performance and dose of alcohol consumed. It should be noted that before the experiment, both groups had equivalent memory and performance. This means that our brains may store memories into long-term storage when under the influence of alcohol. Why the media is messy:The Forbes article is extremely vague - it fails to recognize the situational details of the experiment and differing factors (e.g., years of education). Thus, the media article is misleading due to the lack of detail and emphasis on a catchy title. Although it is mentioned in both the media and journal articles that the cons of binge drinking outweigh the pros, the title of the Forbes article may serve as encouragement to others to drink heavily for a good memory if they do not fully understand the data presented. Although the body of the article is not necessarily incorrect with the findings, it lacks full transparency with circumstances that can allow proper memory formation. This further leads the audience towards the misconception that they should a) begin heavy drinking or b) that their heavy drinking is justified. Bottom line:According to this study and previous research, there may be a link between alcohol consumption and the performance of memory recollection for information learned prior to drinking alcohol. AuthorsVictoria Wood, Drake Terrell, & Jessica L. Bourdon What was studied and why:This study looked at the relationship between social anxiety and substance use from adolescence to young adulthood. It was previously unclear whether social anxiety made people more or less likely to use alcohol and cigarettes. For example, adolescents and young adults with social anxiety could use substances more to cope with their anxiety, or use them less due to avoidance of social situations where substances are common (i.e., parties). Further, this relationship may change as adolescents grow older and gain more independence over their substance use. The aim of the study was to resolve the question of whether social anxiety is linked to higher or lower substance use by looking at the relationship at different ages and with multiple different measures. Reference: Savage, J.E., Pulkkinen, L., Korhonen, T., Rose, R.J., & Kaprio, J., Verhulst, B. & Dick, D.M., (2016). The effects of social anxiety on substance use across adolescence: Results from a longitudinal study in Finland. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(4): 462-474. How it was studied:Ratings of social anxiety at age 12 and substance use between the ages of 14 and 22 were collected on 1,906 individuals. These ratings were used to predict the frequency of alcohol/cigarette use and related social anxiety at ages 14, 17, and 22. The researchers also looked at whether genetic or environmental factors might be shared between social anxiety and alcohol/cigarette use. What was found:Social anxiety at age 12 predicted a lower frequency of drinking and smoking at each subsequent age. Severe levels of social anxiety at age 22 were linked to a higher likelihood of alcohol dependence but not frequency of alcohol use. There was no evidence that the same genes or environments contributed to both social anxiety levels and alcohol/cigarette use. The bottom line:Socially anxious children are at lower risk for heavy substance use and substance problems in adulthood. Some people with severe adult anxiety may become dependent on alcohol. However, this is more likely a cognitive (coping-related) rather than physical dependence because they tend to drink less frequently overall. For more information:Check out Preventure, a program designed to combat alcohol dependence by targeting childhood risk factors (i.e., anxiety). AuthorsJeanne Savage, Jessica L. Bourdon, Elizabeth C. Long |