%0 Journal Article %J Addiction %D 2012 %T Co-occurrence of sexual risk behaviors and substance use across emerging adulthood: evidence for state- and trait-level associations. %A King, Kevin M %A Nguyen, Hong V %A Kosterman, Rick %A Bailey, Jennifer A %A Hawkins, J D %K Adult %K Alcohol-Related Disorders %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Risk-Taking %K Substance-Related Disorders %K Time Factors %K Unsafe Sex %K Young Adult %X

AIMS:   Prior research has suggested that problematic alcohol and drug use are related to risky sexual behaviors, either due to trait-level associations driven by shared risk factors such as sensation seeking or by state-specific effects, such as the direct effects of substance use on sexual behaviors. Although the prevalence of both high-risk sexual activity and alcohol problems decline with age, little is known about how the associations between substance use disorder symptoms and high-risk sexual behaviors change across young adulthood.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:   Using a community sample (n = 790) interviewed every 3 years from age 21 to age 30 years, we tested trait- and state-level associations among symptoms of alcohol and drug abuse and dependence and high-risk sexual behaviors across young adulthood using latent growth curve models.

MEASUREMENTS:   We utilized diagnostic interviews to obtain self-report of past-year drug and alcohol abuse and dependence symptoms. High-risk sexual behaviors were assessed with a composite of four self-reported behaviors.

FINDINGS:   Results showed time-specific associations between alcohol disorder symptoms and risky sexual behaviors (r = 0.195, P < 0.001), but not associations between their trajectories of change. Conversely, risky sexual behaviors and drug disorder symptoms were associated only at the trait level, not the state level, such that the levels and rate of change over time of both were correlated (r = 0.35, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS:   High-risk sexual behaviors during young adulthood seem to be driven both by trait and state factors, and intervention efforts may be successful if they are either aimed at high-risk individuals or if they work to disaggregate alcohol use from risky sexual activities.

%B Addiction %V 107 %P 1288-96 %8 2012 Jul %G eng %N 7 %R 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03792.x %0 Journal Article %J Psychol Addict Behav %D 2011 %T Changes in self-control problems and attention problems during middle school predict alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use during high school. %A King, Kevin M %A Fleming, Charles B %A Monahan, Kathryn C %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Alcohol Drinking %K Attention %K Child %K Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders %K Female %K Humans %K Internal-External Control %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Models, Psychological %K Self Concept %K Smoking %X

Although deficits in impulse control have been linked to adolescent use of alcohol and illicit drugs, less attention has been given to variability in change in impulse control across adolescence and whether this variability may be a signal of risk for early substance use. The goals of the current study were to examine growth in two aspects of impulse control, self-control problems and attention problems, across middle adolescence, and to test the prospective effects of level and change in these variables on levels and change over time in substance use. Data are from a community sample of 955 adolescents interviewed (along with their parents and teachers) annually from 6th to 11th grade. Results indicated that greater self-control problems and attentional problems in the 6th grade and increases in these problems over time were associated with higher levels of substance use at 11th grade. Our results suggest that modeling change over time enhances the understanding of how impulse control influences the development of substance use.

%B Psychol Addict Behav %V 25 %P 69-79 %8 2011 Mar %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1037/a0021958