Risk Behavior of Emerging Adults

Technological development has enabled the use of sophisticated methods for assessing multiple human behaviors. Despite the advantages of these new technologies, concerns exist regarding their equivalence with paper-based measures in epidemiological and health-related surveys. To date, literature on this topic in relation to adolescents is virtually nonexistent. This study compares respondents' performance on the same survey using both paper-and electronic tablet-based assessment methods. A final sample of 135 adolescents (mean age 17.30 years, SD = 0.59; 56.3% males) consecutively completed two versions of the same survey on gambling behaviors and two questionnaires: The Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ) and the South Oaks Gambling Screening-Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA). An ad-hoc questionnaire assessing participants' satisfaction levels with each method was also used. The digital survey yielded a lifetime, past year, and past month gambling prevalence of 54.1%, 45.2%, and 27.4%, respectively. Paper-based prevalence rates were 3.7-5.2% lower (all p < .092) and there were discrepancies in gambling activities. Although the reliability of the questionnaires was high in both formats, total scores were consistently higher in the paper-based format. GMQ and SOGS-RA intraclass correlations between versions ranged from .856-.884. Unexpectedly, students preferred the paper-based survey to the e-assessment (51.5% vs. 48.5%) and also enjoyed it more (31.3% vs 26.1%). Paper-and tablet-based surveys yield different, albeit non-statistically significant, estimations of gambling behaviors even when the same participants were surveyed at one time. We recommend that consistency be routinely checked across assessment formats when adapting paper-and-pencil measures to digital formats.

This paper documents the development and first year evaluation of the TimeWise: Learning Lifelong Leisure Skills curriculum, which aims to increase positive free time use, and mitigate or prevent the initiation of substance use and abuse. The sample was comprised of 634 school youth attending nine middle schools in a rural area in eastern United States. Results from self-report data indicate that students who received the TimeWise curriculum reported being less amotivated and more motivated by identified and introjected forms of motivation. Students in TimeWise reported being better able to restructure boring situations into something more interesting; having higher levels of decision making skills, initiative, community awareness; and participating in new interests, sports, and nature-based activities.

The increase of gambling availability and the inclusion of Gambling disorder as an addiction in DSM-5 highlight the importance of brief screening measures aiming to identify at-risk gamblers. The current study using a brief telephone survey assessed demographic characteristics and gambling behaviors in 2118 adults in the island of Cyprus. Questions were developed based on DSM-5 criteria for Gambling Disorder, and common assessment tools. A percentage of 6% was identified as at-risk gamblers. Male gender, low monthly income, high frequency of gambling behavior, large amounts of money spent and gambling to escape from everyday problems or for amusement, specifically for men, were found to be characteristics that can help in the early identification of at-risk gamblers. Gambling for financial gain and as a way to socialize, birth date (age range), and employment status were not significant predictors of gambling severity. This study shows that the above characteristics can be assessed ...

Leisure is an important developmental context in adolescence and emerging adulthood due to its role promoting healthy development and mitigating risk behavior. Empirical work has focused on the benefits and risks of activities and time use in these life stages, but the influence of subjective perceptions of leisure is often ignored. Furthermore, researchers lack consistent conceptualization of the terms healthy leisure and unhealthy leisure. Given this, the current study used a two-phased qualitative design collecting free-listing (n subjects ¼ 158) and focus group (n subjects ¼ 29; n groups ¼ 4) data on the perceived meanings of healthy leisure and unhealthy leisure in college students. Guided by free-listing results, focus group data were analyzed for commonalities. Descriptors of healthy were restorative, self-determined, and including a social element while unhealthy was excessive, lacked self-control, and included elements of escape. Findings illustrate the challenge of labeling leisure activity as healthy or unhealthy independent of contextual and individual factors and inform measurement development.

Engaging in intrinsically motivated behaviors, both within and outside of the leisure context, is associated with well-being. However, individuals can be driven by multiple types of motivation simultaneously, and the impact of constellations of leisure motivation is relatively unknown. The current study uses South African adolescents in the HealthWise South Africa efficacy trial (N¼2,204; Mage¼14.0) to identify profiles of leisure motivation, examine the association between profiles and substance use, and evaluate the impact of HealthWise on changes in motivation profiles over time. Results indicate three distinct profiles: high consistent motivation, low consistent motivation, and high intrinsic motivation. Members of the high intrinsic profile had the lowest odds of substance use. Profiles were fairly stable across all time points except for females in a high-training intervention school. Results illustrate the importance of identifying and understanding typologies of leisure motivation and health across time, which can be used to promote positive development in adolescents.

Leisure is an important developmental context in adolescence and emerging adulthood due to its role promoting healthy development and mitigating risk behavior. Empirical work has focused on the benefits and risks of activities and time use in these life stages, but the influence of subjective perceptions of leisure is often ignored. Furthermore, researchers lack consistent conceptualization of the terms healthy and unhealthy leisure. Given this, the current study used a two-phased qualitative design collecting free-listing (nsubjects=158) and focus group (nsubjects=29; ngroups=4) data on the perceived meaning of healthy and unhealthy leisure in college students.

This analysis of gambling habits of Canadian university students (ages 18-25) dovetails two recent developments in the field of gambling studies. First, the popularity of Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify heterogeneous classes of gambling patterns in different populations; second, the validation of the Gambling Motives Questionnaire (with financial motives) among university students—specifically to understand both how and why emerging adults gamble. Our results support a four-class model of gambling activity patterns, consisting of female-preponderant casual and chance-based gambling groups, and male-preponderant skill-based and extensive gambling groups. Each class shows a specific combination of motives, underscoring the necessity for nuanced responses to problem gambling among emerging adults. More specifically, gambling for the skill-based group appears primarily to be source of thrill and a way to cope; for the chance-based group, gambling appears but one symptom of a set of wider issues involving depression, anxiety, substance use, and low self-esteem; while extensive gamblers seem to seek excitement, sociality, and coping, in that order. Only the chance-based group was significantly more likely than casual gamblers to be motivated by financial reasons. Situating our analysis in the literature, we suggest that interventions for the predominantly male subtypes should address gambling directly (e.g. re-focusing excitement seeking into other activities, instilling more productive coping mechanisms) while interventions for predominantly female subtypes should address low self-esteem in conjunction with depression, substance abuse, and problematic levels of gambling. We conclude future research should focus on links between self-esteem, depression, substance abuse, and financial motives for gambling among female emerging adults.

There is no agreement about the distinction between pathological, excessive and normal gaming. The present study compared two classifications for defining pathological gaming: the polythetic format (gamers who met at least half of the criteria) and monothetic format (gamers who met all criteria). Associations with mental, health and social issues were examined to assess differences between subgroups of gamers. A representative sample of 5,663 young Swiss men filled in a questionnaire as part of the ongoing Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF). Game use was assessed with the Game Addiction Scale. Mental, social and physical factors (depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, physical and mental health, social and health consequences), gambling and substance use (illicit drug use, alcohol dependence and problematic cannabis use) were also assessed. The results indicated that monothetic gamers shared problems with polythetic gamers, but were even more inclined to mental health issues (depression, anxiety, and aggressiveness) and were more vulnerable to other dependencies like substance use, alcohol dependence or gambling. A second analysis using Latent Class Analysis confirmed the distinction between monothetic and polythetic gamers. These findings support the use of a monothetic format to diagnose pathological gaming and to differentiate it from excessive gaming.

This article reports the findings of an online survey (N = 707) that assessed the predictive power of media use on sexual excitation and inhibition, as conceived by the dual control model (Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002). Media use explained more variance in sexual excitation than inhibition. Moreover, excitation was statistically associated with several media variables (music, network programming, films, Web sites) while inhibition had a statistically robust relationship with music consumption only. In fact, exposure to religious/devotional music was positively and rap/hip-hop was negatively related to sexual inhibition. Advantages of employing the dual control model to media sex research are discussed.

This article reports the findings of an online survey (N = 707) that assessed the predictive power of media use on sexual excitation and inhibition, as conceived by the dual control model (Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002).
Media use explained more variance in sexual excitation than inhibition. Moreover, excitation was statistically associated with several media variables (music, network programming, films, Web sites) while inhibition had a statistically robust relationship with music consumption only. In fact, exposure to religious/devotional music was positively and rap/hip-hop was negatively related
to sexual inhibition. Advantages of employing the dual control model to media sex research are discussed.