Author: Michelle Villar

01 Mar ReACH Lab Members Accepted to CPA Conference

Congratulations are in order for ReACH Lab Graduate Students Julie Cristello and Sarah Hartmann and ReACH Lab Intern Nathalie del Valle after being accepted to the Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction (CPA) 2021 Virtual Conference!

Julie will be presenting her poster titled “Injunctive Norms as a Mediator Between Alcohol and Marijuana Instagram Exposure and Use Intentions”, which found that perceived friend approval significantly mediated the associations between exposure to Instagram content by peers and influential figures and alcohol and marijuana use intentions. 

Sarah will be presenting her poster titled “The Use of Cognitive Interviews to Aid in the Development of a Measure to Assess Quantity and Frequency of Adolescent E-Cigarette Use”, which, using data from phase 1 of cognitive interviews, found that current pictures of e-cigarette products are outdated and that some terms specific to e-cigarettes are unfamiliar to participants. Phase 2 of the interviews will include measure refinements that will address these issues and help provide accurate assessment of adolescent e-cigarette quantity and frequency of use.

Nathalie will be presenting her poster titled “Examining Caregiver-Adolescent Rule-Breaking Discrepancies as a Mediator in the Association Between Parental Monitoring and Adolescent E-Cigarette Use”, which found that as parental knowledge and child disclosure decrease, the discrepancy size increases, and as the discrepancy increases, adolescent e-cigarette use increases.

Congratulations to these three lab members on their exciting research findings and acceptances!

08 Feb ReACH Lab Director, Alongside ReACH Lab Graduate Student, Publish Article on Cancer Prevention Pricing Interventions

ReACH LAB Director, Dr. Elisa Trucco, alongside ReACH Lab Graduate Student, Julie Cristello, M.S., and colleagues at East Carolina University, University of Glasgow, University College London, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have published an article titled “Message framing to inform cancer prevention pricing interventions in the UK and US: A factorial experiment, 2019”. The investigators aimed to advance research in message framing, and how this can maximize public support to change pricing policies for alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks/food, in the hopes of preventing consumption of cancer-causing products. The field of message framing “suggests that how information is presented changes how it is received and interpreted,” with support indicating that message framing can play an important role in implementation of policy changes. The study used samples drawn from both the UK and US population and was evenly split across the two countries and sex, with a total of 1,805 participants included in the study. The study prompted participants to answer questions regarding policies on alcohol, tobacco, and sugary food/drink products. The first finding of the study found that none of the three policies tested (taxes, minimum pricing, and getting rid of discounts) had an impact on public support for the three products. The study did find frames relating to children showed promise, suggesting that mentioning or including children in the message regarding policy had higher levels of support. There was also evidence that messages about tobacco products resulted in more support for raising the price of products compared to alcohol or sugary drinks/food. These results “may indicate that efforts to ‘denormalize’ tobacco products have yet to translate to alcohol and sugary drinks/foods efforts,” and furthermore are significant for public health policy advocates, who should consider framing messages focused on protecting children and learning from efforts to address tobacco use. The results of this study highlights the importance of “bridging the research-practice gap” between research on message framing and how advocacy groups message to the public. 

25 Jan ACE Project Joins Panel Discussion about Recruiting Study Participants During COVID-19

On January 15th, 2021, ACE Project Program Coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Departments of Dietetics and Nutrition and Epidemiology of Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, FIU Research Center in Minority Institutions (FIU-RCMI), and Center for Research on U.S Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA). The topic of the Panel Discussion was about recruiting study participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. 13 panelists each held 5-minute presentations on different research studies at FIU, discussing their greatest challenges in recruiting study participants in the context of COVID-19 and on their successful strategies/adjustments implemented in response to these challenges to over 90 attendees. Nasreen discussed three main components of the ACE project that involved in-person interactions with participants prior to COVID-19 and how they have been adapted. High school presentations and questionnaire visits are now being completed remotely over Zoom. Given that MRI appointments need to be completed in person, new procedures have been implemented at the Center for Imaging Science (CIS) following CDC recommendations to maintain safety. Participants undergo a rigorous screening process prior to being invited to campus. Staff meet participants at their vehicle to complete temperature checks and provide masks and sanitizer. In addition, the center is thoroughly sanitized in between visits and only one family is able to enter the center at a time for the MRI visit. The ACE team has implemented many new strategies to ensure their participant retention remains at maximum level. The full panel discussion can be viewed here.

12 Jan ReACH Lab Members Accepted to Present at SRCD and SRA Conferences

Congratulations are in order for a large portion of the ReACH Lab! ACE Project Graduate Research Assistant, Benjelene Sutherland, ACE Project Senior Research Assistant, Brigitte Madan, and ReACH Lab Manager and Research Assistant, Michelle Villar, have all been accepted to virtually present at the Society for Research on Adolescence’s 2021 conference. Benjelene will present her poster titled “The Synergistic Effect of Low Self‐Control and Internalizing Symptoms on Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use Intentions”, Brigitte will present her poster titled “Outcome Expectancies Mediate the Impact of Hopelessness and Impulsivity on E‐Cigarette use Intentions” and Michelle will present her posters titled “Anxiety Mediates the Association Between Neural Emotional Responsivity and Problem Alcohol Use in Adolescence” and “Internalizing Pathways to Adolescent Substance Use from Adverse Childhood Experiences”. 

Additionally, ReACH Lab Graduate Students Julie Cristello, Nilofar Fallah-Sohy, and Sarah Hartmann, as well as ReACH Lab Manager and Research Assistant Michelle Villar and ReACH Lab Post-Bac Research Assistant Maria Zapata, have been accepted to the Society for Research in Child Development’s 2021 virtual conference. Julie will be presenting a poster titled “Can Caregiver Smartphone use Predict Child and Caregiver Mental Health? An Application of Machine Learning” as well as a paper written with Nilofar titled “Do Adolescent and Caregiver Media use Moderate the Association Between COVID-19 Fears and Adolescent Anxiety?” Nilofar will also be presenting her own paper titled “Do Acculturative Gap Conflicts Impact Parenting Practices and Youth E-Cigarette Use? Tests of Moderated Mediation”, while Sarah will present her paper titled “Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use: Dimensions and Typologies of Temperament.” Michelle will be presenting a paper titled “Adverse Childhood Experiences, Sleep Problems, Low Self-Control, and Delinquency: A Longitudinal Serial Mediation Analysis” while Maria will be presenting her paper titled “Social Goals Moderate the Relation Between Friend Use and Approval and Adolescent Intentions to Initiate Substance Use.”

A great way to start off the new year ReACH Lab! 

18 Dec ReACH Lab Graduate Student Featured as Panelist on Research Society on Alcoholism Webinar

ReACH Lab 4th-year graduate student, Julie Cristello, was featured as a panelist for the “Interviewing Skills” webinar hosted by the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA). The RSA webinar featured a wide range of panelists and offered general interviewing tips for potential graduate school applicants. Panelists were prompted to answer questions such as “How should interviewees handle being asked the same/similar questions by multiple interviewers in a day?” or “What should interviewees expect for a virtual interview? How should they prepare for virtual interviews and what kinds of questions should they ask given that they are missing out on the “live” interview experience?”

To learn more about the Research Society on Alcoholism, please visit their website.

17 Dec ReACH Lab Intern Earns Early Admission to Stanford University

Congratulations are in order for ReACH Lab intern Nathalie del Valle after being offered admission through Stanford’s Restrictive Early Action process. Nathalie plans on studying psychology and computer science at Stanford University and is particularly interested in how the university combines psychology with STEM, specifically ongoing research projects at Stanford working on artificial intelligence. As a high-school student, Nathalie co-founded a guidance program for other high-schoolers conducting research projects through AP Capstone (a diploma program from the College Board) and has completed environmental community service projects. She has been an intern with the ReACH Lab for over 2 years and has worked with numerous staff and graduate students on her own research project that focus on how disagreement between parents and their children on symptoms is related to the child’s future drug use. She hope to expand on her interests at Stanford, and explore other unique areas of research. 

The ReACH Lab is very proud of you Nathalie, we can’t wait to see what your future holds!

09 Dec ReACH Lab Director Publishes Article Investigating the Impact of Peers and Parents on Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use

ReACH Lab director Dr. Elisa Trucco, along with ReACH Lab graduate student Julie Cristello and ACE Project Co-PI Dr. Matthew Sutherland, recently published an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health titled “Do Parents Still Matter? The Impact of Parents and Peers on Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use.” Researchers used data from the ongoing ACE Project using a sample of e-cigarette naive adolescents (i.e. teens who have not used e-cigarettes) to examine whether parental attitudes towards e-cigarettes impacted adolescent e-cigarette intentions, future e-cigarette use, and positive expectancies of use, while accounting for peer norms and adolescent attitudes. Results found that, while peer norms were associated with positive expectancies of e-cigarette use, positive expectancies did not mediate the association between peer norms and later e-cigarette use.  These findings indicate that, while peer norms contribute to positive expectancies adolescents develop about e-cigarettes, this may not suffice to influence actual e-cigarette use. Furthermore, it may be that parental influence ultimately buffers the effect of peer norms and positive expectancies on a teen’s decision to engage in e-cigarette use. Results found that parents’ perceptions of the harms of e-cigarette use not only influence adolescent e-cigarette use intentions (when controlling for adolescent attitudes and perceived peer norms), but also predict lower rates of e-cigarette use via e-cigarette use intentions. Results from the study indicate that parents still play an active role in influencing early stages of e-cigarette use among their adolescent children. Implementing school-based e-cigarette education programs, consisting of youth-, parent-, and teacher-modules, and promoting effective and frequent parental communication with youth regarding e-cigarettes, may be useful in reducing e-cigarette intentions and increasing harmful perceptions of e-cigarettes.

25 Nov CDC Reports United States E-Cigarette Sales Increased by 300%

According to an article published by “CNN Health,” the Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC) has reported an increase of about 300% in the sales of e-cigarettes. The CDC report revealed a 294% increase in sales between November 2016 to August 2019 and a 122% increase from September 2014 to May 2020. In February 2020, the Trump administration endorsed a “flavor ban,” allowing the FDA to enforce regulations on flavored vaping products. However, some of the vaping flavor products were exempt from this rule, such as tobacco and menthol. This exemption brought concern to many health experts due to the increased probability of redirecting users to the more available products. The CDC now reports that disposable e-cigarettes made up about 20% of product sales, where tobacco and menthol flavors dominated the pre-filled cartridge market. Matthew Meyers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says “kids have shifted dramatically to the menthol and disposable e-cigarettes left on the market under the Trump Administration policy.” It is known that vaping companies have found loopholes in the system allowing them to continue selling flavored products under the radar, contributing to the epidemic. A collective statement released by The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Truth Initiative reads “Youth e-cigarette use has skyrocketed to epidemic levels and millions of kids have been put at risk of nicotine addiction. The cause of this crisis is clear: tobacco companies have lured kids with appealing flavors and hooked them with massive doses of nicotine. The FDA must act decisively to stop them.”

17 Nov CDC Report Finds Increase in Adverse Mental Health Outcomes and Substance Use Linked to COVID-19

A report published by the CDC in August of this year highlights adverse outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report found that symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders were significantly higher in the United States from April-June of this year, compared to 2019, indicating that the increase is due in part to the challenges related to COVID-19. The CDC assessed mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation with representative panel surveys on a sample of over five thousand adults 18 and older across the United States. Of the sample, 40.9% of participants reported at least “one adverse mental or behavioral health condition,” such as symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder (30.9%) and having started or increased substance use in order to “cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19” (13.3%). The percentage of respondents who reported seriously considering suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey (10.7%) was higher among younger respondents, Latinx or Black respondents, unpaid caregivers for adults, and essential workers. The report suggests community-level intervention and prevention efforts to specifically target these groups in order to address various mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. 

11 Nov Study Observes Long-Term Health Effects of Vaping on Youth

The number of individuals using e-cigarettes has dramatically increased over the years, reaching the current status of an epidemic. Despite this alarming rate, the devices and their health consequences on the adolescent population are rarely studied. According to an article published by “News Medical Life Sciences,” an estimate of about 9.6% of eighth graders are vaping, 19.9% of tenth graders are vaping, and 25.5% of twelfth graders are vaping. A group of researchers, led by Associate Director of Research for the Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Robinder Khemani, MD, MSci, is bound to find new evidence on the health effects of e-cigarette use in adolescent populations. The team plans to focus on the new condition defined by the Center for Disease control—EVALI, which means “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated injury.” This ongoing study is phase II of the clinical trials he is already leading—REDvent (“Real-time- Effort Driven VENTilator)—which tests a new method for ventilator therapy on patients. About 90% of the patients involved in the trial have had pediatric acute respiratory disease (PARDS), causing leakage into the lungs which makes it hard for the individual to breathe. The study is focused on children and adolescents at the intensive care unit who have PARDS, and examines if “the lung injury experienced from vaping is similar to lung injury resulting from other PARDS triggers.” A very unique factor of this study is its research in the health consequences of secondary exposure of vaping and whether or not it increases the probability of more severe lung injury when diagnosed with PARDS. Dr. Kehmani and his team hope to “debunk the myth that vaping is benign.”