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Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
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Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2022) | Viewed by 11012

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Konrad Bresin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departments of Counseling and Human Development and Psychology and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA
Interests: nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality; substance use; aggression; psychopathology; emotion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Addictive behaviors (i.e., behaviors that have short-term benefits, but long-term negative consequences and are difficult to control), such as drug and alcohol use, aggression, and self-injury, are a public health concern. Despite correlations among different addictive behaviors and overlap in etiological models, research on the psychology of addictive behaviors has developed in largely siloed literatures. This lack of integration prevents the development of comprehensive etiological models that can be used to develop more effective interventions to reduce the public health cost of addictive behaviors. This Special Issue is seeking cutting-edge research that can be used to identify common and distinct psychological factors involved in the etiology of addictive behaviors across the spectrum of addictive behaviors. All forms of articles (conceptual, empirical, meta-analysis, etc.) and methodologies are welcome. Recommended topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Drug and alcohol use;
  • Eating disorders (e.g., binge eating);
  • Aggression and violence;
  • Gambling and/or impulsive spending;
  • Self-injury and suicidality;
  • Personality traits related to addictive behaviors;
  • The role of social identities in addictive behaviors (e.g., race, sexual orientation);
  • New methodologies for studying addictive behaviors.

Dr. Konrad Bresin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • substance use
  • aggression and violence
  • psychopathology
  • drug and alcohol use
  • eating disorders
  • gambling and/or impulsive spending
  • addictive behaviors
  • self-injury and suicidality

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1053 KiB  
Article
A National Portrait of Public Attitudes toward Opioid Use in the US: A Latent Class Analysis
by Suzan M. Walters, Weiwei Liu, Phoebe Lamuda, Jimi Huh, Russell Brewer, O’Dell Johnson, Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Bruce Taylor and John A. Schneider
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4455; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054455 - 02 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2358
Abstract
Background: Opioid overdose rates have steadily been increasing in the United States (US) creating what is considered an overdose death crisis. The US has a mixture of public health and punitive policies aimed to address opioid use and the overdose crisis, yet little [...] Read more.
Background: Opioid overdose rates have steadily been increasing in the United States (US) creating what is considered an overdose death crisis. The US has a mixture of public health and punitive policies aimed to address opioid use and the overdose crisis, yet little is known about public opinion relating to opioid use and policy support. Understanding the intersection of public opinion about opioid use disorder (OUD) and policy can be useful for developing interventions to address policy responses to overdose deaths. Methods: A national sample of cross-sectional data from the AmeriSpeak survey conducted from 27 February 2020 through 2 March 2020 was analyzed. Measures included attitudes toward OUD and policy beliefs. Latent class analysis, a person-centered approach, was used to identify groups of individuals endorsing similar stigma and policy beliefs. We then examined the relationship between the identified groups (i.e., classes) and key behavioral and demographic factors. Results: We identified three distinct groups: (1) “High Stigma/High Punitive Policy”, (2) “High Stigma/Mixed Public Health and Punitive Policy”, and (3) “Low Stigma/High Public Health Policy”. People with higher levels of education had reduced odds of being in the “High Stigma/High Punitive Policy” group. Conclusion: Public health policies are most effective in addressing OUD. We suggest targeting interventions toward the “High Stigma/Mixed Public Health and Punitive Policy” group since this group already displays some support for public health policies. Broader interventions, such as eliminating stigmatizing messaging in the media and redacting punitive policies, could reduce OUD stigma among all groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
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14 pages, 2523 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Zonisamide and Ethanol on Various Types of Memory in Rats
by Bogusława Pietrzak, Agata Krupa-Burtnik and Ewa Zwierzyńska
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 1815; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031815 - 18 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1259
Abstract
Background: Antiepileptic drugs might be useful in the treatment of alcohol use disorder. One of these drugs is zonisamide, which has been found to decrease alcohol intake and cravings. An important structure in the pathophysiology of addiction is the hippocampus. Memory deficits, which [...] Read more.
Background: Antiepileptic drugs might be useful in the treatment of alcohol use disorder. One of these drugs is zonisamide, which has been found to decrease alcohol intake and cravings. An important structure in the pathophysiology of addiction is the hippocampus. Memory deficits, which frequently occur in alcoholics, are associated with ethanol-induced changes in hippocampal plasticity and neurogenesis. The aim of this study was to assess the potential protective effect of zonisamide on memory in rats receiving alcohol and after the discontinuation of its administration. Methods: Wistar rats (n = 43) were tested in four behavioral models, namely: Morris water maze (MWM), passive avoidance (PA), contextual fear conditioning (CFC), and cued fear conditioning (CuFC). Results: Zonisamide co-administered with ethanol impaired spatial memory in MWM, but the drug did not affect memory in PA. However, the beneficial effect of zonisamide was observed after the discontinuation of ethanol administration, which was associated with the improvement of associative memory in CFC and the alleviation of alcohol-induced locomotor disturbances in CuFC. Conclusion: Zonisamide has a differential influence on memory, which depends inter alia on type of the memory, length of ethanol administration, or its absence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
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10 pages, 343 KiB  
Article
Should We Be Worried about Smartphone Addiction? An Examination of Canadian Adolescents’ Feelings of Social Disconnection in the Time of COVID-19
by Natasha Parent, Bowen Xiao, Claire Hein-Salvi and Jennifer Shapka
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9365; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159365 - 30 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1931
Abstract
As the COVID-19 global pandemic limited face-to-face social contact, mental health concerns increased for adolescents. Additionally, many adolescents turned to technology to communicate with their peers, which also raised concerns about adolescent smartphone addiction. However, research has yet to examine how mental health [...] Read more.
As the COVID-19 global pandemic limited face-to-face social contact, mental health concerns increased for adolescents. Additionally, many adolescents turned to technology to communicate with their peers, which also raised concerns about adolescent smartphone addiction. However, research has yet to examine how mental health and technology engagement are related to adolescents’ feelings of social connection—an important developmental predictor of wellbeing across the lifespan. Specifically, little is known regarding the relative risk of adolescents’ mental health concerns, a known risk factor for social disconnection and isolation and smartphone addiction in contributing to feelings of social disconnection in the time of COVID-19. The present study investigated how mental health outcomes and smartphone addiction contributed to Canadian adolescents’ (n = 1753) feelings of social disconnection during COVID-19. Between October 2020 and May 2021, data were collected from five secondary schools in and around the lower mainland of British Columbia using an online-administered self-report questionnaire. Adolescents responded to questions about their smartphone addiction, internalizing problems, and an open-ended question about their feelings of connection to others. Findings from logistic regression analyses indicated that depression was a predictor of feeling socially disconnected: however, smartphone addiction was not associated with feelings of social disconnection during COVID-19. Implications of these findings can help inform the development of prevention programs targeting adolescents at risk for social disconnection in times of increased social isolation (e.g., a global pandemic). Specifically, these findings suggest that adolescents higher in depressive symptoms, and not those higher in smartphone addiction, are the ones most at risk. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
11 pages, 1972 KiB  
Article
Exploring Definitions of “Addiction” in Adolescents and Young Adults and Correlation with Substance Use Behaviors
by S. Elisha LePine, Elias M. Klemperer, Julia C. West, Catherine Peasley-Miklus, Caitlin McCluskey, Amanda Jones, Maria Roemhildt, Megan Trutor, Rhonda Williams and Andrea Villanti
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 8075; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138075 - 30 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2188
Abstract
(1) Background: Young people engage in addictive behaviors, but little is known about how they understand addiction. The present study examined how young people describe addiction in their own words and correlations between their definitions and substance use behaviors. (2) Methods: Young adults [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Young people engage in addictive behaviors, but little is known about how they understand addiction. The present study examined how young people describe addiction in their own words and correlations between their definitions and substance use behaviors. (2) Methods: Young adults (n = 1146) in the PACE Vermont Study responded to an open-ended item “what does “addiction” mean?” in 2019. Responses were coded using three inductive categories and fifteen subcategories. Quantitative analyses examined correlations between addiction theme definitions, demographics, and substance use behaviors. (3) Participants frequently defined addiction by physiological (68%) and psychological changes (65%) and less by behavioral changes (6%), or all three (3%); young adults had higher odds of defining addiction as physiological or behavioral changes than adolescents. Participants who described addiction as “psychological changes” had lower odds of ever electronic vapor product use (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.57–1.00) than those using another definition, controlling for age and sex. (4) Perceptions of addiction in our sample aligned with existing validated measures of addiction. Findings discriminated between familiar features of addiction and features that may be overlooked by young adults. Substance users may employ definitions that exclude the symptoms they are most likely to experience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
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12 pages, 353 KiB  
Article
Substance Use, Health, and Adverse Life Events amongst Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Users in North East England: A Cross-Sectional Study
by Emma Audrey Adams, Liam Spencer, Michelle Addison, William McGovern, Hayley Alderson, Mark Adley, Ruth McGovern, Eilish Gilvarry, Eileen Kaner and Amy O’Donnell
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 6996; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19126996 - 07 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1952
Abstract
Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are the second most commonly used class of illicit drugs globally, yet there is limited understanding of which factors contribute to different pathways of ATS use. We sought to compare current, former, and exposed non-ATS users’ substance use, mental/physical health, [...] Read more.
Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are the second most commonly used class of illicit drugs globally, yet there is limited understanding of which factors contribute to different pathways of ATS use. We sought to compare current, former, and exposed non-ATS users’ substance use, mental/physical health, and adverse life experiences. A cross-sectional survey, using computer-assisted personal interview software, was conducted between June 2018 and March 2019 in North East England. Quota-based sampling was used to recruit 389 individuals (aged 18 to 68; 52.6% male): 137 current ATS users; 174 former users; and 78 exposed non-users. Standardized screening questionnaires captured current/prior substance use. Participants self-reported diagnoses of selected physical and mental health disorders and specific adverse life experiences. Analysis used descriptive statistics and comparative tests (including chi-square, Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U). Early exposure to illicit substances, challenging mental health, and certain adverse life experiences (such as growing up in statutory care) were more common in individuals currently using ATS compared to those who had never used or stopped using stimulants. Multi-level interventions are needed that address the mental health, social, and economic needs of people with dependent drug use. These could include targeted efforts to support children growing up under care, integrated mental health and substance use support, and joined-up substance use interventions reflective of wider structural factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
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