No abstract

Perceived public stigma regarding seeking mental health treatment seeking can be a barrier to accessing services for young adults. While factors associating with personal stigma regarding how one would view and treat others have been identified, the discrepancies between perceived and personal stigma has received less research attention. We designed the current study to expand on previous research and examine the discrepancies between perceived public stigma and personal stigma among a sample of 386 primarily White and Asian college students. Participants completed surveys of mental health symptoms, treatment experience and attitudes, perceived public, and personal stigma. Overall, participants generally reported greater perceived public stigma than personal stigma; an effect that was particularly evident for women and those with mental health symptoms. The majority of participants disagreed with items assessing personal stigma. Negative attitudes toward treatment and anxiety symptoms associated with perceived public stigma, while male gender, Asian ethnicity, and negative attitudes toward treatment associated with personal stigma. Findings have implications for interventions and marketing programs to help change perceptions about mental health stigma to encourage utilization of services for those young people who could benefit from care.

Prepartying, also known as pre-gaming, has emerged as a high-risk drinking event among U.S. college students. Research on factors related to prepartying behavior is in its relative infancy. The present study provides prevalence rates for prepartying across ethnic groups and examines how social context (whether prepartying took place with primarily male, female, or coed groups) and demographic factors may influence prepartying behavior. Participants were students from two West Coast universities (N = 2,546) whom identified as White, Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA), Hispanic/Latino(a), or African American. The percentage of students who reported prepartying at least once in the past month, as well as the frequency and number of drinks consumed for prepartying occasions, varied by ethnic group and sex. A greater proportion of White students (60%) reported prepartying than Hispanic/Latino(a) (52%), African American (44%), and APIA (37%) students, though Hispanic/Latino(a) students who prepartied did so as often and consumed similar amounts of alcohol as White prepartiers. Across all ethnic groups, females who reported prepartying in coed groups consumed significantly more drinks than those who prepartied in primarily female groups. Finally, prepartiers within all ethnic groups consumed more drinks per week and experienced a higher number of alcohol-related consequences than non-prepartiers. The results suggest that future research and prevention programs should target prepartying and other high-risk events in at-risk students of ethnically diverse backgrounds and also consider the effects of gender in prepartying contexts on alcohol use.

Objective Sleep problems and alcohol misuse are common issues experienced by college students that can have detrimental effects on overall health. Previous work indicates a strong relationship between poor sleep quality and alcohol risk in this population. This study explored the moderating effect of drinking motives in the relationship between global sleep quality and experience of alcohol-related negative consequences. Participants College students (N = 1,878) who reported past-month drinking. Methods Participants completed online surveys assessing sleep and alcohol-related behaviors. Results Poorer sleep quality and higher drinking motives (coping, conformity, and enhancement) predicted greater alcohol-related consequences, controlling for drinking. Further, coping motives moderated the relationship between sleep quality and consequences such that participants reporting poor sleep and high coping motives experienced heightened levels of consequences. Conclusions These findings advance the understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and alcohol-related risk and provide implications for targeted campus-based health promotion interventions.