Background Pierce’s (The Black seventies: an extending horizon book, 1970) conception of “subtle and stunning” daily racial offenses, or microaggressions, remains salient even 50 years after it was introduced. Microaggressions were defined further by Sue and colleagues (Am Psychol 62:271, 2007), and this construct has found growing utility as the deleterious effects of microaggressions on the health of people of color continues to mount. Microaggressions are common on campuses and contribute to negative social, academic, and mental health outcomes. Method This paper explores how Black college students’ experiences correspond to or differ from the microaggression types originally proposed by Sue et al. (Am Psychol 62:271, 2007). Themes were identified from focus group data of students of color (N = 36) from predominately White institutions (PWIs) of higher learning (N = 3) using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results We identified 15 categories of racial microaggressions, largely consistent with the original taxonomy of Sue et al. but expanded in several notable ways. New categories in our data and observed by other researchers, included categories termed Connecting via Stereotypes, Exoticization and Eroticization, and Avoidance and Distancing. Lesser studied categories identified included Sue et al.’s Denial of Individual Racism, and new categories termed Reverse Racism Hostility, Connecting via Stereotypes, and Environmental Attacks. Discussion While previous literature has either embraced the taxonomy developed by Sue and colleagues or proposed a novel taxonomy, this study synthesized the Sue framework in concert with our own focus group findings and the contributions of other researchers. Improving our understanding of microaggressions as they impact people of color may better allow for improved understanding and measurement of this important construct.

Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce’s conception of “subtle and stunning” daily racial offenses, or microaggressions, remains salient even 50 years after it was introduced. Microaggressions were defined further by Sue and colleagues in 2007, and this construct has found growing utility as the deleterious effects of microaggressions on the health of people of color continues to mount. Many studies seek to frame microaggressions in terms of a taxonomic analysis of offender behavior to inform the assessment of and interventions for the reduction of racial microaggressions. This article proposes an expansion and refinement of Sue et al.’s taxonomy to better inform such efforts. We conducted a review of published articles that focused on qualitative and quantitative findings of microaggressions taxonomies ( N = 32). Sixteen categories of racial microaggressions were identified, largely consistent with the original taxonomy of Sue et al. but expanded in several notable ways. Building on our prior research, other researchers supported such new categories as tokenism, connecting via stereotypes, exoticization and eroticization, and avoidance and distancing. The least studied categories included the denial of individual racism from Sue et al., and newer categories included reverse-racism hostility, connecting via stereotypes, and environmental attacks. A unified language of microaggressions may improve understanding and measurement of this important construct.

ObjectivesThe Timeline Followback (TLFB) was originally developed to assess alcohol consumption patterns (American Journal of Public Health, 86, 1996, 966) and has been increasingly modified for Web‐based use. Additionally, new modes of substance use administration have emerged, creating a need for an adaptable TLFB tool than can capture data such as cannabis product potency or prescription drug use. Our goal was to validate an online TLFB that reliably assesses a wide range of substances in greater detail.MethodsUsing a within‐subjects counterbalanced design, daily substance use data were collected from 50 college students over a 14‐day retrospective period using both the traditional in‐person TLFB and online TLFB (O‐TLFB).ResultsAll substance use variables, including detailed measures of cannabis metrics, correlated significantly (r's ranged from .653 to .944, p < .001) between TLFB versions. Further, results demonstrated that both the online TLFB and in‐person TLFB demonstrated concurrent validity with both the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Marijuana Dependence Scale (MDS).ConclusionOverall, the data suggest that this new O‐TLFB demonstrates strong reliability and delivers a versatile and secure tool for substance use assessment that is relevant to a variety of biomedical and psychological research contexts.

Issues The Cannabis sativa L. plant contains hundreds of phytocannabinoids, but putatively of highest importance to public health risk is the psychoactive cannabinoid delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is associated with risk for cannabis use disorder, affective disturbance, cognitive harm and psychomotor impairment. Recently, there has been an increase in the use and availability of concentrated cannabis products (or ‘concentrates’) that are made by extracting cannabinoids from the plant to form a product with THC concentrations as high as 90–95%. These products are increasingly popular nationwide. The literature on these widely available high potency concentrates is limited and there are many unknowns about their potential harms. Approach This review covers the state of the research on cannabis concentrates and behavioural health‐related outcomes and makes recommendations for advancing the science with studies focused on accurately testing the risks in relation to critical public and behavioural health questions. Key Findings Data point to unique behavioural health implications of concentrate use. However, causal, controlled and representative research on the effects of cannabis concentrates is currently limited. Implications Future research is needed to explore chronic, acute and developmental effects of concentrates, as well as effects on pulmonary function. We also highlight the need to explore these relationships in diverse populations. Conclusion While the literature hints at the potential for these highly potent products to increase cannabis‐related behavioural health harms, it is important to carefully design studies that more comprehensively evaluate the impact of concentrates on THC exposure and short‐ and long‐term effects across user groups.

Emotional bias in explicit memory is theorized to play a prominent role in the etiology, maintenance, and recurrence of depression. Even though this cognitive bias is regarded as one of the most robust phenomena in depression, its magnitude and boundary conditions in depression are currently unknown. This review presents two three-level meta-analyses to estimate the overall effect size and identify moderators of explicit memory bias in depression. Meta-analysis I (153 studies, 686 contrasts) revealed a small overall effect size for naturalistic explicit memory bias in depression, g = 0.241, 95% CI [0.179, 0.304]. The magnitude of the overall effect was moderated by emotional valence of stimuli, operational definition of memory bias, depth of processing during encoding, explicit memory task, and the (non-)verbal nature of stimuli. Equivalent effect sizes were found for minors and adults as well as for clinical and subclinical depression. Remarkably, a nonsignificant effect size emerged for remitted depression. Following up on the latter finding, Meta-analysis II (21 studies, 80 contrasts) examined explicit memory bias in remitted depression under naturalistic conditions and under mood/stress induction. Results yielded a nonsignificant overall effect size, g = 0.131, 95% CI [−0.045, 0.307], but a significant effect size for study conditions with mood or stress induction, g = 0.273, 95% CI [0.004, 0.542]. Both meta-analyses indicated high levels of heterogeneity, even after accounting for variation explained by sample and study characteristics. The findings are consistent with the view that depression is characterized by an explicit memory bias that may persist beyond a depressive episode. These findings have implications for cognitive theories of vulnerability to depression as well as clinical interventions.