In this review, I examine the definition, etiology, measurement, prevention and treatment of workaholism, based on a systematic search of the literature. While there is some debate regarding the parameters of the concept, viewed as a negative consequential addiction, workaholism involves excessive time spent working, preoccupation with work to the exclusion of other life domains, loss of control over the parameters of one’s work and disenchantment with work, and negative social, emotional, and health consequences. The etiology of workaholism is not clear but may pertain to persons with compulsive personality traits, who are driven to work harder than that demanded from work contexts, and who have learned to place work as a main means of gratification compared to other lifestyle alternatives. Most measurement approaches rely on self-report questionnaires, tested primarily with convenience samples. Refinement of current assessments is ongoing. Prevention and treatment implications are discussed, which include intra- and extra-personal level approaches. Finally, limitations of the work completed in this arena are mentioned and needed future research directions are suggested.

Background and aims Anhedonia—a transdiagnostic psychopathological trait indicative of inability to experience pleasure—could lead to and result from adolescent marijuana use, yet this notion has not been tested. This study aimed to estimate the association of: (1) anhedonia at age 14 with rate of change in marijuana use over an 18-month follow-up, and (2) marijuana use at age 14 with rate of change in anhedonia over follow-up. Secondary aims were to test whether gender, baseline marijuana use history, and peer marijuana use moderated these associations. Design Observational longitudinal cohort repeated measures design, with baseline (age 14), 6-month, 12-month, and 18-month follow-up assessments. Settings Ten public high schools in Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2013–2015. Participants Students (N=3,394; 53.5% female, Mean[SD] age at baseline=14.1[0.42]). Measurements Self-report level of anhedonia on the Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale and frequency of marijuana use in the past 30 days. Findings Parallel process latent growth curve models adjusting for confounders showed that baseline anhedonia level was positively associated with the rate of increase in marijuana use frequency across follow-ups (β[95%CI]=.115[.022, .252], P=.03). Baseline marijuana use frequency was not significantly related to the rate of change in anhedonia across follow-ups (β[95%CI]=−.015[−.350, .321], P=.93). The association of baseline anhedonia with faster marijuana use escalation was amplified amongst adolescents with (versus without) friends who used marijuana at baseline (β[95%CI]: .179[.043, .334] versus .064[−.071, .187], interaction P=.04) but did not differ by gender or baseline ever marijuana use. Conclusions In mid adolescence, anhedonia is associated with subsequent marijuana use escalation but marijuana use escalation does not appear to be associated with subsequent anhedonia.

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BackgroundPolytobacco product use is suspected to be common, dynamic across time, and increase risk for adverse behavioral outcomes. We statistically modeled characteristic types of polytobacco use trajectories during mid-adolescence and tested their prospective association with substance use and mental health problems.MethodsAdolescents (N = 3393) in Los Angeles, CA, were surveyed semiannually from 9th to 11th grade. Past 6-month combustible cigarette, e-cigarette, or hookah use (yes/no) over four assessments were analyzed using parallel growth mixture modeling to identify a parsimonious set of polytobacco use trajectories. A tobacco product use trajectory group was used to predict substance use and mental health at the fifth assessment.ResultsThree profiles were identified: (1) tobacco nonusers (N = 2291, 67.5%) with the lowest use prevalence (<3%) of all products across all timepoints; (2) polyproduct users (N = 920, 27.1%) with moderate use prevalence of each product (8–35%) that escalated for combustible cigarettes but decreased for e-cigarettes and hookah across time; and (3) chronic polyproduct users (N = 182, 5.4%) with high prevalence of each product use (38–86%) that escalated for combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Nonusers, polyproduct users, and chronic polyproduct users reported successively higher alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug use and ADHD at the final follow-up, respectively. Both tobacco using groups (vs. nonusers) reported greater odds of depression and anxiety at the final follow-up but did not differ from each other.ConclusionsAdolescent polytobacco use may involve a common moderate risk trajectory and a less common high-risk chronic trajectory. Both trajectories predict substance use and mental health symptomology.ImplicationsVariation in use and co-use of combustible cigarette, e-cigarette, and hookah use in mid-adolescence can be parsimoniously characterized by a small set common trajectory profiles in which polyproduct use are predominant patterns of tobacco product use, which predict adverse behavioral outcomes. Prevention and policy addressing polytobacco use (relative to single product use) may be optimal tobacco control strategies for youth, which may in turn prevent other forms of substance use and mental health problems.

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