Jeff M. Housman

Consumption of Sport-Related Dietary Supplements Among NCAA Division 1 Female Student Athletes

OBJECTIVES To determine factors that influence sport-related dietary supplement consumption among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes and to estimate the plausibility of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for predicting the use of sport-related dietary supplements among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes. METHOD Self-report data were collected by questionnaire from 207 NCAA Division 1 female student athletes. Parameter estimates of 3 TPB-based models were calculated using Mplus software. RESULTS The TPB-based models explained 64-66% and 18% of variance in behavioral intention and behavior, respectively, with subjective norm being the strongest predictor of dietary supplement consumption intention. CONCLUSIONS Results support plausibility for the TPB to predict sport-related dietary supplement consumption among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes.

Increased Energy Drink Use as a Predictor of Illicit Prescription Stimulant Use.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine energy drink usage patterns and to investigate the relationship between energy drink use and illicit use of prescription stimulants among college students. METHODS A sample of 605 undergraduate and graduate students (mean age±SD: 21.96±4.216) from a large midwestern university voluntarily participated in the study. RESULTS Of the participants, 48.9% (n=296) reported using energy drinks in the past 30 days, whereas 25.3% (n=153) reported using prescription stimulant drugs in the past 30 days. Among prescription stimulant users without a valid medical prescription, Mann-Whitney U tests and logistic regression analysis revealed that the frequency of energy drink consumption was a significant predictor of illicit prescription stimulant use, with the odds for use increasing by 14% with each additional day of energy drink use (odds ratio for using=1.143, P≤.001). Analyses revealed statistically significant differences (P<.05) between prescription stimulant users and nonusers for all energy drink use variables, with the strongest predictors of prescription stimulant use being the number of days using energy drinks in the past 30 days and number of energy drink binges in the past 30 days. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that the frequency of energy drink use was a significant predictor of the illicit use of prescription stimulants.

Conceptualizing and Implementing a Professional Development Pilot Program for Public School Teachers to Strengthen Sexuality Education

Professional development and training efforts are essential components of effective and evidence-based approaches for educators to teach sexuality education. Public school teachers, with and without health professional preparation, are often assigned to teach sexuality units with limited training. Although sexuality-based curriculum trainings have been available to educators, they are rarely implemented for school teachers at the local, regional, or state levels. This article presents a framework for planning and implementing a professional development opportunity for public school teachers occurring outside the school setting. The authors describe a professional training, called the Sexuality Education Academy, developed to assist Texas school health professionals working with students in grades kindergarten through 12 to understand the importance of using evidence-based tools, resources, and practices in their classroom regarding sexuality education. The Sexuality Education Academy approach holds promise for professional development efforts in sexuality education, in addition to evaluating interventions to ensure accurate implementation of evidence-based sexuality education.

High-Risk Driving Behaviors Among 12th Grade Students: Differences Between Alcohol-Only and Alcohol Mixed With Energy Drink Users

ABSTRACT Background: About 30% of high school students use energy drinks. Alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) has been associated with higher rates of risky driving among college students. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to: (a) examine AmED-use in a sample of high school students and (b) to specifically investigate differences in risky driving behaviors between 12th grade students who engaged in AmED-use and those who consumed alcohol only. Methods: Differences in risky driving behaviors were investigated by utilizing secondary data analyses of nationally representative data from the Monitoring the Future Study (N = 1305). Results: 12th grade AmED users were significantly more likely to be in a motor vehicle accident (p <.001) and receive a ticket for a traffic violation (p <.05). Additionally, 12th grade AmED users were significantly less likely to wear a seatbelt as a driver or passenger (p <.001). Conclusions/Importance: Although this study does not link risky driving behaviors to specific drinking events, it does indicate a relationship between AmED-use and high-risk driving. Because traffic accidents are the highest cause of mortality among U.S. teenagers, drug education efforts to reduce high-risk driving behaviors should include information on the decision-making and synergistic effects of energy drinks when mixed with alcohol.

Age at First Use of Energy Drinks Associated With Risky Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among College Students

ABSTRACT Age at first use has been extensively studied in various substances, but remains unexplored in energy drinks. Recent studies suggest adolescent energy drink consumption is linked to alcohol misuse and high-risk motor vehicle behaviors. This study examined energy drink age at first use and high-risk motor vehicle behaviors among a sample (N = 468) of college students. Consumption of energy drinks at an earlier age predicted high-risk motor vehicle behaviors including driving after having too much alcohol, driving with a perceived blood alcohol content above the .08 limit, and knowingly choosing to ride with someone who had consumed too much alcohol. However, when controlling for various 30-day drinking behaviors, age at first energy drink use significantly predicted only driving with a perceived blood alcohol content above the .08 limit (p < .05), while number of days drunk during the past 30 days was shown to be a stronger predictor (p < .05) for all three high-risk driving behaviors.

Depressive symptomology management and falls among middle aged and older adults

Objectives: This study aims to examine the relationship between middle-aged and older adults’ depressive symptomology and anti-depressant use and the frequency of falls within the previous 12 months, controlling for sociodemographic variables, health indicators, and health behaviors. Method: From the 2010 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, 2338 cases were examined. Falls were categorized into a binary variable, comparing zero falls with one or more falls. An unadjusted model was run to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Potential covariates were added into the model, and backward elimination was used among independent variables with a univariate P < 0.05 to identify the covariates with the strongest association with falls. This final adjusted binary logistic regression model was then used to examine the relationship between falls and the independent variables. Results: In the adjusted model, anti-depressant use was positively associated with falls (P = 0.001), as was being female (P < 0.001), having diabetes (P = 0.018), and having increased limitations in daily activities (P < 0.001). The relationship between depressive symptomology and anti-depressant prescription was also significantly associated with falls (P = 0.006). Conclusion: While findings confirm that a relationship between depressive symptomology and anti-depressant use are associated with falls among middle-aged and older adults, additional studies are needed that simultaneously examine the influence of these two risk factors.

Urban and Rural Adolescents’ Points-of-Access for Alcohol and Tobacco

The purpose of this study was to examine alcohol and tobacco access points among a sample of rural and urban youth. Through collaboration with four regional school districts, a local drug prevention coalition administered a survey to a sample of 445 youth representing 30 different communities in a central U.S. region. The survey items included demographics, 30-day use measures, and questions about points-of-access for alcohol and tobacco. Results showed no differences among points-of-access between urban and rural youth. Ability to obtain alcohol from family, peers, other non-peer youth, and other non-family adults (P < 0.05) were each statistically significant predictors of 30-day alcohol use. Ability to obtain tobacco from family, peers, other non-peer youth, other non-family adults, and self-purchase (P < 0.05) were statistically significant predictors of 30-day tobacco use. Access through peers was the strongest predictor for both 30-day alcohol and tobacco use. Determining the primary social points-of-access youth use to obtain alcohol and tobacco can assist in the development of appropriate community-level prevention strategies and policies.

Adolescent Energy Drink Use Related to Intake of Fried and High-sugar Foods.

OBJECTIVE We assessed the relationship between energy drinks, fried food, and high-sugar food consumption. METHODS Secondary analyses including Mann-Whitney U, Cohens d and effect sizes were used to examine 7-day intakes of energy drinks, fried foods, and high-sugar foods among teenagers (N = 1570) who participated in the 2014 FLASHE Study. RESULTS Energy drink consumption during the past 7 days was reported by 14.4% (N = 226) of participants. Those who reported consumption of energy drinks in the past 7 days were more likely to eat various fried and high-sugar foods than those who did not report past 7-day energy drink consumption. These foods include candy (p < .001), cake (p = .011), desserts (p < .001), sugary cereal (p < .001), fried potatoes (p < .001), fried chicken (p < .001), and chips (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS Energy drink consumption among adolescents may be linked to other high-risk nutrition intake behaviors, specifically increased consumption of fried and high-sugar foods. This study adds to the growing number of recent studies highlighting the multiple behavioral risks associated with early energy drink use. Health promotion and nutrition education efforts should focus on delaying early consumption of energy drinks among adolescents.