Browsing by Author "Henderson, Craig E."
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Item Exercise and Alcohol Consumption: Implicit Associations, Joint Motives, and Actual Behaviors of Both(2016-08) Najjar, Laian Z.; Leasure, J. Leigh; Neighbors, Clayton; Henderson, Craig E.Physical activity has been suggested as a potential intervention for alcohol use disorders (AUD), however, there is conflicting evidence as to its efficacy. This may be due, in part, to the well-established positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol intake, in that drinkers tend to be more active than non-drinkers. Prior studies have focused mainly on the explicit relationship between physical activity (PA) and alcohol consumption (AC); however, potential implicit links between alcohol use and exercise have not been investigated, thus, the overarching objective of this study was to determine whether there is an implicit association between PA and AC. A second objective was to evaluate potential joint motives underlying exercise and drinking (such as celebration), as that may further clarify the alcohol consumption-physical activity relationship. Male and female participants (N=391; 77% female) aged eighteen and above were recruited from two large southwestern universities. Participants completed self-report measures of alcohol frequency and quantity, drinking motives and enjoyment, exercise frequency and intensity, exercise motives and enjoyment, and religious perceptions pertaining to alcohol consumption. To evaluate implicit attitudes, participants took three Implicit Association Tests (IATs). IAT1 tested implicit attitudes toward alcohol consumption and exercise, with targets alcohol/water and attributes exercise/inactivity. IAT2 evaluated implicit drinking identity attitudes, with targets drinker/non-drinker and attributes me/not me. IAT3 examined implicit attitudes towards exercise importance, with targets exercise/rest and attributes important/unimportant. I expected to find a stronger implicit association between exercise and alcohol intake in participants who drink more in quantity and frequency, and those who exercise more intensely and frequently; I also expected the implicit link to be strongest in those who enjoy doing both. Additionally, I hypothesized that the more motivated individuals are to drink, the stronger their implicit drinking identity; and individuals with joint motives for exercise and drinking will have a stronger implicit association between both, and will drink and exercise more. Because religious adherence can affect alcohol perceptions and behaviors, I predicted that non-religious individuals drink and exercise more than religious individuals, and non-religious individuals have a stronger implicit drinking identity than religious individuals. I also hypothesized that non-religious participants’ perceptions toward alcohol use will be more positive than that of religious participants’. Contrary to my central hypotheses, my results yielded no association between implicit attitudes toward physical activity and alcohol use and actual behaviors for both. However, I did find that the more motivated participants are to drink, the stronger their implicit drinking identity; and participants who expressed joint motivation to exercise and drink have a stronger implicit association between exercise and drinking, and tend to consume more alcohol. Interestingly, there were no significant differences between non-religious and religious individuals’ amount and frequency of alcohol consumption, exercise frequency and intensity, or implicit drinking identity, although non-religious individuals’ perceptions toward alcohol use were more positive than those of religious people. Taken together, these findings provide preliminary evidence linking implicit attitudes, joint motives for exercise and drinking, religious perceptions toward alcohol use, and the actual behaviors of exercise and drinking. Having a better understanding of these relationships may help in the development of appropriate exercise-based interventions for AUDs.Item Exercise and alcohol consumption: What we know, what we need to know, and why it is important(Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2015-11) Leasure, J. Leigh; Neighbors, Clayton; Henderson, Craig E.; Young, Chelsie M.Exercise provides a wealth of benefits to brain and body, and is regarded as a protective factor against disease. Protective factors tend to cluster together – that is, people who engage in one healthy behavior, such as exercise, also engage in other healthy behaviors, such as maintaining a nutritious diet and getting sufficient sleep. In contrast to exercise, alcohol consumption is not typically regarded as a health-promoting behavior, although moderate intake has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, several large, population-based studies have shown a positive association between physical activity and alcohol intake. The present review focuses on what is known about this relationship, including potential neural bases as well as moderating factors, and discusses important directions for further study, such as a more thorough characterization of people who both drink and exercise. We focus on ramifications for intervening with people who have alcohol use disorders, as exercise has been assessed as both a treatment and preventive measure, with mixed results. We believe that, in order for such interventions to be effective, clinical trials must distinguish treatment-seeking populations from non-treatment-seeking ones, as well as ensure that the use of exercise as a tool to decrease alcohol consumption is made explicit. We posit that a better understanding of the relationship between physical activity and alcohol intake will maximize intervention efforts by informing the design of clinical trials and research-driven prevention strategies, as well as enable individuals to make educated decisions about their health behaviors.Item Exercise and alcohol consumption: What we know, what we need to know, and why it is important(Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2015) Leasure, J. Leigh; Neighbors, Clayton; Henderson, Craig E.; Young, Chelsie M.Exercise provides a wealth of benefits to brain and body, and is regarded as a protective factor against disease. Protective factors tend to cluster together – that is, people who engage in one healthy behavior, such as exercise, also engage in other healthy behaviors, such as maintaining a nutritious diet and getting sufficient sleep. In contrast to exercise, alcohol consumption is not typically regarded as a health-promoting behavior, although moderate intake has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, several large, population-based studies have shown a positive association between physical activity and alcohol intake. The present review focuses on what is known about this relationship, including potential neural bases as well as moderating factors, and discusses important directions for further study, such as a more thorough characterization of people who both drink and exercise. We focus on ramifications for intervening with people who have alcohol use disorders, as exercise has been assessed as both a treatment and preventive measure, with mixed results. We believe that, in order for such interventions to be effective, clinical trials must distinguish treatment-seeking populations from non-treatment-seeking ones, as well as ensure that the use of exercise as a tool to decrease alcohol consumption is made explicit. We posit that a better understanding of the relationship between physical activity and alcohol intake will maximize intervention efforts by informing the design of clinical trials and research-driven prevention strategies, as well as enable individuals to make educated decisions about their health behaviors.Item WITHIN- AND BETWEEN-PERSON ANALYSES AND POTENTIAL MODERATORS OF THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY-ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION RELATIONSHIP(2020-08) Najjar, Laian Ziad; Leasure, J. Leigh; Neighbors, Clayton; Henderson, Craig E.; Francis, David J.Drinking and physical activity behaviors established during college years may extend well into later adulthood. Counterintuitively, ample evidence demonstrates a positive association between physical activity (PA) and alcohol consumption (AC), in that individuals who drink more engage in more physical activity. Prior work has focused mainly on between-person analyses of the PA-AC association, while only a handful of studies have addressed within-person effects, which may yield a different pattern of the PA-AC relation. Because PA is increasingly recommended as an adjunctive treatment for alcohol use disorders, it is important to get a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between PA and drinking. Notably, recent research has revealed that impulsivity (IMP) moderated the between-person PA-AC association, and the literature suggests that religiosity (REL) is inversely related to alcohol intake. To this end, this project evaluated within- and between-person associations between PA and AC, paying particular attention to the potential moderating influences of IMP and REL. Participants, consisting of 250 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25, were recruited from two Southwestern universities and were asked to take part in a 21-day diary study, documenting their daily PA and AC behaviors. PA was also tracked objectively through a smartphone app. Participants also filled out baseline (Day 1) and follow-up (Day 21) self-report measures of PA, AC, IMP and REL. Data analysis evaluated interactions between AC and PA and the influences of IMP and REL at the daily level (within-person) and at the person level (between-person). Results revealed that PA and AC were unassociated at neither within- nor between-person levels across 21 days. Similarly, PA and AC were unassociated at baseline or at follow-up. Further results revealed an inconsistent pattern of interactions between facets of IMP and PA on drinking outcomes, suggesting differential moderating influences of some of the dimensions of IMP on the PA-AC association. However, no moderating effects of REL on the relationship between PA and AC were found. Findings may help address the challenges behind developing suitable multi-behavior interventions and health guidelines when a health-promoting behavior and a health risk behavior systematically covary among young adults in college.