Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Modeling Substance Use And Mental Disorder Comorbidity Using Latent Variable And Network Approaches, Courtney T. Blondino

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction. Substance use disorder (SUD) is a common condition that affects millions of Americans. Addressing SUD has been complicated by comorbid mental disorders and co-occurring substance use. Consequently, detailing and addressing SUD and comorbid SUD represent an important goal to improve the health of Americans.

Objective. The research goal of this dissertation was to characterize the comorbidity between substance use, including tobacco use, and mental disorder symptoms measured as negative affect and externalizing symptoms in a population-based sample using latent variable and network approaches.

Methods. Waves 1 – 3 from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study were used. …

Reducing Disparities In Smoking For Adults With Mental Illness: Are U.S. Tobacco Prevention Policies Effective?, L. Morgan Snell

Theses and Dissertations

One in five people in the U.S. are estimated to experience “any mental illness” (AMI); however this group represents an estimated 40% of the annual, adult cigarette consumption in the U.S. Tobacco prevention policies have been successful at reducing smoking prevalence among the U.S. population as a whole, however it is unclear whether these efforts have had significant impact on tobacco use rates among individuals with AMI. The three papers that comprise this project combined longitudinal, nationally-representative data and online behavioral experiments from U.S. adults to compare demand for cigarettes among adult smokers with and without AMI. Taken together, our …

The Effect Of Advertising On Attitudes Toward Tobacco Use And Decisions About Smoking Among Virginia Adolescents, John Rosser Matthews Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study seeks to determine 1) whether the type of advertising exposure is associated with adolescent health perceptions of tobacco use, and 2) whether the type of media exposure is associated with initiation plans (non-smokers) or quitting plans (smokers). Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of middle school students (n=l1,128).Psychosocial variables were knowledge of the risks of tobacco use (range: 3-15) and benefits of being tobacco free (range: 7-35) with higher scores indicating greater understanding. Intentions to quit or initiate were construed as binary variables. Exposure variables were tobacco advertisements or anti-tobacco media messages. Covariates were gender, race, grade …

Association Between Smoking, Chemical Exposure And Hearing Loss In An Occupational Setting, Darlene W. Olive

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Twenty-two million Americans or roughly 8% of the population are hearing impaired. This affects more than just the ability for one to hear. In the last three decades, younger Americans have shown a sharp increase in hearing impairment. Hearing loss affects social and emotional well being and thus has the ability to decrease one's quality of life. This study was designed to examine the association between smoking, workplace chemical exposure, and hearing loss.Methods: This cross-sectional population-based study was conducted in an occupational health clinic setting in Virginia. The study population consisted of employees from local businesses who visited the …