Lecture 5: Externalizing Behaviours & Substance Use

Question 1

dont use the word problems around adolescents! avoid using negative labels

Answer 1

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Question 2

externalizing behaviors=

Answer 2

• primarily affect a persons external world
• non-compliance, disruptive or aggressive actions including: truancy, delinquency, substance use, fighting, risky driving, risky sexual practices, destroying property, public disturbance
• comorbidity is common
• more common in males
• can also be called risk behaviour, problem behaviour

Question 3

internalizing behaviors

Answer 3

• primarily affect a persons inner world: anxiety, depression, eating disorders
• comorbidity is common
• overcontrolling own thoughts, feelings and emotions. usually from controlled environment with a lot of parental supervision and expectations
• more common in females

Question 4

dus wat zijn de verschillen

Answer 4

internalising = personal distress
externalising = distress to others

internalising = not only a cause but also symptoms of problems
externalising = can be symptoms of problems, but often normative in adolescence

internalising = experienced as problematic by individual
externalising = experienced as problematic by others

Question 5

why focus on adolescence and externalising behaviours?

Answer 5

yea, cuz:
* Rebellion is normative
* Excitement, fun, socializing, belonging
* Not absent in adulthood
* Discrepancy between societal views and individual views

however: risky behaviors can carry acute risks. - adolescents most crashes and unintentional injuries
- can influence SES (but chicken/egg problem)
- social and interpersonal issues (adolescents who show high aggression adn risk taking are not liked as much as teens who show moderate levels -> this can continue in adulthood).
- mental health issues
- criminal behaviour and legal issues
- physical health issues
- there are increases in delinquent behaviour compared to back in the day

Question 6

having comorbid externalising and internalising problems can leed to….

Answer 6

• less salary
• uitkering
• less intimate partners

Question 7

externalising behaviours can be indicative of underlying pscyhosocial issues, especially with comorbid internalising behaviours

Answer 7

especially delinquent behaviours

Question 8

…. of people will have done something illegal before the age of 20 (shoplifting, downloading movies)

Answer 8

3/4

Question 9

arrest rates are the highest for…

Answer 9

males around 20 years old. this is very consistent. but has increased since 1800!

Question 10

Moffitts taxonomy

Answer 10

two ‘groups’ of people:
- adolescent-limited delinquents (ALDs)
- life-course-persistent delinquents (LCPDs)

Question 11

Adolescence-limited delinquents (ALDs):

Answer 11

• Delinquents who engage in criminal acts in adolescence/emerging adulthood
• No evidence of problems before
• No evidence of problems after
• Origins in social processes: norm-challenging
• Vast majority

Question 12

Life-course-persistent-delinquents (LCPDs)

Answer 12

• Already problematic behaviors before adolescence, or grew up in a risky environment
• continues after adolescence
• origin in neurodevelopmental processes
• family adversity risk factors
• few, but persistent and pathological

Question 13

longitudinal studies confirm this taxonomy, but….

Answer 13

• large variety in prevalence estimates
• little attention is paid to the length of the criminal carreer
• comparable age of onset for ADLs and LCDPs for delinquent behavior
• there is a third group: late onset delinquents (LODs)

-> the model is probably a little simplistic

Question 14

social risk and protective factors for externalising behaviours

Answer 14

• Family structure: divorce, single parent, adopted -> risk factors. nuclear family -> protective.
• Family process: lack of parental monitoring, parent-parent/parent-child conflicts
• Parenting styles: authoritative (but… WEIRD, in warzones/ghetto’s the authoritarian is actually more adaptive)
• Peers: encouragement, selection, positive attitude towards substances -> likely to be friends with people who are as well, subcultures
• School climate: disordered, lack of cohesion/school spirit
• Neighbourhood: low SES, instability (people moving in and out), lack of trust of neighbours
• Media: positive depictures of risky behaviours -> dont learn about the negative consequences
• Legal system: focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation encourages externalising beahviours (NL: wel vervolgen, wel in de gevangenis. maar jeugdrecht is wel gericht op heropvoeding, lichtere straffen en meer begeleiding). discrimination leads to more externalising behaviours as well.
• Culture / cultural beliefs: if aggression is seen as more masculine. US: traditional, samurai culture in japan, pashtun culture (revenge and honor), honor cultures in the middle east.

Question 15

individual risk and protective factors for externalising behaviours

Answer 15

• Gender: male
• Ethnicity: minorities are overrepresented, but differs per ethnicity. bv. dutch more alcohol, morrocans more hasj. this overall effect is seen in every country, as immigrants usually have lower SES, less likely to get a job, more trouble doing well in school, experience less cohesion. so it is not due to ethnicity, but more due to the general
• Temperament (aggressiveness)
• Personality (sensation seeking, impulsiveness)
• Academic achievement: cognitive deficits, language issues
• Risk perceptions: optimism bias (the more you think bad things wont happen to you, the more likely you will engage in it)

Question 16

marijuana use among 15 yr olds is not that high in the netherlands, due to …

Answer 16

differences in criminalization. where it is illegal it becomes more exciting to use (less of the forbidden fruits, more speaking of the negative consequences)

Question 17

risk and protective factors are….

Answer 17

• predictive, not definite
• not always inverse (having a dad =/= a protective factor for internalising issues in girls)
• the more and more severe risk factors, the higher the risk
• they do not distinguish between ALD, LCDP or LOD. but LCDP more severe risk factors!

Question 18

substances =

Answer 18

psychoactive substances that have cognitive and mood-altering effects.
- controlled substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis)
- illegal drugs (meth, cocaine)

Question 19

soorten substances

Answer 19

• stimulants/uppers: increase CNS activity (cocaine, nicotine)
• depressants/downers: decrease CNS activity (alcohol, benzodiazepines)
• hallucinogens: alter perception and mood (LSD, mescaline)
• dissociatives: detach from self or reality (ketamine, PCP)
• cannabinoids: complex, act on endocannabinoid system (THC, synthetic cannabinoids)
• opiods (narcotics): pain relief (heroin, morphine)
• inhalants: chemical vapours (glue, pain thinner)

however, there can be overlap

Question 20

most violent arrests are with the drug…

Answer 20

PCP, people think they are immortal

Question 21

the peak of substance use is…

Answer 21

later in adolescence, around 20-24

Question 22

substance use types

Answer 22

• experimental
• social/recreational (nearly all adolescent use is in a social setting)
• medicinal/self-medication
• addictive use (withdrawal avoidance): you really depend on the use, cannot go without it, use not because you like it but because you cannot deal with not being intoxicated.
• binge usage: infrequently, but a lot. depends on the culture (e.g. italians drink everyday, but little, students in NL binge)

Question 23

withdrawal avoidance with alcohol

Answer 23

alcohol is a downer, therefore less CNS activity. body starts to compenssate by overproducing more upper chemicals to get to the baseline levels. not drink is overactive, hyper, cannot rest

Question 24

hoe zit het met cannabis en afhankelijkheid/verslaving

Answer 24

cannabis geeft niet dezelfde ontwenningsverschijnselen, maar je kan er mentaal afhankelijk van worden -> gevoel dat je het nodig hebt om te ontspannen/goed te voelen/met stress omgaan/geen negatieve gedachten hebben, hiervan ontsnappen. ook lichte prikkelbaarheid, slecht slapen of minder eetlust. risico’s voor verslaving: jong beginnen, dagelijks gebruik, psychische kwetsbaarheid

Question 25

drugs nadelen

Answer 25

* Adverse physical effects with long-term and/or heavy use * Addictive properties * Mental health impact * Social and professional functioning * alterations in perception and other risky behavior * criminogenic by definition * societal costs (drug cartels) * negative consequences can be life long

Question 26

gateway theory=

Answer 26

low-key delinquency lowers the barriere for exhibiting even worse behaviours

Question 27

.... has smoked before 13, .... has drinked alcohol

Answer 27

1/5 has smoked before 13 1/3 has drinked alcohol

Question 28

osgood: unstructured socialisation

Answer 28

* People engage in deviant (or really, any) behaviour when they have motivation and opportunity. * During adolescence, youth spend an increasing amount of time with their peers, while supervision (parental or otherwise) decreases. This time is called unstructured socializing. It is the highest in college, where SUD is also the highest (maximum fautonomy, minimum responsibility). US decreases with role transitions (full time employment, parenthood). -> arrests on non-school days mostly happen at night, but on school days it often happens

Question 29

* People engage in deviant (or really, any) behaviour when they have motivation and opportunity. * During adolescence, youth spend an increasing amount of time with their peers, while supervision (parental or otherwise) decreases. * Unstructured socializing: going out to a bar with friends, shopping, hanging out at the park, etc. * Unstructured socializing increases during adolescence and early adulthood. Highest in college students, along with substance use * Unstructured socializing decreases with role transitions (full-time employment, parenthood, etc.

Answer 29

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Question 30

Motivation for substance use is the same as other externalizing behaviours...

Answer 30

Excitement, fun, socializing, belonging. Adolescents are well aware of the risks involved (like adults). they dont underestimate the risk, some even overestimate it. but they dont assign as much weight to the risk as they do to the benefits. the benefits outweigh the risks, status, being seen as the daring one, belonging to social groups, friendships, image (protect yourself to peers). it is goal-driven, adolescents dont make bad decisions, they just value outcomes differently! the importance of developing social relationships cannot be understated. we want to be friends with ppl. -> unstructured socializing explains engagement in externalising behaviours from a socialization-oriented perspectives. this accounts us for initiation of externalizing behavior and the peaks in adolescence. however... this does not explain addiction: here the behaviour happens in isolation. also does not explain life-course-persistent or late-onset developmental trajectories

Question 31

research in substance use:

Answer 31

- transactional models - longitudinal, cross-lagged analysis - Usually self-report studies - Not taken in context, no “real-life” interactions - Small effects (<5% explained variance) - Experimental design * Control alternative explanations * Measure specific mechanisms, causality * Random assignment to conditions - laboratory conditions - ecological validity - ethical issues when observing substance use in minors - sample considerations: clinical vs. general populations - honest answers when investigating actionable behaviour? - reliable answers when investigating cognition-altering substances (e.g. do you know exactly how many drinks you had last weekend?) - self-report - other report - biological measures - observed usage - scale of measurement: unstandardized units, different operationalizations