Current evidence suggests that non-medical prescription stimulant (NMPS) use is on the rise, particularly among college students. Identifying individuals at risk for regular and problematic use is a critical step towards the development of effective intervention efforts. A growing body of work has noted that individuals with elevated levels of social anxiety (SA) or social anxiety disorder are at an enhanced risk for developing substance use problems, including NMPS use disorder. Despite the relevance of SA and NMPS use among college students, no studies have attempted to examine subclinical SA or the relation between SA and NMPS use among college students specifically. Thus, the present study sought to extend this area by testing the relation of SA symptoms and NMPS use frequency among college students. A large online study of college students was conducted (N=1604) to identify 252 NMPS users (18-25 years; 68.3% female). A hierarchical linear regression was used to test the moderation of positive prescription stimulant expectancies on SA symptoms in predicting past year NMPS use frequency. A subsample of 15 participants was also brought into the lab to assess subjective (State Anxiety) and physiological (salivary cortisol) responding to a social stressor task. Overall, the current study did not provide evidence that SA, via retrospective self-report or real-time responding was related to past year NMPS use frequency. Additional research is needed to resolve the discrepancies between the present findings and prior work.

Marijuana is the second most commonly used substance in the US. A growing literature suggests that socially anxious individuals use marijuana to manage their symptoms in social situations, which may explain why they are also more likely to experience problems. Unfortunately, the majority of the literature is based on research conducted with adult samples or the co-occurrence of diagnoses in adolescent samples. The proposed study sought to test the link between social anxiety (SA) and proxies for ‘real-time' marijuana use behaviors (i.e., use willingness) as well as use-related problems among adolescents. Participants were 69 adolescents (15-17; 55% female) recruited from the community reporting any lifetime marijuana use. Participants were randomly assigned to a novel social rejection or neutral laboratory task and completed measures of SA, marijuana use frequency, and related problems. Consistent with adult findings, main effects of SA and experimental condition on marijuana use willingness were expected to be qualified by an interaction in which the greatest marijuana use willingness would occur among high SA youth post-rejection (H1), SA would be positively related to marijuana use problems (H2), and among adolescents in the rejection condition, marijuana use willingness would be positively correlated with use problems (H3). Only H2 was supported, highlighting areas of convergence and divergence in the role of SA and social stress on marijuana outcomes. These data stand to improve the scientific knowledge on the relative roles of SA and social stress on marijuana use within an understudied, high-risk population and help inform future intervention efforts.

A recent discovery made at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, demostrated in a scientific setting that the human mind has a neural mechanism actively making the self avoiding thoughts about its own mortality. Curiously enough the research further suggests that an awerness of the selt's death could potently lead to a more meaningful life.There is an inclination around being sick and weak, holding back how we approach end of life care and our inherent mortality; which in return affects presence and expectations regarding our lives. If death and transience were to be viewed as natural occurences, mirroring how we view horticulture and gardens, this could ease anxiety and phobia regarding the end.In my paper I am sharing research by Athul Gawande and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross regarding death-phobia and end of life care. As suggested in some of the literature, death-phobia may occur due to anxiety over not living a meaningful life and I am using Lev Tolstoy's fictional book The Death of Ivan Ilyich to evoke thought about mortality and what a meaningful life could be compromised of.In my conclusion and through my sculpture of enlarged flowers made out of cast glass and high fired stoneware; I modestly argue that love and presence can provide meaning and solace, for conquering  death-phobic acculturation. That by acknowledging that transience is a forum for beauty one could enhance the magic of the mundane.

The bidirectional link between insufficient sleep and the distress related to a parasomnia known as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP) might lead to chronic health effects. The impact of fear-ridden hallucinations related to this REM sleep disorder can be both distressful and embarrassing for individuals often resulting in a reticence to seek help. This quantitative study was guided by a biopsychosocial approach with an integrated theoretical framework. One aim of the study was to determine if fear parameters of ISP (low and high) differ when considering psychosocial factors and sleep quality, based on the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Scale, the Social Phobia Inventory, the Locus of Control (LOC) subscales, and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Inventory. Predictive associations between psychosocial factors and subjective sleep quality (SSQ) were also investigated. Retrospective online data from a sample of 159 participants ages 18 and over were analyzed via MANOVA, multiple regression, and independent samples t-tests. Findings from the MANOVA were significant and showed that participants who experience ISP with more fear scored higher on two measures, external other LOC and social phobia. The MANOVA regarding differences in SSQ in relation to psychosocial variables were not significant, and independent sample t-tests did not differentiate fear parameters for DBAS and SSQ (poor sleep was found for both parameters). Providers of therapeutic treatments should take factors of social phobia and external other LOC into account with regards to poor sleep quality for those distressed by ISP. Sleep quality assessments might benefit those who are afraid to disclose about ISP sleep distress, as long term poor sleep can place some at risk for negative health outcomes.

White supremacy's impact on Black bodies is well-known. Starting with the enslavement of millions of Africans and their descendants, to Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the race-based War on Drugs, mass incarceration, police murders--and now, through fat phobia. Fat phobia--the hatred of and discrimination against fatness--is problematic for all bodies because it limits basic opportunities and privileges. However, it becomes particularly dangerous at the intersection of structural racism and misogyny. Francis Beale argues that as both Black people and women+, Black women+ carry a "double strike" against them; consequently, they experience both racism and misogyny, termed "misogynoir" by Moya Bailey. Language in recent medical publications indicates the severity of fat phobia in America around the Black woman+'s body: fatness is something Black women+ have a "high recidivism rate" with after weight loss (Small). This rhetoric affirms the criminalization of the Black body; fatness is something a Black woman+ has "recidivism" with--a term used almost exclusively for incarcerated people. Thus, the medical community's discourse affirms the"legitimacy" of fat phobia and of fatness' adverse effects on health, inviting discrimination against Black fat bodies. Specifically, it suggests that Black women+ need supervision over their bodies--by white people. This thesis considers the work contemporary Black fat women+ (Sonya Renee Taylor, Sesali Bowen, and Tressie McMillan Cottom) are doing through essays and memoirs against fat phobia; that is, it seeks to amplify their voices as they name, critique, and suggest changes for the institutions that uniquely harm fat Black women+--namely medical racism, beauty, and capitalism. The naming, or making visible, of otherwise-invisible institutions affirms bell hooks' assertion that "groups of women who feel excluded from feminist discourse and praxis can make a place for themselves only if they first create, via critiques, an awareness of the factors that alienate them" (276). Fat phobia perpetuates the narrative that Black women+--especially in larger bodies--are undeserving of love. It posits that women+ are only as valuable as their bodies. But Taylor, Bowen, and Cottom literally rewrite that narrative; instead, these women+ write the fat Black body as inherently worthy and capable of bringing joy--deserving, as we all do, "radical self-love."

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The obesity epidemic in the United States is increasing, and health concerns are also on the rise as they are directly related to obesity. Even though the majority of Americans are overweight or obese, prejudice and weight bias continue to be prevalent and socially accepted in a culture that tolerates discrimination towards these individuals. Health care providers, including registered dietitians, are not exempt from instigating bias towards obese patients causing a decrease in the level of care that they receive. The main purpose of this study was to compare attitudes, beliefs, and bias concerning obesity among undergraduate dietetic students, dietetic interns, and practicing registered dietitians. The data were reported directly by participants. No significant difference was found between fat phobia scores of students, interns, and dietitians. However, it was found that obesity bias decreased slightly as one moved through the dietetics profession. Also, Body Mass Index and fat phobia scores were negatively correlated.

Of all social situations, public speaking is the most prevalent fear in both the general population and among social phobic individuals (Mannuzza, Schneier, Chapman, & Liebowitz, 1995; Stein, Walker, & Forde, 1996). The fear of public speaking is referred to as communication apprehension (CA) by members of the communication field; in other programs of study, this condition has been categorized and conceptualized in a wide variety of ways ranging from stage fright to reticence. Several scholarly fields including communication, social psychology, the health sciences and the social sciences, seek to find an explanation and effective intervention for this prevalent condition. This study sought to examine relationships between several constructs, each associated with well-established and tested measurement instruments: The first construct, communication apprehension, was thought by communication scholars to be a generalized personality trait and was measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24). The second communication instrument employed was the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). Generalized social anxiety pertaining to public speaking was measured by the Self-Statements during Public Speaking (SSPS) scale developed within the field of social psychology. Finally, a popular tool within social psychology was utilized, the Brief Version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE). An analysis of data utilizing Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation illustrated that there was a moderate relationship between the constructs being tested through the SPSS and the BFNE and the PRCA-24 and the SPCC

College life is a unique experience in the life of many young adults that presents many challenges for which they might not be prepared, including living away from home and adapting to a new social and academic environment. In particular, these experiences may be particularly adverse for students with social phobia and may be predictors of academic and social problems, and may even predict dropout. The purpose of the present research is to identify possible connections between socially phobic tendencies and the social, emotional, and overall well-being of college students. Social phobia itself is an unnecessary and overwhelming fear of being scrutinized by others (National Institute of Mental Health 2009). By implementing the use of four psychological tests: the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, College Affiliation Questionnaire, and Life Orientation Test, this research sought to investigate the correlations existing between college students' self-reports on these measures through the use of the UCF Sona system. Students' personal characteristics and demographics were also examined correlationally along with their self-reports on all four measures. A total of 165 participants were used in this study. After gathering descriptive statistics from each test and their demographics, correlations were run between the four tests and then between demographic information and tests. The results showed social phobia having a positive correlation with negative affect and a negative relationship with positive affect. In turn, negative emotion was correlated with a lowered overall life orientation and a more pessimistic mindset. No strong correlations were identified between psychological tests and student characteristics as was previously thought. Overall, there are definite indicators that social anxiety has a negative impact on one's quality of life and emotions, however, more research needs to be done with more diverse sampling and different methodology to see if there is a link between particular student characteristics and prevalence rates of social anxiety within those characteristic subsets.

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