Molly Bowdring

All Publications

• Psychology's Contributions to Anti-Blackness in the United States Within Psychological Research, Criminal Justice, and Mental Health. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science Auguste, E., Bowdring, M., Kasparek, S. W., McPhee, J., Tabachnick, A. R., Tung, I., Galán, C. A. 2023: 17456916221141374

  Abstract

  The mass incarceration of Black people in the United States is gaining attention as a public-health crisis with extreme mental-health implications. Although it is well documented that historical efforts to oppress and control Black people in the United States helped shape definitions of mental illness and crime, many psychologists are unaware of the ways the field has contributed to the conception and perpetuation of anti-Blackness and, consequently, the mass incarceration of Black people. In this article, we draw from existing theory and empirical evidence to demonstrate historical and contemporary examples of psychology's oppression of Black people through research and clinical practices and consider how this history directly contradicts the American Psychological Association's ethics code. First, we outline how anti-Blackness informed the history of psychological diagnoses and research. Next, we discuss how contemporary systems of forensic practice and police involvement in mental-health-crisis response maintain historical harm. Specific recommendations highlight strategies for interrupting the criminalization of Blackness and offer example steps psychologists can take to redefine psychology's relationship with justice. We conclude by calling on psychologists to recognize their unique power and responsibility to interrupt the criminalization and pathologizing of Blackness as researchers and mental-health providers.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/17456916221141374

  View details for PubMedID 36753574

• Interactive associations between abstinence plans and romantic partner conflict and support with cigarette smoking Drug and Alcohol Dependence Bowdring, M. A., Loftus, P., Wang, S. D., Pang, R. D., Kirkpatrick, M. G. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109756

• Perception of physical attractiveness when consuming and not consuming alcohol: a meta-analysis ADDICTION Bowdring, M. A., Sayette, M. A. 2018; 113 (9): 1585-1597

  Abstract

  Elucidating why people drink and why drinking can lead to negative psychosocial consequences remains a crucial task for alcohol researchers. Because drinking occurs typically in social settings, broader investigation of the associations between alcohol and social experience is needed to advance understanding of both the rewarding and hazardous effects of alcohol use. This review aimed to (a) estimate alcohol's relation to the perception of others' physical attractiveness and (b) suggest theoretical and methodological considerations that may advance the study of this topic.Systematic review of Scopus and PsycInfo databases was conducted to identify experimental and quasi-experimental studies, with either between- or within-subjects designs, that assessed attractiveness ratings provided by individuals who had and had not consumed alcohol (k = 16 studies, n = 1811). A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate alcohol's aggregate association with physical attractiveness perceptions. Separate a priori secondary analyses examined alcohol's associations with perception of opposite-sex (k = 12 studies) and same-sex (k = 7 studies) attractiveness.The primary analysis indicated that alcohol was related significantly to enhanced attractiveness perceptions [d = 0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.05-0.32, P = 0.01; I2  = 5.28, 95% CI = 0.00-39.32]. Analysis of alcohol's association with perception of opposite-sex attractiveness similarly yielded a small, significant positive association (d = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.16-0.44, P < 0.01; I2  = 17.49, 95% CI = 0.00-57.75). Alcohol's relation to perception of same-sex attractiveness was not significant (d = 0.04, 95% CI = -0.18 to 0.26, P = 0.71; I2  = 54.08, 95% CI = 0.00-81.66).Experimental and quasi-experimental studies suggest that consuming alcohol may have a small effect of increasing perceived attractiveness of people of the opposite sex.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/add.14227

  View details for Web of Science ID 000440644200003

  View details for PubMedID 29660184

• Combating the Conspiracy of Silence: Clinician Recommendations for Talking About Racism-Related Events With Youth of Color. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Galán, C. A., Tung, I., Tabachnick, A. R., Sequeira, S. L., Novacek, D. M., Kahhale, I., Jamal-Orozco, N., Gonzalez, J. C., Bowdring, M. A., Boness, C. L., Bekele, B. M. 2022; 61 (5): 586-590

  Abstract

  Graphic videos of race-based violence, including police brutality toward Black people and anti-Asian hate crimes, have exploded over the past year. While documentation of these horrific acts has brought visibility to the pervasiveness of racial discrimination, it has also resulted in youth of color being exposed to racial stressors more than ever before across numerous social media and news platforms.1-3 Beyond the significant race-related stress already experienced by youth in school contexts,4 this increased exposure to racism via media is concerning, as both direct and vicarious exposure to racial discrimination can compromise psychological well-being of youth and cause trauma-like symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, vigilance, and depression.3,5.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.01.001

  View details for PubMedID 35026407

• The effect of alcohol on mood among males drinking with a platonic friend ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Bowdring, M. A., Sayette, M. A. 2021

  Abstract

  Despite the social nature of most drinking experiences, prior work has largely failed to incorporate social context into the study of alcohol's effects on emotion. The present study provides an initial test of the effect of alcohol on mood among platonic friends drinking together in a non-stress setting. We hypothesized that subjects would report more positive postdrink mood after consuming alcohol than after consuming a nonalcoholic control beverage.Dyads of platonic male friends (n = 36; 55.55% White, 38.88% Asian, 5.55% Black) attended two laboratory-based experimental sessions, wherein their drink conditions (alcohol vs. no alcohol control) were randomized by dyad and counter-balanced across sessions. They reported their mood before and after consuming their beverages together, using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and an 8-item mood measure.As hypothesized, alcohol enhanced positive mood ( β  = 0.26, p < 0.01). Although in the expected direction, the effect of alcohol on negative mood was not significant ( β  = -0.12, p = 0.17). Post hoc analyses revealed that alcohol yielded greater increases in both stimulation ( β = 0.26 , p = 0.00) and sedation ( β = 0.40 , p = 0.00) as compared to the control condition.This study highlights the positive mood-enhancing and broader subjective effects of alcohol when drinking with a platonic friend and encourages further consideration of friendship contexts in the examination of alcohol's effects when developing models of the etiology of alcohol use disorder.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/acer.14682

  View details for Web of Science ID 000686551800001

  View details for PubMedID 34342007

• In the Eye of the Beholder: A Comprehensive Analysis of Stimulus Type, Perceiver, and Target in Physical Attractiveness Perceptions JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR Bowdring, M. A., Sayette, M. A., Girard, J. M., Woods, W. C. 2021; 45 (2): 241-259

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10919-020-00350-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 000606471000001

• Editorial: A Call to Action for an Antiracist Clinical Science JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY Galan, C. A., Bekele, B., Boness, C., Bowdring, M., Call, C., Hails, K., McPhee, J., Mendes, S., Moses, J., Northrup, J., Rupert, P., Savell, S., Sequeira, S., Tervo-Clemmens, B., Tung, I., Vanwoerden, S., Womack, S., Yilmaz, B. 2021; 50 (1): 12-57

  View details for DOI 10.1080/15374416.2020.1860066

  View details for Web of Science ID 000622173600002

  View details for PubMedID 33635185

• Pleasant olfactory cues can reduce cigarette craving. Journal of Abnormal Psychology Sayette, M. A., Marchetti, M. A., Herz, R. S., Martin, L. M., Bowdring, M. A. 2019; 128 (4)

  View details for DOI 10.1037/abn0000431

• Using Placebo Beverages in Group Alcohol Studies ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Bowdring, M. A., Sayette, M. A. 2018; 42 (12): 2442-2452

  Abstract

  Placebo beverage conditions remain a key element in the methodological toolkit for alcohol researchers interested in evaluating pharmacological and nonpharmacological factors influencing the effects of alcohol consumption. While interest in experimentally examining alcohol in social context is on the rise, there has been little research examining the effectiveness of placebo manipulations in group settings, when just 1 suspicious participant could potentially jeopardize the effect of the placebo on group members. Moreover, research has rarely considered the association between individual difference factors (e.g., gender) and placebo manipulation effectiveness. The present study, using an uncommonly large sample of placebo-consuming participants, was well suited to investigate fundamental questions regarding placebo efficacy that have not been assessed previously. Specifically, we aimed to examine placebo efficacy and general processes of placebo functioning in a group context. We also assessed potential associations between a variety of individual difference factors and placebo response.A total of 240 participants (50% male) consumed placebo beverages during a triadic drinking period (across 80 three-person groups). Participants reported their subjective intoxication, stimulation, and sedation 8 minutes following drink consumption and estimated the alcohol content of their drink at the end of the study.Participants consuming placebo beverages in groups were nearly universal in reporting that they had consumed alcohol (>99%) and had experienced an increase in feelings of intoxication [t(239) = 22.03, p < 0.001] and stimulation [t(239) = 5.53, p < 0.001], levels that were similar to those observed in prior studies conducted with participants drinking placebos in isolation. Further, participants' placebo responses were independent of their 2 group members and were largely unaffected by a variety of individual difference factors.Placebo response generally operated independently of group-member influences, suggesting that researchers can successfully conduct placebo beverage studies utilizing group drinking designs.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/acer.13895

  View details for Web of Science ID 000456922700016

  View details for PubMedID 30247751

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6286248

• Predictors of At-Risk Intoxication in a University Field Setting: Social Anxiety, Demographics, and Intentions JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH Smith, R. C., Bowdring, M. A., Geller, E. 2015; 63 (2): 134-142

  Abstract

  The determinants of alcohol consumption among university students were investigated in a downtown field setting with blood alcohol content (BAC) as the dependent variable.In total, 521 participants completed a brief survey and had their BAC assessed during April 2013.Between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am, teams of researchers recruited passersby at 3 heavy-drinking locations near a university campus. Before the BAC assessment, participants completed a questionnaire regarding their drinking intentions, drinking group, and social anxiety.The average BAC of drinking students was 0.107 g/dL, which was 0.033 g/dL higher than their intended BAC. Males and members of a Greek-life organization consumed significantly more alcohol than their demographic counterparts. A significant positive curvilinear relationship was observed between social anxiety and BAC.University students achieve high levels of intoxication, often exceeding their intended BAC. Social anxiety may be an informative predictor of alcohol consumption in this setting.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/07448481.2014.990968

  View details for Web of Science ID 000349538500002

  View details for PubMedID 25437018