Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present a thematic analysis of images of addiction form both statewide and local media in Kentucky. The author analyzed news stories, promotional media and several documentaries about addiction in Kentucky to understand what claims are typically foregrounded and which remain in the background as tacit assumptions. The analysis is linked to scholarship on regional identity in eastern Kentucky and the central Appalachian region to explore the pragmatic horizons depicted in the media in relation to addiction. Using Alasuutari’s (1992) cultural theory of addiction, the author examines regional constructions of the addiction frame in order to sort out ways stereotypical images of Appalachia are combined with demonizing images of addicts and of drug use to sustain a regional mythology of addiction. The presentation also deconstructs these images to examine regional notions of the good life and how one achieves that life in Kentucky.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Research on the cycle of addiction has shown that addict lifestyles are incredibly hard to break away from. More recent advances have investigated whether observed changes in behavior are the result of differing propensities to engage in behavior or whether the intervention of social factors external to the individual are associated with change, net of underlying propensities. This paper examines the long term effects (42 months follow up) of two Therapeutic Community (TC) drug treatment programs (KEY and CREST) on the relapse to drug use for drug-involved offenders while controlling for demographic characteristics and underlying propensities to use drugs. The results indicate that present drug use for the participants in the TC programs is significantly lower compared to those not involved in the programs. Theoretical considerations and policy implications are addressed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Congressional testimony on the “science of pornography addiction” places pornography use within biomedical discourses of addiction in order to draw on the cultural power of existing addiction narratives. The narrative constructs pornography as a dangerous substance that makes all who use it, even incidentally, a danger to themselves and to others. The biomedical framing is an attempt by conservative advocates to censor all sexually explicit material by circumventing arguments about free speech and academic expression.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: As research attempts to define the addictive potential of the video game medium, possible third-person effects in survey studies must be considered. This analysis of a sample of 175 university students explores the existence of third person effects in regular players’ opinions pertaining to electronic games and addiction, also examining respondents’ video game use, time displaced by use of the medium, and reports of negative influences from video games. The analysis yielded interesting and somewhat conflicting results regarding a possible third-person effect: frequent users were more likely to admit some addictive potential for themselves but concurrently appeared to be more defensive regarding the medium’s addictive potential for others.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this study is twofold: one is to identify factors of online game addiction. Using a series of multidimensional factor analyses, we identified 3 factors: failure of self-control, escapism, positive evaluation of online experiences. The other is to investigate how these factors are influenced by the basic psychological needs articulated by the self-determination theory. Using structural equation modeling, we examined how autonomy, competence, and relatedness influenced overall life satisfaction, which, in turn, affected the three factors of online game addiction. The data, collected from 8th graders, adequately fit the hypothesized model. Through latent mean analysis, gender differences were also examined. The male students appeared to have higher levels of failure of addictive behaviors than the female students, and the females appeared to have higher levels of relatedness. The paths coefficients among the constructs, however, did not show statistically significant differences. The implication of the results is that enhancing autonomy, competence, and relatedness would be an effective approach for the female as well as the male adolescents for reducing online game addictive behaviors.