Alexandra Loukas
Biographic Data
| ID | 208943 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexandra Loukas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexandra |
| FAMILY NAME | Loukas |
| SIGNATURE | LOUKAS A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5582-9540 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 266 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Immigration-Related Sociopolitical Stress, Mental Health, and Tobacco Use Among Mexican American College Students
Sociopolitical stress associated with the policies and rhetoric coming from recent U.S. presidential administrations is of particular concern vis-à-vis Hispanic individuals, who have been disproportionately targeted for detention and deportation. Such stress may be associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and ultimately with tobacco use. However, there is a paucity of research examining how sociopolitical stress is associated with ment…
Depressive Symptoms Predict Cannabis Initiation Among Mexican American Young Adults
BACKGROUND: Factors contributing to cannabis initiation among Hispanic young adults remain understudied. METHODS: We examined the independent and interactive roles of depressive symptoms, family cohesion, and family conflict on cannabis initiation one year later among 616 18-29-year-old cannabis-naïve Mexican American college students in Texas. RESULTS: Mixed-effects logistic regressions indicated that greater depressive symptoms predicted cannab…
Daily Associations Between Social Media Exposure and E-Cigarette Use Among Mexican American College Students
INTRODUCTION: Vaping-related content is prevalent on social media, including industry-sponsored advertising and user-generated content that normalizes use. While previous research suggests a link between social media exposure and vaping, this relationship remains understudied among vulnerable populations like Mexican Americans. This study examined the relationship between daily social media exposure and vaping among Mexican American young adults.…
Factors Influencing Vaping Behaviors Based on Social Cognitive Theory: A Qualitative Study among Mexican-American College Students
BACKGROUND: Vaping rates among Mexican-American college students are high, yet the contributing personal and environmental factors remain understudied. The current qualitative study applies Social Cognitive Theory to examine how personal factors (e.g., self-efficacy, beliefs, and outcome expectations) and environmental influences (e.g., social norms and social media) shape vaping behaviors in this vulnerable population. METHODS: We conducted semi…
Tobacco sales via delivery app services: Loopholes for underage access
Peers and Young Adult Electronic Nicotine Delivery Use: The Mediating Role of Vaping Attitudes/Beliefs
Objective To determine if social enhancement outcome expectancies, harm perceptions, and social normative beliefs, explain why young adults with a greater amount of peers who use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) subsequently report past 30-day ENDS use two years later.Method Participants were 1,721 young adults, who had used ENDS at least once, in the final three annual waves of a longitudinal study (spring 2017, 2018, 2019). At baseli…
Alternative Tobacco Use and Cigarette Smoking Transitions among College Students in Texas
Background: High prevalence of very light cigarette smoking and use of alternative tobacco products (ATPs; i.e. electronic nicotine delivery systems [ENDS], cigars, and hookah) among young adult college students are causes for concern. The purpose of this study is to examine transitions in cigarette smoking (never vs. non-current vs. very light vs. heavier) among college students across 2.5 years and determine if the use of ATPs is related to the…
How Does Social Media Exposure and Engagement Influence College Students’ Use of ENDS Products? A Cross-lagged Longitudinal Study
Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products have been marketed heavily on social media throughout the past years, which exerts great influence on young adults' ENDS use. Despite scholars' pioneering efforts in investigating the influence of tobacco and nicotine products marketing on young adults' vaping behavior, scholarly attention has been paid primarily to passive exposure to rather than active engagement with the information on socia…
Exploring Transgender and Gender Diverse Young Adult Tobacco Use
Aside from prevalence estimates and comparisons to heterosexual and presumed cisgender (i.e., not transgender) samples, little is known about transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adult tobacco use. This study explored reasons and contexts TGD young adults used a variety of tobacco products through 25 one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews in 2018. Thematic analysis yielded four themes: (1) smoking in response to anxiety, depressi…
Longitudinal Impact of Depressive Symptoms and Peer Tobacco Use on the Number of Tobacco Products Used by Young Adults
We examined the role of depressive symptoms in the longitudinal trajectory of the number of tobacco products used across young adulthood, ages 18-30 years, and whether peer tobacco use exacerbated the effects of the depressive symptoms. Participants were 4534 initially 18-25-year-old young adults in the Marketing and Promotions Across Colleges in Texas project (Project M-PACT), which collected data across a 4.5-year period from 2014 to 2019. Grow…
Multiple tobacco product use among cigarette smokers: A longitudinal examination of menthol and non-menthol smokers during young adulthood
There was a gradient relationship between menthol cigarette smoking and number of tobacco products used among young adult cigarette smokers. Findings provide for greater regulatory and programmatic efforts to reduce the use of menthol cigarettes
Examining Student Perceptions of Tobacco Policy Enforcement on College Campuses in Texas
Background. Colleges across the country are adopting tobacco-free policies to prevent and decrease tobacco use among college-aged young adults. Aims. This study examines differences between nontobacco, single-product, and polytobacco users’ perceptions of the importance of enforcing tobacco-free policies, support for various enforcement strategies, and success of policy enforcement on campuses. Method. A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to exami…
Child disclosure, parental solicitation, and adjustment problems: Parental support as a mediator
Relational Victimization and Maladjustment Among Hispanic Early Adolescents: Moderating Effects of Social Support
Relational victimization can have negative implications for early adolescents; yet, few studies have examined relational victimization among Hispanic early adolescents. This study examined (a) the concurrent associations between relational victimization and depressive symptoms and conduct problems and (b) the moderating roles of three sources of social support (parent, teacher, and peer) in the aforementioned associations. Participants were 189 e…
Exposure to tobacco marketing in bars predicts subsequent use of multiple tobacco products among non-tobacco-using college students
Tobacco companies claim that marketing is targeted to those who already use the product, not to non-users. However, the current study indicates tobacco marketing in bars and nightclubs may encourage use among non-users and has no influence on current users
Trajectories of Tobacco and Nicotine Use Across Young Adulthood, Texas, 2014–2017
Objectives. To examine intraindividual change in polytobacco and individual tobacco and nicotine product use across young adulthood. Method. Participants were 2711 students from 24 Texas colleges participating in a 6-wave online study, with 6 months between each wave. Participants were aged 18 to 25 years at baseline in fall 2014 or spring 2015 and aged 20 to 28 years at wave 6. We used growth curve modeling for an accelerated longitudinal design…
Adolescent Adjustment Problems Mediate the Association Between Racial Discrimination and School Connectedness
In consideration of study findings, school personnel should be mindful of Hispanic adolescents who display depressive symptoms or conduct problems, as they may be highly vulnerable to lower levels of school connectedness when experiencing racial discrimination
Examining the Bidirectional Associations between Adolescents’ Disclosure, Parents’ Solicitation, and Adjustment Problems among Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic Early Adolescents
E-cigarette Use and Cigarette Smoking Cessation among Texas College Students
Use of e-cigarettes for cigarette smoking cessation may reduce cigarette smoking rates in young adult college students. Additional research is needed examining e-cigarettes as a complement to evidence-based cessation resources that are associated with cigarette smoking cessation among young adults
Tobacco-free but not tobacco industry free
In recent years a movement has spread across the USA to designate colleges 100% tobacco-free in an effort to reduce tobacco use and exposure to tobacco marketing among college students. As of January 2016, there are over 1000 tobacco-free campuses within the US.1 Although federal policies restrict tobacco companies from marketing their products to those under 18 years of age, tobacco industry documents show that they actively target young adults …
Empathy and Effortful Control Effects on Early Adolescents’ Aggression: When Do Students’ Perceptions of Their School Climate Matter
Guided by the social emotional learning framework, this study examined whether early adolescents’ social awareness (empathic concern, perspective taking) and self-management (effortful control) would uniquely contribute to early adolescents’ subsequent forms of aggression, and whether perceptions of their school climate (friction, cohesion, competition, satisfaction with classes) would moderate those associations. Participants were 479 10- to 14-…
Trajectories of School Connectedness Across the Middle School Years: Examining the Roles of Adolescents’ Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness across the middle school years. Three yearly waves of data were collected from 296 students beginnin…
E-cigarette Dual Users, Exclusive Users and Perceptions of Tobacco Products
Findings highlight dual users' higher prevalence of use of most other tobacco products, their lower harm perceptions of most tobacco products compared to e-cigarette-only users, and their higher perceived peer use of cigarettes compared to exclusive users
The differential associations of internalizing symptoms and family and school relationships with disordered eating attitudes among early adolescents
Driven by the social development model, this study examines the associations of family functioning, school climate, and internalizing symptoms with disordered eating attitudes in early adolescence. Results from a representative sample of 848 sixth- and seventh-grade students indicate that disordered eating attitudes are positively correlated with family conflict and maternal psychological control and perceived friction and competition among class…
Snus use and rejection in the USA
The low rate of adoption of snus suggests that neither the hopes nor the fears surrounding this new product are likely to be realised in the USA with the current marketing patterns
Examining School Connectedness as a Mediator of School Climate Effects
Researchers have suggested that good‐quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether four aspects of student perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, competition among students, and…
Examining Temporal Associations Between School Connectedness and Early Adolescent Adjustment
Examining the Moderating Role of Perceived School Climate in Early Adolescent Adjustment
The current study examined the unique and interactive relations of 4 aspects of student‐perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, and competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) and adolescent effortful control in the conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 868 ten‐ to fourteen‐year‐old adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that each of the school climate variables was uniquely associated with at leas…
Relational aggression in college students: Examining the roles of social anxiety and empathy
This study examined the unique contributions of social anxiety and empathy to relational aggression in 300 19–to–25–year–old ( M =21.25; SD =1.32) male ( n =97) and female ( n =203) college students using hierarchical linear regression analysis. The interactive relations between gender and social anxiety, and between gender and empathy, were also assessed. In addition to the gender and overt aggression covariates, fear of negative evaluation and …
Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Low-Income Latino Early Adolescents: Risk, Resource, and Protective Factors
The current investigation examined the role of cumulative risk, family routines, maternal monitoring, mother-child relationship quality, and youth socioemotional competence in adjustment outcomes of 521 10- to 14-year-old low-income Latino early adolescents. Results showed that, as the number of risk factors increased, levels of externalizing and internalizing problems also increased. Furthermore, findings indicated that socio-emotional competenc…
Social Anxiety and Aggression in Early Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Roles of Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking
Does School Connectedness Buffer the Impact of Peer Victimization on Early Adolescents’ Subsequent Adjustment Problems
The current study examined the role of school connectedness as a moderator of the associations between overt and relational forms of peer victimization and early adolescents’ subsequent adjustment problems. Data were collected from 490 adolescents when they were initially in the sixth and seventh grades and again 1 year later. Regression analyses indicated that overt, but not relational, victimization predicted increases in boys’ and girls’ condu…
School Connectedness Buffers the Effects of Negative Family Relations and Poor Effortful Control on Early Adolescent Conduct Problems
This study examined the unique and interactive contributions of school connectedness, negative family relations, and effortful control to subsequent early adolescent conduct problems. Data were collected from 476 adolescents when they were initially in the 6th and 7th grades and again 1 year later. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that even after controlling for negative family relations, effortful control, baseline levels of …
Early Adolescent Social and Overt Aggression: Examining the Roles of Social Anxiety and Maternal Psychological Control
The role of resource, protective, and risk factors on academic achievement‐related outcomes of economically disadvantaged Latino youth
We examined the effects of cumulative risk, resource, and protective factors on the language and math achievement scores and school problem behaviors of a sample of 549 10–14‐year‐old, economically disadvantaged Latino youths. Findings indicated that as the number of risk factors increased, youth's language and math achievement scores decreased and school problem behaviors increased. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that each of the hypo…
Trajectories of School Connectedness Across the Middle School Years: Examining the Roles of Adolescents’ Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness across the middle school years. Three yearly waves of data were collected from 296 students beginnin…
Mothering and Peer Associations Mediate Cumulative Risk Effects for Latino Youth
The present study examined whether positive parenting and deviant peer associations mediated the relations between a cumulative risk composite comprising financial strain, neighborhood problems, and maternal psychological distress and subsequent youth adjustment problems. Drawn from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study, the sample consisted of 449 economically disadvantaged Latino families. Structural equation modeling showed t…
Family Environment, Effortful Control, and Adjustment Among European American and Latino Early Adolescents
The present study examined the independent and interactive relations of effortful control and two family environment variables (parent-adolescent conflict and negative family relations) on the subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 459 European American and Latino adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that even after baseline levels of conduct problems were taken into account, lower lev…
Acculturation and Religious Coping as Moderators of the Association Between Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican-American Vocational Students
Adolescent Adjustment Problems Mediate the Association Between Racial Discrimination and School Connectedness
In consideration of study findings, school personnel should be mindful of Hispanic adolescents who display depressive symptoms or conduct problems, as they may be highly vulnerable to lower levels of school connectedness when experiencing racial discrimination
Unique and Interactive Effects of Empathy, Family, and School Factors on Early Adolescents’ Aggression
Maternal Psychological Control and Peer Victimization in Early Adolescence: An Application of the Family Relational Schema Model
Guided by the family relational schema model, the current study examined the direct and indirect contributions of maternal psychological control to subsequent relational and overt peer victimization, via early adolescents’ conduct problems, fear of negative evaluation, and depressive symptoms. Participants were 499 10- to 14-year-olds (53% female; 77% European American) involved in two waves of a study with 1 year between each wave. Path analyses…
What are the Unique and Interacting Contributions of School and Family Factors to Early Adolescents’ Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking
Socioenvironmental Risk and Adjustment in Latino Youth: The Mediating Effects of Family Processes and Social Competence
Examining the Bidirectional Associations between Adolescents’ Disclosure, Parents’ Solicitation, and Adjustment Problems among Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic Early Adolescents
The differential associations of internalizing symptoms and family and school relationships with disordered eating attitudes among early adolescents
Driven by the social development model, this study examines the associations of family functioning, school climate, and internalizing symptoms with disordered eating attitudes in early adolescence. Results from a representative sample of 848 sixth- and seventh-grade students indicate that disordered eating attitudes are positively correlated with family conflict and maternal psychological control and perceived friction and competition among class…
Exploring Transgender and Gender Diverse Young Adult Tobacco Use
Aside from prevalence estimates and comparisons to heterosexual and presumed cisgender (i.e., not transgender) samples, little is known about transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adult tobacco use. This study explored reasons and contexts TGD young adults used a variety of tobacco products through 25 one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews in 2018. Thematic analysis yielded four themes: (1) smoking in response to anxiety, depressi…
Examining Resource and Protective Factors in the Adjustment of Latino Youth in Low Income Families: What Role Does Maternal Acculturation Play
The Relation of Personality to Alcohol Abuse/Dependence in a High‐Risk Sample
The current study had two goals. The first goal was to test the mediational role of young adult personality in the relation between parental alcoholism and young adult alcoholism. The second was to examine the associations between personality and alcohol use motives and reasons to limit drinking in order to explore possible mechanisms by which personality may influence alcohol abuse/dependence. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to analyze …
Relational aggression in college students: Examining the roles of social anxiety and empathy
This study examined the unique contributions of social anxiety and empathy to relational aggression in 300 19–to–25–year–old ( M =21.25; SD =1.32) male ( n =97) and female ( n =203) college students using hierarchical linear regression analysis. The interactive relations between gender and social anxiety, and between gender and empathy, were also assessed. In addition to the gender and overt aggression covariates, fear of negative evaluation and …
The role of resource, protective, and risk factors on academic achievement‐related outcomes of economically disadvantaged Latino youth
We examined the effects of cumulative risk, resource, and protective factors on the language and math achievement scores and school problem behaviors of a sample of 549 10–14‐year‐old, economically disadvantaged Latino youths. Findings indicated that as the number of risk factors increased, youth's language and math achievement scores decreased and school problem behaviors increased. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that each of the hypo…
Minors’ tobacco possession law violations and intentions to smoke: Implications for tobacco control
Threat of driving licence suspension has the intended effect upon youth who are/were committed smokers and MIP citation has the intended effect upon committed smokers at only four schools. However, differential enforcement of the law based on ethnicity may be occurring. Before drawing firm conclusions, current findings must be replicated with longitudinal data to determine the consequences of citation on subsequent tobacco use
Examining the Moderating Role of Perceived School Climate in Early Adolescent Adjustment
The current study examined the unique and interactive relations of 4 aspects of student‐perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, and competition among students, and overall satisfaction with classes) and adolescent effortful control in the conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 868 ten‐ to fourteen‐year‐old adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that each of the school climate variables was uniquely associated with at leas…
Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Low-Income Latino Early Adolescents: Risk, Resource, and Protective Factors
The current investigation examined the role of cumulative risk, family routines, maternal monitoring, mother-child relationship quality, and youth socioemotional competence in adjustment outcomes of 521 10- to 14-year-old low-income Latino early adolescents. Results showed that, as the number of risk factors increased, levels of externalizing and internalizing problems also increased. Furthermore, findings indicated that socio-emotional competenc…
Early Adolescent Social and Overt Aggression: Examining the Roles of Social Anxiety and Maternal Psychological Control
Examining School Connectedness as a Mediator of School Climate Effects
Researchers have suggested that good‐quality school climates foster a sense of connection to the school and in this way contribute to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. However, few studies have directly assessed the role of school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Using path analysis, this brief report examined whether four aspects of student perceived school climate (cohesion, friction, competition among students, and…
Family Environment, Effortful Control, and Adjustment Among European American and Latino Early Adolescents
The present study examined the independent and interactive relations of effortful control and two family environment variables (parent-adolescent conflict and negative family relations) on the subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms of 459 European American and Latino adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that even after baseline levels of conduct problems were taken into account, lower lev…
Examining Resource and Protective Factors in the Adjustment of Latino Youth in Low Income Families: What Role Does Maternal Acculturation Play
Socioenvironmental Risk and Adjustment in Latino Youth: The Mediating Effects of Family Processes and Social Competence
Mothering and Peer Associations Mediate Cumulative Risk Effects for Latino Youth
The present study examined whether positive parenting and deviant peer associations mediated the relations between a cumulative risk composite comprising financial strain, neighborhood problems, and maternal psychological distress and subsequent youth adjustment problems. Drawn from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study, the sample consisted of 449 economically disadvantaged Latino families. Structural equation modeling showed t…
Examining Temporal Associations Between School Connectedness and Early Adolescent Adjustment
School Connectedness Buffers the Effects of Negative Family Relations and Poor Effortful Control on Early Adolescent Conduct Problems
This study examined the unique and interactive contributions of school connectedness, negative family relations, and effortful control to subsequent early adolescent conduct problems. Data were collected from 476 adolescents when they were initially in the 6th and 7th grades and again 1 year later. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that even after controlling for negative family relations, effortful control, baseline levels of …
Social Anxiety and Aggression in Early Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Roles of Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking
Examining Attachment to God and Health Risk-Taking Behaviors in College Students
Does School Connectedness Buffer the Impact of Peer Victimization on Early Adolescents’ Subsequent Adjustment Problems
The current study examined the role of school connectedness as a moderator of the associations between overt and relational forms of peer victimization and early adolescents’ subsequent adjustment problems. Data were collected from 490 adolescents when they were initially in the sixth and seventh grades and again 1 year later. Regression analyses indicated that overt, but not relational, victimization predicted increases in boys’ and girls’ condu…
What are the Unique and Interacting Contributions of School and Family Factors to Early Adolescents’ Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking
Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Tobacco Use Among White, African American, and Mexican American Vocational School Students
Maternal Psychological Control and Peer Victimization in Early Adolescence: An Application of the Family Relational Schema Model
Guided by the family relational schema model, the current study examined the direct and indirect contributions of maternal psychological control to subsequent relational and overt peer victimization, via early adolescents’ conduct problems, fear of negative evaluation, and depressive symptoms. Participants were 499 10- to 14-year-olds (53% female; 77% European American) involved in two waves of a study with 1 year between each wave. Path analyses…
Acculturation and Religious Coping as Moderators of the Association Between Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican-American Vocational Students
Snus use and rejection in the USA
The low rate of adoption of snus suggests that neither the hopes nor the fears surrounding this new product are likely to be realised in the USA with the current marketing patterns
Unique and Interactive Effects of Empathy, Family, and School Factors on Early Adolescents’ Aggression
E-cigarette Dual Users, Exclusive Users and Perceptions of Tobacco Products
Findings highlight dual users' higher prevalence of use of most other tobacco products, their lower harm perceptions of most tobacco products compared to e-cigarette-only users, and their higher perceived peer use of cigarettes compared to exclusive users
The differential associations of internalizing symptoms and family and school relationships with disordered eating attitudes among early adolescents
Driven by the social development model, this study examines the associations of family functioning, school climate, and internalizing symptoms with disordered eating attitudes in early adolescence. Results from a representative sample of 848 sixth- and seventh-grade students indicate that disordered eating attitudes are positively correlated with family conflict and maternal psychological control and perceived friction and competition among class…
Psychology (37 works) · Developmental psychology (30 works) · Medicine (28 works) · Clinical Psychology (23 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (22 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Clinical Psychology (20 works) · Psychiatry (18 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Public health (16 works)