Public Health Commons^™

Assessing And Quantifying High Risk: Comparing Risky Behaviors By Youth In An Urban, Disadvantaged Community With Nationally Representative Youth, Monica Swahn, Robert Bossarte

Monica H. Swahn

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Youth Access To Alcohol Or A Gun In The Home, Monica Swahn, B Hammig, R Ikeda

Monica H. Swahn

Objectives: To estimate the national prevalence of youth access to alcohol, a gun, or both alcohol and a gun, in their home and to describe the demographic characteristics associated with access to either alcohol or a gun. Methods: Cross sectional data from the 1995 in-home survey of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which used a nationally representative randomly selected school based sample (n=18 924) of adolescents in grades 7-12, were analyzed. The current analyses were restricted to those adolescents 12-18 years of age (n=18 454). Crude logistic regression analyses was used to determine the demographic characteristics associated with …

Children At Risk For Suicide Attempt And Attempt-Related Injuries: Findings From The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Bethany A. West, Monica H. Swahn, Frances Mccarty

Monica H. Swahn

Purpose: The current study examines the associations between a range of risk factors and reports of suicide attempts and attempts requiring medical care in a nationally representative study of high school students. The goal is to examine sex differences in the risk factors associated with suicide attempts and attempt-related injuries requiring treatment by a health-care provider.

Methods: We used data from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey for students in grades 9-12 to assess the prevalence and risk factors for suicidal behavior, as well as differences in these for boys and girls. Cross-sectional multivariate logistic regression analyses were computed to …

Age Of Alcohol Use Initiation, Suicidal Behavior, And Peer And Dating Violence Victimization And Perpetration Among High-Risk, Seventh-Grade Adolescents, Monica Swahn, Robert Bossarte, Ernest Sullivent

Monica H. Swahn

Objective: We examined the cross-sectional associations between reports of an early age of alcohol use initiation and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and peer and dating violence victimization and perpetration among high-risk adolescents.

Method: Data were obtained from the Youth Violence Survey conducted in 2004 and administered to all public school students enrolled in grades 7, 9, and 11/12 (N = 4131) in a high-risk school district in the United States. Our analyses were limited to seventh-grade students who either began drinking before the age of 13 or were nondrinkers, with complete information on all covariates (n = 856). Cross-sectional logistic …

Violent Attacks On Middle Easterners In The United States During The Month Following The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, Monica Swahn, R Mahendra, L Paulozzi, R Winston, G Shelley, J Taliano, L Frazier, J Saul

Monica H. Swahn

Objectives: To document and describe hate related violent attacks on Middle Easterners or those perceived to be Middle Easterners during the month following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. Methods: The LexisNexis database of newspaper reports were used to identify incidents of hate related violent acts against Middle Easterners or those perceived to be Middle Easterners in the US between September 1 and October 11, 2001. A total of 100 incidents of hate related violence were identified in the 2659 news articles that were reviewed. Results: Of the 100 incidents of violent victimization …

The Associations Between Victimization, Feeling Unsafe, And Asthma Episodes Among Us High-School Students, Monica Swahn, Robert Bossarte

Monica H. Swahn

We examined the associations between victimization, missed school because of feeling unsafe, and asthma episodes among US high-school students using the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Cross-sectional analyses on adolescents with asthma (n=1943) showed that any victimization and missed school because of feeling unsafe significantly increased the odds of having an asthma episode in the past year (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=1.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07, 1.95 and adjusted OR = 2.93; 95% CI = 1.90, 4.53, respectively). Victimization and feeling unsafe are important but poorly understood risk factors for asthma.

Differences In Frequency Of Violence And Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal And Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence, Daniel Whitaker, Tadesse Haileyesus, Monica Swahn, Linda Saltzman

Monica H. Swahn

Objectives: We sought to examine the prevalence of reciprocal (i.e., perpetrated by both partners) and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence and to determine whether reciprocity is related to violence frequency and injury. Methods: We analyzed data on young US adults aged 18 to 28 years from the 2001 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which contained information about partner violence and injury reported by 11 370 respondents on 18761 heterosexual relationships. Results: Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of …

Concordance Between Self-Reported Maltreatment And Court Records Of Abuse Or Neglect Among High-Risk Youths, Monica Swahn, Daniel Whitaker, Courtney Pippen, Rebecca Leeb, Linda Teplin, Karen Abram, Gary Mcclelland

Monica H. Swahn

Objectives: We examined the concordance between measures of self-reported maltreatment and court records of abuse or neglect in a sample of detained youths.

Methods: Data were collected by the Northwestern Juvenile Project and include interviews from 1829 youths aged 10–18 years. Participants were newly detained youths in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Illinois between 1995 and 1998. Self-reported cases of child maltreatment were compared with court records of abuse or neglect in the Cook County judicial system.

Results: We found that among detained youths, 16.6% of those who reported any maltreatment, 22.2% of those who reported the …

Family Options For Parents With Mental Illnesses: A Developmental, Mixed Methods Pilot Study, Joanne Nicholson, Karen Albert, Bernice Gershenson, Valerie Williams, Kathleen Biebel

Joanne Nicholson

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to provide a description of Family Options, a rehabilitation intervention for parents with serious mental illnesses and their children focusing on recovery and resilience, and to report the findings from a pilot study at 6-months post-enrollment for participating mothers. METHODS: A developmental design, and mixed quantitative and qualitative methods facilitate an in-depth understanding of Family Options and its impact on parents early in the implementation process. RESULTS: Participating families faced significant challenges, including long-term mental health conditions in adults, and emotional and behavioral difficulties in children. Data from mothers (n = 22) demonstrate …

Impact Of Pedometer Use And Self-Regulation Strategies On Junior High School Physical Education Students' Daily Step Counts, Jane Shimon, Linda M. Petlichkoff

Jane Shimon

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of pedometer use and self-regulation strategies on adolescents’ daily physical activity. Methods: Junior high school students (n = 113) enrolled in seventh- and eighth-grade physical education classes (52 girls, 61 boys) volunteered to participate in a 5-week study to assess daily step counts. Ten physical education classes were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) self-regulation, (b) open, and (c) control. Results: A repeated-measures, mixed-model analysis of variance revealed a significant 3 × 4 (Group by Time) interaction effect, F6,290 = 2.64, P < .02. Followup analyses indicated participants …

Perceived Accessibility As A Predictor Of Youth Smoking, Chyke Doubeni, Wenjun Li, Hassan Fouayzi, Joseph Difranza

Chyke A. Doubeni

PURPOSE: Youths who smoke are more likely to perceive that cigarettes are easily accessible, but the relationship between perceived accessibility of cigarettes and the risk of smoking is not clear. The objective of this study was to determine whether perceived accessibility predicted future smoking among youths. METHODS: This study used data from the second Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth (DANDY-2) study, a 4-year (2002-2006) cohort study that began with 1,246 sixth-grade students in 6 Massachusetts communities. DANDY-2 comprised 11 waves of in-person interviews. A total of 1,195 students who were aged 11 to 14 years at the …

Perceived Accessibility Of Cigarettes Among Youth: A Prospective Cohort Study, Chyke Doubeni, Wenjun Li, Hassan Fouayzi, Joseph Difranza

Chyke A. Doubeni

BACKGROUND: The accessibility of tobacco for youth is difficult to measure, partly because of the varied sources of cigarettes. Perceptions about the accessibility of cigarettes assesses availability from all potential sources and has been found to predict future smoking. This study examines the determinants of perceived accessibility from the perspective of a longitudinal study. METHODS: Data were derived from the second Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth study, a 4-year longitudinal study of 1246 sixth-grade students who underwent up to 11 in-person interviews from 2002 to 2006. Perceived accessibility was assessed prospectively by asking students whether they agreed …

Early Course Of Nicotine Dependence In Adolescent Smokers, Chyke Doubeni, George Reed, Joseph Difranza

Chyke A. Doubeni

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to characterize the early course of nicotine dependence. METHODS: Data were collected from 1246 sixth-graders in a 4-year (2002-2006) prospective study using 11 individual interviews. Subjects were monitored for 10 symptoms of dependence by using the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist. The bidirectional prospective relationship between the intensity of dependence (number of symptoms) and smoking frequency was examined by using cross-lagged analyses. RESULTS: Of the 370 subjects who had inhaled from a cigarette, 62% smoked at least once per month, 53% experienced dependence symptoms, and 40% experienced escalation to daily smoking. Smoking frequency predicted the number of …