Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Factors Associated With Binge Drinking During The Transition Into Adulthood: Exploring Associations Within Two Distinct Young Adult Age Ranges, Tamara Leech, Sarah Jacobs, Denis Watson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background:

Binge drinking among young adults aged 18-21 years has declined over the past decade, but binge drinking rates among people 22-25 years old have remained largely the same. This steady trend in later years represents a departure from the traditional course of maturing out of risky alcohol use, perhaps because young adults are delaying the transition into adulthood.

Aims:

This paper explores the relationship between binge drinking and aspects of the transition into adulthood that could inform interventions targeting these two distinct groups of young adults.

Methods:

We use survey data on 1,081 young adults aged 18-25 living in …

Determinants Of Severe Maternal Morbidity And Its Racial/Ethnic Disparities In New York City, 2008–2012, Renata E. Howland, Meghan Angley, Sang Hee Won, Wendy Wilcox, Hannah Searing, Sze Yan Liu, Emily White Johansson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) is an important indicator for identifying and monitoring efforts to improve maternal health. Studies have identified independent risk factors, including race/ethnicity; however, there has been limited investigation of the modifying effect of socioeconomic factors. The study aims were to quantify SMM risk factors and to determine if socioeconomic status modifies the effect of race/ethnicity on SMM risk. Methods We used 2008–2012 NYC birth certificates matched with hospital discharge records for maternal deliveries. SMM was defined using an algorithm developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mixed-effects logistic regression models estimated SMM risk by …

Syndemics Of Severity And Frequency Of Elder Abuse: A Cross-Sectional Study In Mexican Older Females, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Pablo Gaitán-Rossi

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Elder abuse is a common phenomenon with important effects on the health and well-being of older adults. There are important gaps in elder abuse measurement, as it is usually reported as the absence or presence of elder abuse, disregarding its severity and frequency.

Objectives: Identify different ways of measuring severity and frequency of elder abuse and assess whether different experiences of severity and frequency suggest syndemic relationships.

Methods: Through a sample of 534 non-institutionalized Mexican older women, we assessed how severity (i.e., number of abusive experiences and number of types of abuses) and frequency (i.e., if abusive experiences had …

Inequitable Chronic Lead Exposure: A Dual Legacy Of Social And Environmental Injustice, Tamara Leech, Elizabeth A. Adams, Tess D. Weathers, Lisa K. Staten, Gabriel M. Filippelli

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Both historic and contemporary factors contribute to the current unequal distribution of lead in urban environments and the disproportionate impact lead exposure has on the health and well-being of low-income minority communities. We consider the enduring impact of lead through the lens of environmental justice, taking into account well-documented geographic concentrations of lead, legacy sources that produce chronic exposures, and intergenerational transfers of risk. We discuss the most promising type of public health action to address inequitable lead exposure and uptake: primordial prevention efforts that address the most fundamental causes of diseases by intervening in structural and systemic inequalities.

Sexuality Education Websites For Adolescents: A Framework-Based Content Analysis, Sara Silverio Marques, Jessica S. Lin, Summer Starling, Aubrey G. Daquiz, Eva Goldfarb, Kimberly Garcia, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The web has unique potential for adolescents seeking comprehensive sexual health information. As such, it is important to understand the nature, scope, and readability of the content and messaging provided by sexuality educational websites. We conducted a content analysis of 14 sexuality education websites for adolescents, based on the 7 essential components (sexual and reproductive health and HIV, relationships, sexual rights and sexual citizenship, pleasure, violence, diversity, and gender) of the International Planned Parenthood Framework for Comprehensive Sexuality Education. A majority of content across all sites focused on sexual and reproductive health and HIV, particularly pregnancy and STI prevention, and …

A Community Conversation On Adolescent Pregnancy And Parenting Services: Networks Of Support, Gatekeepers To Care, And Non-Compulsory Fathering In A Black Urban Community, Tamara Leech, Elizabeth A. Adams, Marci Littlefield

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study employed Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods to document needs and capacity around adolescent pregnancy and parenting in one predominately Black, low-income urban community. Using an iterative focus group method, we engaged 60 participants in a two-day community conversation. Quantitative data from an enrollment questionnaire and qualitative transcripts of the discussions are analyzed. Our results indicate that the community’s greatest capacity lies in a network of women. Men tend to participate in parenting more holistically once formal paternity is established. Neighborhood women typically introduce adolescents to prenatal care, so delays in revealing the pregnancy to them serve as a …

A Theater-Based Approach To Primary Prevention Of Sexual Behavior For Early Adolescents, Lisa D. Lieberman, Cydelle Berlin, Lori-Ann Palen, Olivia Silber Ashley

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Early adolescence is a crucial period for preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. This study evaluated STAR LO, a theater-based intervention designed to affect antecedents of sexual activity among urban early adolescents (N = 1,143). Public elementary/middle schools received the intervention or served as a wait-listed comparison group in a quasi-experimental study. Students completed pretest and posttest questionnaires. Multivariate regression models were used to examine treatment effects. Comparison students showed significantly greater increases in sexual intentions and decreases in pro-abstinence attitudes and intended age of first sex than treatment group adolescents. Comparison girls showed significantly greater increases in …

Sexuality Education, Eva Goldfarb, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Sexuality education comprises the lifelong intentional processes by which people learn about themselves and others as sexual, gendered beings from biological, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. It takes place through a potentially wide range of programs and activities in schools, community settings, religious centers, as well as informally within families, among peers, and through electronic and other media. Sexuality education for adolescents occurs in the context of the biological, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental progressions and issues of adolescence. Formal sexuality education falls into two main categories: behavior change approaches, which are represented by abstinence-only and abstinence-plus models, and healthy sexual development …

Perceived Smoking Environment And Smoking Initiation Among Multi-Ethnic Urban Girls, Tracy R. Nichols, Amanda Birnbaum, Sara Birnel, Gilbert J. Botvin

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

To examine associations between the perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among urban multi-ethnic adolescent girls in New York City.

Methods

Self-report surveys completed in grades 7, 8, and 9 assessed girls’ (n = 858) smoking initiation, and perceived smoking environment (family smoking, friends’ smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability). Carbon monoxide breath samples were collected from girls using a variation of the bogus pipeline procedure.

Results

Differences were found in smoking prevalence with white girls reporting the highest prevalence of smoking at baseline and the greatest increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade. Black girls reported …

Self-Management Strategies Mediate Self-Efficacy And Physical Activity, Amanda Birnbaum, Rod K. Dishman, Robert W. Motl, James F. Sallis, Andrea L. Dunn, Greg J. Welk, Ariane L. Yung, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Jared B. Jobe

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Self-efficacy theory proposes that girls who have confidence in their capability to be physically active will perceive fewer barriers to physical activity or be less influenced by them, be more likely to pursue perceived benefits of being physically active, and be more likely to enjoy physical activity. Self-efficacy is theorized also to influence physical activity through self-management strategies (e.g., thoughts, goals, plans, and acts) that support physical activity, but this idea has not been empirically tested.