A Longitudinal Study of Parental Anti-Substance-Use Socialization for Early Adolescents’ Substance Use Behaviors

The present study examines the role of communication in shaping norms and behaviors with significant personal and societal consequences. Based on primary socialization theory and the general theory of family communication, parental anti-substance-use socialization processes were hypothesized to influence early adolescents’ substance use norms and behaviors. Using longitudinal data (N =1,059), the results revealed that parent-adolescent prevention communication about substance use in the media and parental anti-substance-use injunctive norms were positively associated with early adolescents’ personal anti-substance-use norms, which, in turn, led to decreases in recent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. It was also found that family expressiveness and structural traditionalism positively related to the hypothesized association between parental socialization processes and early adolescents’ norms and behaviors

Domestic Violence in Lac Su’s I Love Yous Are for White People: A Sociological Criticism Approach

This article employs sociological criticism to examine domestic violence, parenting, and communication behavior in Lac Su’s Vietnamese American memoir. The book debunks the seemingly positive myth of Asian Americans as a model minority, substantiates certain negative stereotypes of Asian men, and challenges some of the classic Asian values that apparently have shaped the Asian American identity. I argue that Su’s memoir is a critique of structural inequalities, urban poverty, unemployment, inaccessibility to a support network, and the intersection between class, gender, and race in the contexts of war and its aftermath

Addressing Alcohol and Marijuana use Disparities among Latino Adolescents

In the early 1990s, a series of seminal research studies were published on substance use disorders among Latino adolescent males in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Expanding upon these studies, the aims of the present dissertation project were to (1) Determine whether the following adolescents’ and parents’ characteristics/cultural values are associated with current (past 30 days) or lifetime (ever) alcohol or marijuana use among Latino adolescents: sex, age, country of birth, GPA, family’s socio-economic status, living with both parents, mother’s highest level of education, father’s highest level of education, Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referents, Respect, Religion, Traditional Gender Roles, Independence and Self-Reliance; (2) Assess if recreational activities (sports participation, after-school activities and volunteering) moderate the association between Latino adolescents’ friends’ age, sex, and ethnicity and Latino adolescents’ current alcohol or marijuana use and; (3) Assess if recreational activities moderate the association between Latino adolescents’ perceptions of their friends’ alcohol or marijuana use and Latino adolescents’ current alcohol or marijuana use. This cross-sectional dissertation study used survey data from 193 Latino adolescent males and females (15.7 ± 1.6 years old; 55.4% females, 44.6% males) in Miami-Dade County collected in 2016-2017. Analyses included t-tests, chi-square tests and logistic regressions. Being born in the U.S. increased the risk of current alcohol use. Identifying more strongly with the cultural value religion decreased risk of current alcohol use and current marijuana use. Participants who reported having no close friends who use alcohol were less likely to currently (within past 30 days) use alcohol themselves when compared to participants who reported having at least one close friend who uses alcohol. The interaction between participation in sports activities and reporting having friends who use alcohol on outcome currently using alcohol was significant. Participants who reported having no close friends who use marijuana were less likely to currently use marijuana themselves. Findings from this study suggest that factors contributing to substance use among Latino adolescents throughout the United States may be different than those which play a role among the unique Latino adolescent population in Miami-Dade County. This study further validated what has been shown in the general U.S. population: adolescents who perceive their friends to be using alcohol or marijuana are more likely to use alcohol or marijuana, respectively, themselves. Further research is suggested to determine the role of recreational activities in alcohol and marijuana use among Latino adolescents

Conflicts Based on Race/Ethnicity Among Latina/o Students in Schools

Conflicts based on race/ethnicity continue to occur today in a wide range of settings. Of particular interest are racial/ethnic conflicts that occur in schools due to the impact they can have on students’ emotional well-being, academic achievement and the overall and racial school climate. Evidence exists that indicates the occurrence of racial/ethnic conflicts in schools but little attention has been specifically given to within-group or intra-racial/ethnic conflicts. Latina/o students are particularly fitting for such an examination given the clear within group diversity that exists within the population. This study sought to gain a better understanding of conflicts based on race/ethnicity among Latina/o students. Specific exploration was made regarding the sources of the conflict, participants’ reactions to them and outcomes. Nine self-identified Latina/o high school students from a large city in California were interviewed regarding their experienced conflicts based on race/ethnicity. Data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology (Hill, Thompson & Williams, 1997). Participants reported conflicts took several forms including verbal, social exclusion and physical. Primary reasons for conflicts included a denial or rejection of participants’ Latina/o identity and differences in values between participants and their peers. Participants reported numerous adverse consequences including experiencing difficult emotions and feeling a need to prove their Latina/o identity or apologize for not being Latina/o enough. Notably, participants also demonstrated perseverance in the face of these conflicts, making positive personal changes, most evident in their report of continued academic success. Overwhelmingly, participants chose not to involve school staff in the conflict incidents. Limitations, practical implications and future research are also discussed

Predictors of Nutritional Counseling Among Adolescents by Physicians in California

The prevalence of obesity in the United States was stable at 17% from 2011-2014 among approximately 13 million children and adolescents 12-19 years of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nutritional counseling has been recommended, and while most physicians agree that it is necessary, it is not happening consistently. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between dietary intake, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) characteristics of youth 12-17 years old in California and the receipt of nutritional counseling. Social cognitive theory guided this quantitative cross-sectional analysis of archived data from 814 youth in the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2015-2016. Independent variables included demographics (age, gender, and race), BMI, unhealthy and healthy foods, physical activity and being sedentary; the dependent variable was receipt of nutritional counseling. Findings showed that 73.5% of children who were obese or overweight received counseling. BMI was the strongest predictor of dietary counseling. Independent of diet, physical activity, age, gender, and race, youth who were obese (BMI, kg/m2, -?¥95th percentile) were almost 100% more likely to talk to their doctor compared to children of normal weight (multivariable-adjusted OR=1.98, 95% CI: 1.23, 3.20). The number of cans of sweet fruit/sports drinks was significantly associated with the outcome (p=0.04). There was no significant association between fruit and vegetable consumption (adjusted OR=1.02, 95% CI: 0.95, 1.10) or physical activity (adjusted OR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.71, 1.39) and nutritional counseling. The implications of the study findings for social change include potential improvements in obesity screening and counseling to improve adolescent health outcomes. Addressing weight issues and diet /lifestyle education earlier in life, could reduce chronic disease in the youth

The Melting Border

This study analyzes in detail for the first time the mutual influence between Mexica and Mexican communities in the United States

Parent Prevention Communication Profiles and Adolescent Substance Use: A Latent Profile Analysis and Growth Curve Model

This current study identifies distinct parent prevention communication profiles and examines whether youth with different parental communication profiles have varying substance use trajectories over time. Eleven schools in two rural school districts in the Midwestern United States were selected, and 784 students were surveyed at three time points from the beginning of 7th grade to the end of 8th grade. A series of latent profile analyses were performed to identify discrete profiles/subgroups of substance-specific prevention communication (SSPC). The results revealed a 4-profile model of SSPC: Active-Open, Passive-Open, Active-Silent, and Passive-Silent. A growth curve model revealed different rates of lifetime substance use depending on the youth’s SSPC profile. These findings have implications for parenting interventions and tailoring messages for parents to fit specific SSPC profiles

Linguistic Interactions of Spanish Speaking Mexican American Families

This study explored the bilingual linguistic interactions in Mexican families and their impact on children’s language and literacy development. This qualitative study gathered data using different methods, namely, interviews, direct observations, participant observation, and physical artifacts to examine parents’ perceptions of their own educational path in comparison to their children’s educational path in an American school system, together with their daily linguistic interactions in various social contexts, and the features, themes and roles of linguistic interactions participants. Study results assisted in gaining deeper understanding of daily conversations happening in different social contexts and their impact on the language and literacy of children of the participating families. Implications are provided for researchers, classroom teachers, bilingual teachers, professional developers, and community agencies serving Latinx communities in the construction of curriculum and deepening their understandings of Latinx families. Additionally, implications for Latinx families’ understanding of their own parenting are discussed

Diaspora and development? Nigerian organisations in London and their transnational linkages with 'home'

This thesis responds to the rapidly proliferating academic, civil society and policy discourses that posit diasporas as powerful and positive actors in the development of their 'homelands'. These discourses highlight diaspora organisations as key institutions through which international migrants and their descendants contribute to the progress of 'home'. Consequently, these organisations are being lauded as new development actors that should be engaged and supported by governments and international agencies interested in pursuing more direct and participatory modes of development assistance. However, it has been argued that this celebration of diaspora organisations is based on limited knowledge. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted with London-based Nigerian organisations and their sites of intervention in Nigeria, this thesis makes a contribution to better understanding diaspora organisations and their progressive potential for 'home'. The thesis argues that London-based Nigerian diaspora organisations are not necessarily involved in the development of 'home' to the extent, or in the ways, imagined in celebratory discourses of diaspora and development. These organisations are entwined in the politics of socio-economic status, gender and belonging at 'home' in ways that are profoundly ambivalent in terms of the progressive role expected of them. Furthermore, their monetary, material, intellectual and political contributions to development at 'home' appear relatively limited and rather marginal, especially when compared to those made by local actors. This can be traced to a number of factors that are widely seen to severely constrain collective transnational mobilisation and intervention. Nonetheless, the thesis argues that diaspora organisations have much to contribute to the development of 'home'. However, if states and international agencies are to engage and support diaspora organisations in fulfilling this progressive potential, it will be necessary to engage these groups in more genuine and meaningful dialogue through which alternative, more cosmopolitan visions of belonging and development can be articulated and pursued