Family and Peer Influences on Substance Attitudes and Use among Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth

Juvenile justice-involved youth experience high rates of substance use, which is concerning given associated negative consequences, including health and functional deficits. Family and peer factors are associated with a high risk of substance use among justice-involved youth. It is hypothesized that this risk process operates through pro-drug attitudes. However, limited research has been conducted on the mechanisms through which family and peer factors increase risk for substance use among juvenile justice involved youth. The current study examined both the direct and indirect effects of family and peer substance use on youth's substance use (alcohol and illicit drug use). We also examined whether this relationship differs by race. 226 detained youth (81.9% male; 74.3% Black) were recruited from an urban county in the Midwest and completed a clinical interview and substance use assessment battery. A direct effect of family/peer risk on illicit drug use was found for all youth, though the effect was stronger among White youth. Results also supported the indirect effect pathway from family/peer risk to both illicit drug use and alcohol use through pro-drug attitudes. This pathway did not vary by race. These findings suggest that interventions should focus on targeting both family/peer risk and pro-drug attitudes to reduce substance use. Given the racial difference in the direct effect of family/peer risk on illicit drug use, there may be other factors that influence risk more strongly for White youth, which warrants further investigation

Minimizing the stabbing number of matchings, trees, and triangulations

The (axis-parallel) stabbing number of a given set of line segments is the maximum number of segments that can be intersected by any one (axis-parallel) line. This paper deals with finding perfect matchings, spanning trees, or triangulations of minimum stabbing number for a given set of points. The complexity of these problems has been a long-standing open question; in fact, it is one of the original 30 outstanding open problems in computational geometry on the list by Demaine, Mitchell, and O'Rourke. The answer we provide is negative for a number of minimum stabbing problems by showing them NP-hard by means of a general proof technique. It implies non-trivial lower bounds on the approximability. On the positive side we propose a cut-based integer programming formulation for minimizing the stabbing number of matchings and spanning trees. We obtain lower bounds (in polynomial time) from the corresponding linear programming relaxations, and show that an optimal fractional solution always contains an edge of at least constant weight. This result constitutes a crucial step towards a constant-factor approximation via an iterated rounding scheme. In computational experiments we demonstrate that our approach allows for actually solving problems with up to several hundred points optimally or near-optimally.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, Latex. To appear in "Discrete and Computational Geometry". Previous version (extended abstract) appears in SODA 2004, pp. 430-43

Poly-use of cannabis and other substances among juvenile-justice involved youth: variations in psychological and substance-related problems by typology

Background: Adolescent cannabis use is associated with increased risk for psychological problems, with evidence for more severe problems among youth who use cannabis in combination with other substances (i.e., polysubstance use). Juvenile offenders engage in both cannabis use and polysubstance use at higher rates than the general adolescent population. Yet, limited research has examined the relationship between cannabis poly-use (e.g., cannabis and alcohol use) and functional or psychological problems among juvenile offenders. Objectives: The current study addresses this gap by examining the association of polysubstance use of cannabis compared to cannabis only use with cognitive functioning, psychological distress, and substance-related problems among juvenile detainees. Methods: Participants were 238 detained youth ages 12–18 (80.4% male, 77.3% non-White) who completed assessments of substance use, intellectual functioning, psychological symptoms, and substance-related problems. Youth were also assessed by a clinical psychologist for substance use disorder. Results: Four cannabis-use typologies were identified; cannabis and alcohol use was the largest class, followed by cannabis only use, cannabis, alcohol and other drug use, then cannabis and other drug use. Polysubstance use was associated with lower scores on measures of intellectual functioning, more externalizing and internalizing symptomology, and more substance-related problems relative to cannabis only use. However, the relationship between polysubstance use and problems varied by typology. Conclusions: Findings suggest that justice-involved youth engaged in polysubstance use may be at greater need for concurrent academic, affective, and behavioral support in their rehabilitation and transition back to the community

Guarding art galleries by guarding witnesses

Let P be a simple polygon. We de ne a witness set W to be a set of points su h that if any (prospective) guard set G guards W, then it is guaranteed that G guards P . We show that not all polygons admit a nite witness set. If a fi nite minimal witness set exists, then it cannot contain any witness in the interior of P ; all witnesses must lie on the boundary of P , and there an be at most one witness in the interior of any edge. We give an algorithm to compute a minimal witness set for P in O(n2 log n) time, if such a set exists, or to report the non-existence within the same time bounds. We also outline an algorithm that uses a witness set for P to test whether a (prospective) guard set sees all points in P

Cohesion, team mental models, and collective efficacy: Towards an integrated framework of team dynamics in sport

A nomological network on team dynamics in sports consisting of a multi-framework perspective is introduced and tested. The aim was to explore the interrelationship among cohesion, team mental models (TMM), collective-efficacy (CE), and perceived performance potential (PPP). Three hundred and forty college-aged soccer players representing 17 different teams (8 female and 9 male) participated in the study. They responded to surveys on team cohesion, TMM, CE and PPP. Results are congruent with the theoretical conceptualization of a parsimonious view of team dynamics in sports. Specifically, cohesion was found to be an exogenous variable predicting both TMM and CE beliefs. TMM and CE were correlated and predicted PPP, which in turn accounted for 59% of the variance of objective performance scores as measured by teams’ season record. From a theoretical standpoint, findings resulted in a parsimonious view of team dynamics, which may represent an initial step towards clarifying the epistemological roots and nomological network of various team-level properties. From an applied standpoint, results suggest that team expertise starts with the establishment of team cohesion. Following the establishment of cohesiveness, teammates are able to advance team-related schemas and a collective sense of confidence. Limitations and key directions for future research are outlined

Shortest Path Problems on a Polyhedral Surface

We develop algorithms to compute shortest path edge sequences, Voronoi diagrams, the Fréchet distance, and the diameter for a polyhedral surface

An Interactive Game with Virtual Reality Immersion to Improve Cultural Sensitivity in Healthcare

Purpose: Biased perceptions of individuals who are not part of one’s in-groups tend to be negative and habitual. Because health care professionals are no less susceptible to biases than are others, the adverse impact of biases on marginalized populations in health care warrants continued attention and amelioration. Method: Two characters, a Syrian refugee with limited English proficiency and a black pregnant woman with a history of opioid use disorder, were developed for an online training simulation that includes an interactive life course experience focused on social determinants of health, and a clinical encounter in a community health center utilizing virtual reality immersion. Pre- and post-survey data were obtained from 158 health professionals who completed the simulation. Results: Post-simulation data indicated increased feelings of compassion toward the patient and decreased expectations about how difficult future encounters with the patient would be. With respect to attribution, after the simulation participants were less inclined to view the patient as primarily responsible for their situation, suggesting less impact of the fundamental attribution error. Conclusion: This training simulation aimed to utilize components of evidence-based prejudice habit breaking interventions, such as learning more about an individual’s life experience to help minimize filling in gaps with stereotyped assumptions. Although training simulations cannot fully replicate or replace the advantages that come with real-world experience, they can heighten awareness in the increase of increasing the cultural sensitivity of clinicians in health care professions for improving health equity

Developing autonomous learning in first year university students using perspectives from positive psychology

Autonomous learning is a commonly occurring learning outcome from university study, and it is argued that students require confidence in their own abilities to achieve this. Using approaches from positive psychology, this study aimed to develop confidence in first‐year university students to facilitate autonomous learning. Psychological character strengths were assessed in 214 students on day one at university. Two weeks later their top three strengths were given to them in study skills modules as part of a psycho‐educational intervention designed to increase their self‐efficacy and self‐esteem. The impact of the intervention was assessed against a control group of 40 students who had not received the intervention. The results suggested that students were more confident after the intervention, and that levels of autonomous learning increased significantly compared to the controls. Character strengths were found to be associated with self‐efficacy, self‐esteem and autonomous learning in ways that were theoretically meaningful