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

Understanding the plight of the terminally ill population

The emotional, physical, social, and relational experiences of the terminally ill population were investigated. The literature strongly stated that the dying process, though physically and psychologically taxing, need not be devoid of meaning. It was also discovered that though patient disease trajectories and emotional experiences are highly individualized many helpful generalizations can be made. The research findings support the belief that mental health practitioners have much to offer the dying person as he or she wrestles with impending death

Intimate partner violence among African American and African Caribbean women: prevalence, risk factors, and the influence of cultural attitudes.

BackgroundWomen of African descent are disproportionately affected by intimate partner abuse; yet, limited data exist on whether the prevalence varies for women of African descent in the United States and those in the US territories.ObjectiveIn this multisite study, we estimated lifetime and 2-year prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner abuse (IPA) among 1,545 women of African descent in the United States and US Virgin Islands (USVI). We also examined how cultural tolerance of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) influences abuse.DesignBetween 2009 and 2011, we recruited African American and African Caribbean women aged 18-55 from health clinics in Baltimore, MD, and St. Thomas and St. Croix, USVI, into a comparative case-control study. Screened and enrolled women completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview. Screening-based prevalence of IPA and IPV were stratified by study site and associations between tolerance of IPV and abuse experiences were examined by multivariate logistic regression analysis.ResultsMost of the 1,545 screened women were young, of low-income, and in a current intimate relationship. Lifetime prevalence of IPA was 45% in St. Thomas, 38% in St. Croix, and 37% in Baltimore. Lifetime prevalence of IPV was 38% in St. Thomas, 28% in St. Croix, and 30% in Baltimore. Past 2-year prevalence of IPV was 32% in St. Thomas, 22% in St. Croix, and 26% in Baltimore. Risk and protective factors for IPV varied by site. Community and personal acceptance of IPV were independently associated with lifetime IPA in Baltimore and St. Thomas.ConclusionsVariance across sites for risk and protective factors emphasizes cultural considerations in sub-populations of women of African descent when addressing IPA and IPV in given settings. Individual-based interventions should be coupled with community/societal interventions to shape attitudes about use of violence in relationships and to promote healthy relationships

Clergy Interest in Innovative Collaboration with Psychologists

What forms of innovative collaboration are possible between clergy and psychologists? A total of 117 clergypersons (63% response rate) rated 6 scenarios of collaboration, indicating their level of interest and the extent to which they would like to remain involved with the psychologist. The scenarios were derived from two categories of collaboration articulated by in previous research: mental health services and enhancing parish life. Overall, clergy expressed relatively modest levels of interest in innovative collaboration, though they were somewhat interested in mental health consultation services. Many clergy refer troubled parishioners to clinical or counseling psychologists for treatment, but appear less interested in more innovative forms of collaboration

Kelp Morphology and Herbivory are Maintained Across Latitude Despite Geographic Shift in Kelp-wounding Herbivores

Herbivores can drastically alter the morphology of macroalgae by directly consuming tissue and by inflicting structural wounds. Wounds can result in large amounts of tissue breaking away from macroalgae, amplifying the damage initially caused by herbivores. Herbivores that commonly wound macroalgae often occur over only a portion of a macroalga’s lifespan or geographic range. However, we know little about the influence of these periodic or regional occurrences of herbivores on the large-scale seasonal and geographical patterns of macroalgal morphology. We used the intertidal kelp Egregia menziesii to investigate how the kelp’s morphology and the prevalence of two prominent kelp-wounding herbivores (limpets and amphipods) changed over two seasons (spring and summer) and over the northern extent of the kelp’s geographic range (six sites from central California to northern Washington). Wounds from limpets and amphipods often result in the kelp’s fronds being pruned (intercalary meristem broken away), so we quantified kelp size (combined length of all fronds) and pruning (proportion of broken fronds). We found similar results in each season: herbivores were most likely to occur on large, pruned kelp regardless of site; and limpets were the dominant herbivore at southern sites, while amphipods were dominant at northern sites. Despite the geographic shift in the dominant herbivore, kelp had similar levels of total herbivore prevalence (limpets and/or amphipods) and similar morphologies across sites. Our results suggest that large-scale geographic similarities in macroalgal wounding, despite regional variation in the herbivore community, can maintain similar macroalgal morphologies over large geographic areas

Adolescent Athletes’ Perspectives on the Social Implications of Sport-Related Concussion

Purpose: Sport-related concussion can affect many domains of a patient’s health status. Social functioning is an important consideration, especially for adolescent athletes. Our purpose was to explore adolescent athletes’ social perspectives regarding sport and concussion. Methods: Using a qualitative study design we interviewed 12 interscholastic athletes who had sustained a sport-related concussion. The interviews focused on injury details, and explored the physical, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual components of sport and health. Themes and categories were identified using the consensual qualitative research process by a three-person research team. A comprehensive codebook that captured the main themes and categories resulted. Results: Following concussion, participants discussed two primary themes: perceptions regarding the social aspects of sport and social perspectives regarding their concussion. Specific categories related to the social aspects of sport included: friendships and family and decision to participate based on peers. Specific categories regarding the social perspectives of the concussion included uncertainty of the diagnosis, perceptions of others regarding their injury, being ashamed of the concussion, parent and peer roles, and communication and expectation about their concussion. Conclusions: Participation in sport and removal from sport following a concussion have significant social implications for adolescent athletes. Specifically, the perceptions of peers, parents/guardians, and others regarding the injury can influence reporting of symptoms and recovery following concussion. Limited communication regarding recovery and expectations post-concussion may cause undue social pressures to return to activity prematurely. Providing a supportive environment in which patients can recover from concussion while engaging with peers and teammates is important. Anticipatory guidance, with education regarding the possible signs and symptoms, risk factors pre- and post-injury, and recovery expectations following a concussion are important to include in post-injury management and should be known to all stakeholders

On the Simulations of Evolution-Communication P Systems with Energy without Antiport Rules for GPUs

In this report, we present our initial proposal on simulating computations on a restricted variant of Evolution-Communication P system with energy (ECPe system) which will then be implemented in Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This ECPe sys- tems variant prohibits the use of antiport rules for communication. Several possible levels of parallelizations for simulating ECPe systems computations on GPUs are emphasized. Our work is based on a localized matrix representation for the mentioned variant given in a previous literature. Our proposal employs a methodology for forward computing also discussed in the said literature.Junta de Andalucía P08-TIC04200Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009–1319

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

Collaborate With Whom? Clergy Responses to Psychologist Characteristics (Chapter 2 of Psychology and the Church)

Some clergy and psychologists are willing to collaborate in providing for people under their care and some are reticent. The purpose of this research is to see if clergy are more likely to collaborate with psychologists of a particular sex or training background. Six groups of clergy were given written descriptions of a psychologist that varied on these two dimensions-the institution from which the psychologist received training and sexand were then asked to rate how likely they would be to participate in 7 collaborative scenarios with the psychologist. No group differences were found. Furthermore, clergy characteristics were not significantly related to their likelihood of collaborating with psychologists. Differences were observed among the 7 collaborative scenarios, suggesting that clergy are more interested in some forms of collaboration than others. It appears that idiographic relational factors are ultimately more important than general demographic categories in establishing clergy-psychologist collaboration

A Remote Sensing Approach to Assess the Historical Invasion of \u3cem\u3ePhragmites australis\u3c/em\u3e in a Brackish Coastal Marsh

Introduction: Coastal estuarine wetlands provide important habitats for a variety of endemic flora and fauna but are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions. Regular monitoring of changes in these vulnerable wetlands has become increasingly important for effective management, especially considering threats from climate change effects and human disturbance. Historical analyzes of plant invasions may guide targeted management strategies to eradicate harmful species. Estimating the distribution of invasive species has never been more accessible with the improved availability of high-resolution data and innovations in remote sensing, estimating the distribution of invasive species has never been more accessible. Methods: We assessed the spread of non-native Phragmites australis subsp. australis in Suisun Marsh on the upper San Francisco Estuary, one of the largest brackish coastal wetlands in North America. Suisun Marsh consists of managed and tidal wetlands, and efforts have been made to control invasive P. australis on the managed wetlands to support habitat values for wildlife. We used remote-sensing analyzes of publicly available, biennial color-infrared images taken by the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) to map the expansion of invasive P. australis across two decades. We generated random forest classifications of representative images to map the distribution of P. australis, then calculated a variety of metrics describing the rate and spatial extent of the P. australis spread. Additionally, we ran generalized linear models to examine factors related to the growth of P. australis. Results: Our classifications yielded accuracies of over 90% and showed a 234% (1,084 ha) increase in P. australis between 2003 and 2018. The expansion rate of P. australis patches averaged 1.32 m/year (±0.53 SD) which is higher than most reported in the literature. We found that P. australis expansion in managed areas within levees was significantly correlated with invasion in tidal areas outside the levees on the same parcel and also related to its spread on adjacent parcels. Discussion: Our findings suggest that despite individual landowner management efforts, P. australis has continued to expand substantially throughout Suisun Marsh. Future efforts to treat invasive P. australis may require emphasizing adaptive, collaborative management rather than individual management strategies to ensure the invasive species is eradicated on a large scale to preserve the valued ecosystem functions