Adverse Childhood Experiences and Current Cannabis Use among U.S. Young Adults

Cannabis use is a significant public health issue among U.S. young adults. The objective of this study was to assess the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and current cannabis use among U.S. young adults. We conducted a secondary analysis of the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, which involved 498 U.S. young adults 18-24 years old who had data available for analysis on ACEs and current cannabis use. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were fitted to examine the associations between ACEs and current cannabis use. Adjusted models included participants’ sex, race/ethnicity, education level, and household income level. One-fourth (25.5%) of participants reported current cannabis use, and 21.3% reported one ACE, 25.2% reported 2-3 ACEs, and 38.4% reported ≥4 ACEs. Unadjusted (odds ratio [OR]=4.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.91-9.33) and adjusted (adjusted OR=4.23, 95%CI=1.57-11.38) model results indicated that participants who experienced ≥1 ACE were at increased odds of reporting current cannabis use than participants with no ACEs. Unadjusted (OR=5.79, 95%CI=2.40-14.00) and adjusted (AOR=6.48, 95%CI=2.15-19.55) model results indicated that participants who experienced ≥4 ACEs were at increased odds of reporting current cannabis use than participants with no ACEs. Adjusted model results revealed that experiencing living with a household member who had a mental illness or sexual abuse increased the odds of reporting current cannabis use. Results demonstrated relations among ACEs and current cannabis use in young adulthood, especially among those who experienced ≥4 ACEs and experienced living with a household member who had a mental illness or sexual abuse

A Photovoice Project: Urban Elementary Girls’ Perspectives on Physical Activity

Photovoice is a community-based participatory research method where participants can showcase their life experiences through photography. The objective of this study was to have adolescent girls attending an after-school program use photovoice to represent their perceptions of physical activity practices. Photovoice was used to allow adolescent girls to express their perspectives, through photographs and narratives, of their personal and community strengths and concerns related to their involvement in physical activity. The phenomenological methodology was used as a framework for the study. Qualitative analyses were conducted throughout the research process. Constant comparison was used to analyze the focus group, scrapbook data, and notes recorded by the author to determine key themes and ideas. Participants for the study included 14 girls attending a school in an urban area. Benefits of physical activity as provided by the girls in their personal lives and the community included: understanding activity contributed to wellness, increased social opportunities, and the school as a hub of activities. Personal and community barriers to physical activity included: lack of neighbourhood safety, being involved in other sedentary activities, parental rules restricting outside play, outside conditions, personal choices to not exercise, and a lack of opportunity to exercise. Potential ways to increase physical activity among these participants are to create more group games and activities at the after-school program daily. Involving parents in activities with the girls at home may increase physical activity levels while at home

Evaluation of an Afterschool Children’s Healthy Eating and Exercise Program

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of the Children’s Healthy Eating and Exercise Program (CHEE) in an afterschool program of an elementary school. Methods:Students in a low-income elementary school were recruited to participate in the program. Thirty-three children were in the intervention group. Twenty-four children in the comparison group were recruited from after school clubs in the same elementary school.The CHEE Program consisted of 18 sessions, featuring nutrition (20 min) and physical activity (40 min) lessons. Nutrition lessons were adapted from the Traffic Light Diet. Other lessons included MyPlate, my refrigerator, my lunchbox, and a healthy foods tasting activity. Multiple physical activities were utilized in the program including soccer, dance, relay races, tag, and other fun games. Data were collected at the beginning and end of the program. Results: Children in both groups reported eating more vegetables at the post-intervention measurement. Children in the intervention group indicated that they learned about healthy eating and new physical activities due to their participation in the program. Conclusions: Future studies are needed to discover barriers to behavior change as well as apply a more rigorous design to examine the impact of the CHEE Program

Polymorphisms in regulatory regions of Cyclooxygenase-2 gene and breast cancer risk in Brazilians: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is up-regulated in several types of cancer, and it is hypothesized that COX-2 expression may be genetically influenced. Here, we evaluate the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the COX-2 gene (<it>PTGS2</it>) and the occurrence of breast cancer among Brazilian women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted prospectively in two steps: First, we screened the promoter region and three fragments of the 3'-untranslated region of <it>PTGS2 </it>from 67 healthy Brazilians to identify SNPs and to select those with a minor allele frequency (MAF) of at least 0.10. The MAF of these selected SNPs was further characterized in 402 healthy volunteers to evaluate potential differences related to heterogeneous racial admixture and to estimate the existence of linkage disequilibrium among the SNPs. The second step was a case-control study with 318 patients and 273 controls designed to evaluate <it>PTGS2 </it>genotype- or haplotype-associated risk of breast cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The screening analysis indicated nine SNPs with the following MAFs: rs689465 (0.22), rs689466 (0.15), rs20415 (0.007), rs20417 (0.32), rs20419 (0.015), rs5270 (0.02), rs20424 (0.007), rs5275 (0.22) and rs4648298 (0.01). The SNPs rs689465, rs689466, rs20417 and rs5275 were further studied: Their genotypic distributions followed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the MAFs were not affected by gender or skin color. Strong linkage disequilibrium was detected for rs689465, rs20417 and rs5275 in the three possible pairwise combinations. In the case-control study, there was a significant increase of rs5275TC heterozygotes in cases compared to controls (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.01-2.06; P = 0.043), and the haplotype formed by rs689465G, rs689466A, rs20417G and rs5275C was only detected in cases. The apparent association with breast cancer was not confirmed for rs5275CC homozygotes or for the most frequent rs5275C-containing haplotypes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate no strong association between the four most frequent <it>PTGS2 </it>SNPs and the risk of breast cancer.</p

Preschoolers\u27 evaluations of physical disabilities: A consideration of attitudes and behavior

Assessed preschoolers\u27 attitudes about orthopedically handicapped individuals with a standard picture-ranking task. Children generally exhibited a functionally related preference for nonhandicapped individuals. One month later, the same children were videotaped reading and playing basketball with a female adult in a wheelchair or in a chair. Preferences for a normal play partner during reading or during sports on the picture-ranking task did not relate to frequency of social interactions. Liking preference for a normal play partner, in conjunction with gender of the child, predicted frequency of social interactions during both tasks regardless of examiner\u27s handicap status. Thus, the adoption of a negative bias had a general influence; any potential behavioral biases, as reflective of preference biases, were undifferentiated and unfocused in these preschoolers. © 1994 Plenum Publishing Corporation

Becoming comfortable with an adult with an orthopedic handicap: Preschool children\u27s behaviors in context

Children often have negative reactions when interacting with an individual with an orthopedic handicap, these reactions being related to the physical demands of task and situation. It has been suggested, but not systematically evaluated, that these negative reactions can be lessened as children interact with the individual. In this study, preschool children were observed during each of two play tasks that demanded different levels of physical activity: reading and Nerf basketball. Each child played both tasks either with an adult sitting in a chair or with the same adult sitting in a wheelchair. Children\u27s comfort was evaluated in terms of how close they sat to the adult during reading and how involved they were during basketball, at the beginning, middle, and end of both play sessions. For both play contexts, and for both the chair and wheelchair conditions, the children became more comfortable over time (after 8 min during reading; after 4 min during basketball). Task demands and handicap status of the adult influenced the children\u27s behavior. Overall, they were rated as less comfortable during basketball when the adult was seated in a wheelchair than when the adult was in a chair. This research highlights the importance of evaluating children\u27s behavior in context and suggests avenues by which the impact of children\u27s negative attitudes toward the handicapped can be lessened. © 1994

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Electronic Cigarette Use among U.S. Young Adults

(1) Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are potentially traumatic childhood events, have been associated with increased tobacco product use. Less is known about electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use during young adulthood. This study explored the associations between ACEs and current e-cigarette use among U.S. young adults. (2) Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data including 2537 young adults aged 18–24 years. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted. (3) Results: Of the participants, 19.2% currently used e-cigarettes, and 22.1% reported 1 ACE, 13.0% reported 2 ACEs, 10.7% reported 3 ACEs, and 30.6% reported ≥4 ACEs. Unadjusted results indicated that participants who experienced 1 ACE (odds ratio (OR) = 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01–3.07), 2 ACEs (OR = 2.18, 95%CI = 1.24–3.83), 3 ACEs (OR = 2.63, 95%CI = 1.41–4.90), and ≥4 ACEs (OR = 3.69, 95%CI = 2.23–6.09) were at increased odds of reporting current e-cigarette use than participants who experienced 0 ACEs. Adjusted results indicated that participants who experienced 3 ACEs were at 2.20 times higher odds (95%CI = 1.15–4.23) and participants who experienced ≥4 ACEs were at 2.73 times higher odds (95%CI = 1.58–4.71) of reporting current e-cigarette use than participants who experienced 0 ACEs. (4) Conclusions: Young adults exposed to ACEs are at risk of using e-cigarettes

A New Story on the Multidimensionality of the MSPSS: Validity of the Internal Structure through Bifactor ESEM

The internal structure of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) in adolescents has been evaluated with some factorial analysis methodologies but not with bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), and possibly the inconsistency in the internal structure was dependent on these approaches. The objective of the study was to update evidence regarding its internal structure of MSPSS, by means of a detailed examination of its multidimensionality The participants were 460 adolescents from an educational institution in the Callao region, Lima, Peru. The structure was modeled using unidimensional, three-factor and bifactor models with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and ESEM approaches. The models showed good levels of fit, with the exception of the unidimensional model; however, the multidimensionality indicators supported the superiority of the bifactor ESEM. In contrast, the general factor was not strong enough, and the interfactorial correlations were substantially lower. It is concluded that the MSPSS can be interpreted by independent but moderately correlated factors, and there is possible systematic variance that potentially prevented the identification of a general factor