18 research outputs found

    Early Alcohol Initiation and Subsequent Sexual and Alcohol Risk Behaviors Among Urban Youths

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    Objectives. We examined relations between early alcohol use and subsequent alcohol and sexual risk behaviors among urban adolescents. Methods. A total of 1034 African American and Hispanic youths completed surveys assessing alcohol and sexual behaviors at 7th and 10th grade. After we controlled for early sexual initiation, we examined relations between early drinking and subsequent alcohol and sexual behaviors. Results. Early drinking was associated with alcohol and sexual risks through mid-adolescence. Early drinkers were more likely to report subsequent alcohol problems, unprotected sexual intercourse, multiple partners, being drunk or high during sexual intercourse, and pregnancy. Among females, early drinking was also related to sexual initiation and recent sexual intercourse. Conclusions. Prevention programs should address combined risks of early alcohol use and sexual intercourse, especially where levels of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are elevated

    Continued Smoking and Smoking Cessation Among Urban Young Adult Women: Findings From the Reach for Health Longitudinal Study

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    We examined smoking and smoking cessation among 538 young inner-city women who had been followed from early adolescence to young adulthood. Results showed that 14.3% of these young women had smoked in middle school, 26.4% had smoked in high school, and 21.9% had smoked at age 19 or 20 years, when many were rearing children, pregnant, or considering pregnancy. Young women who were raising children were more likely than those who were not to currently smoke or to have smoked in the past. Partner violence victimization was an independent risk factor for continued smoking. If improvements in smoking cessation rates are to be achieved, public health efforts must address factors underlying early and continued smoking

    National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations:methodology and results summary

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    Objective: The objective was to conduct a scientifically rigorous update to the National Sleep Foundation’s sleep duration recommendations. Methods: The National Sleep Foundation convened an 18-member multidisciplinary expert panel, representing 12 stakeholder organizations, to evaluate scientific literature concerning sleep duration recommendations. We determined expert recommendations for sufficient sleep durations across the lifespan using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method. Results: The panel agreed that, for healthy individuals with normal sleep, the appropriate sleep duration for newborns is between 14 and 17 hours, infants between 12 and 15 hours, toddlers between 11 and 14 hours, preschoolers between 10 and 13 hours, and school-aged children between 9 and 11 hours. For teenagers, 8 to 10 hours was considered appropriate, 7 to 9 hours for young adults and adults, and 7 to 8 hours of sleep for older adults. Conclusions: Sufficient sleep duration requirements vary across the lifespan and fromperson to person. The recommendations reported here represent guidelines for healthy individuals and those not suffering froma sleep disorder. Sleep durations outside the recommended range may be appropriate, but deviating far from thenormal range is rare. Individuals who habitually sleep outside the normal range may be exhibiting signs or symptoms of serious health problems or, if done volitionally,may be compromising their health and well-being

    Urban Young Women’s Experiences of Discrimination and Community Violence and Intimate Partner Violence

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    This paper examines the interrelationships between urban young adult women’s experiences of discrimination and community violence and their reports of involvement in intimate partner violence (IPV). We explore whether such experiences are independent risk factors for IPV victimization and perpetration, even when accounting for aggressive behaviors and related risk taking, including drinking and sexual initiation, during early adolescence. We use data from the Reach for Health study, in which a sample of 550 urban African American and Latina women was followed from recruitment in economically distressed middle schools into young adulthood, over approximately 7 years. At the last wave, respondents were 19–20 years old; 28% were raising children. More than 40% reported experiencing at least one form of racial/ethnic discrimination sometimes or often over the past year. About 75% heard guns being shot, saw someone being arrested, or witnessed drug deals within this time period; 66% had seen someone beaten up, 26% had seen someone get killed, and 40% knew someone who was killed. Concurrent reports of lifetime IPV were also high: about a third reported being a victim of physical violence; a similar proportion reported perpetration. Results of multivariate regression analyses indicate that discrimination is significantly associated with physical and emotional IPV victimization and perpetration, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, including ethnic identity formation, and early adolescent risk behaviors. Community violence is correlated with victimization, but the relationship remains significant only for emotional IPV victimization once early behaviors are controlled. Implications for violence prevention are discussed, including the importance of addressing community health, as well as individual patterns of behavior, associated with multiple forms of violence victimization and perpetration
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