Adolescent Alcohol Use and Dating Violence Perpetration: Three Studies Examining Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations Across Grades 8 Through 12

Numerous studies suggest a link between alcohol use and adult partner violence, but research on how this relationship unfolds during adolescence is limited. The three studies comprising this dissertation each used a different theoretical lens to guide an empirical examination of the relations between alcohol use and physical dating violence perpetration using data from a longitudinal study spanning grades 8 through 12. Study one (n=2272) used autoregressive latent curve models to examine several different theoretical models of the linkages between alcohol use and dating violence perpetration over time. Trajectories of alcohol use and dating violence were correlated and this correlation was reduced substantially after adjusting for the effects of common predictors. However, concurrent associations between the two behaviors persisted across nearly all grades. There was no evidence of prospective relations from alcohol use to dating violence or vice-versa. Study two (n=2311) examined the role of heavy alcohol use in the developmental process of desistance from dating violence perpetration. Growth models were used to test the hypotheses that both early and continuing alcohol use would hinder desistance from dating violence during late adolescence. Contrary to expectations, the effects of early alcohol use on dating violence diminished over time. Although the contemporaneous effects of alcohol use on dating violence were significant across most grades, effects weakened during late adolescence and were stronger in the spring than in the fall semesters. Study three (n=2311) examined the hypothesis that increased exposure to violence would strengthen the relationship between heavy alcohol use and dating violence. Growth models were used to examine the main and joint effects of alcohol use and exposure to family, peer, and neighborhood violence on levels of dating violence across grades 8 through 12. Across all grades, the relationship between alcohol use and dating violence was stronger for teens exposed to higher levels of family conflict and friend dating violence. Prevention programs that target risk factors common to both dating violence and alcohol use may reduce involvement in both behaviors. Programs that seek to reduce alcohol-related dating violence should target younger teens and those exposed to family conflict or friend dating violence

Modeling Variability in Individual Development: Differences of degree or kind?

The proper use of statistical models for analyzing individual change over time is critical for the progress of developmental science. Latent curve models, hierarchical linear growth models, group-based trajectory models, and growth mixture models constitute increasingly important tools for longitudinal data analysis. To facilitate their understanding and use, this paper clarifies similarities and differences between these models, with particular attention to the assumptions they make about individual development. An example shows how the results and interpretation vary across model types. Discussion centers on reviewing the strengths and limitations of each approach for developmental research

Entre la espada y la pared: el secreto profesional y la atención post aborto

En 1998 entraron en vigencia reformas al Código Penal de El Salvador que penalizan toda forma de aborto, incluida la interrupción del embarazo para salvar la vida de la mujer. Por consiguiente, ha incrementado el número de denuncias interpuestas por prestadores de servicios de salud de las pacientes que se sospechan de haberse practicado un aborto inducido. El propósito de este documento es presentar evidencias y análisis sobre la incidencia, los motivos y las consecuencias de la práctica de la denuncia por parte del personal de salud de las pacientes post aborto inducido en El Salvadorhttp://www.ipas.org/~/media/Files/Ipas%20Publications/secreto.ash

Heavy Alcohol Use and Dating Violence Perpetration During Adolescence: Family, Peer and Neighborhood Violence as Moderators

We examined the hypothesis that family, peer and neighborhood violence would moderate relations between heavy alcohol use and adolescent dating violence perpetration such that relations would be stronger for teens in violent contexts. Random coefficients growth models were used to examine the main and interaction effects of heavy alcohol use and four measures of violence (family violence, friend dating violence, friend peer violence and neighborhood violence) on levels of physical dating violence perpetration across grades 8 through 12. The effects of heavy alcohol use on dating violence tended to diminish over time and were stronger in the spring than in the fall semesters. Consistent with hypotheses, across all grades, relations between heavy alcohol use and dating violence were stronger for teens exposed to higher levels of family violence and friend dating violence. However, neither friend peer violence nor neighborhood violence moderated relations between alcohol use and dating violence. Taken together, findings suggest that as adolescents grow older, individual and contextual moderators may play an increasingly important role in explaining individual differences in relations between alcohol use and dating violence. Implications for the design and evaluation of dating abuse prevention programs are discussed

Developmental Associations Between Adolescent Alcohol Use and Dating Aggression

While numerous studies have established a link between alcohol use and partner violence in adulthood, little research has examined this relation during adolescence. The current study used multivariate growth models to examine relations between alcohol use and dating aggression across grades 8 through 12 controlling for shared risk factors (common causes) that predict both behaviors. Associations between trajectories of alcohol use and dating aggression were reduced substantially when common causes were controlled. Concurrent associations between the two behaviors were significant across nearly all grades but no evidence was found for prospective connections from prior alcohol use to subsequent dating aggression or vice versa. Findings suggest that prevention efforts should target common causes of alcohol use and dating aggression

The Role of Heavy Alcohol Use in the Developmental Process of Desistance in Dating Aggression during Adolescence

The current study examined the role of heavy alcohol use in the developmental process of desistance in physical dating aggression during adolescence. Using longitudinal data spanning grades 8 through 12 we tested the hypotheses that (a) higher levels of early heavy alcohol use would be associated with decreased deceleration from dating aggression during late adolescence and (b) higher levels of heavy alcohol use during time-points in late adolescence would be contemporaneously associated with elevated levels of dating aggression at those same time points. Contrary to expectations, findings indicate that the effects of both early and continuing heavy alcohol use on dating aggression were strong during early adolescence but tended to diminish over time. Unexpectedly, the contemporaneous effects of alcohol use on dating aggression were stronger in the spring than in the fall semesters. Implications for prevention and for understanding developmental relations between the two behaviors are discussed

A multidimensional model of mothers’ perceptions of parent alcohol socialization and adolescent alcohol misuse.

We assessed a multidimensional model of parent alcohol socialization in which key socialization factors were considered simultaneously to identify combinations of factors that increase or decrease risk for development of adolescent alcohol misuse. Of interest was the interplay between putative risk and protective factors, such as whether the typically detrimental effects on youth drinking of parenting practices tolerant of some adolescent alcohol use are mitigated by an effective overall approach to parenting and parental modeling of modest alcohol use. The sample included 1,530 adolescents and their mothers; adolescents’ mean age was 13.0 (SD = .99) at the initial assessment. Latent profile analysis was conducted of mothers’ reports of their attitude toward teen drinking, alcohol-specific parenting practices, parental alcohol use and problem use, and overall approach to parenting. The profiles were used to predict trajectories of adolescent alcohol misuse from early to middle adolescence. Four profiles were identified: two profiles reflected conservative alcohol-specific parenting practices and two reflected alcohol-tolerant practices, all in the context of other attributes. Alcohol misuse accelerated more rapidly from grade 6 through 10 in the two alcohol-tolerant compared with conservative profiles. Results suggest that maternal tolerance of some youth alcohol use, even in the presence of dimensions of an effective parenting style and low parental alcohol use and problem use, is not an effective strategy for reducing risky adolescent alcohol use

The Development of Four Types of Adolescent Dating Abuse and Selected Demographic Correlates

This study determined the shape of trajectories from ages 13 to 19 of four types of dating abuse perpetration and examined whether the demographic characteristics of sex, minority status, socioeconomic status, and family structure systematically explained variation in the trajectories. The data are from 5 waves of data collected from 973 adolescents participating in the control group of a randomized trial. The mean trajectory for psychological dating abuse was positive linear, but the mean trajectories were curvilinear for moderate physical, severe physical, and sexual dating abuse. At all ages, boys reported more severe physical and sexual dating abuse than girls, minorities reported more moderate and severe physical dating abuse than whites, adolescents in single-parent-households reported more psychological and severe physical dating abuse than those in two-parent-households, and parental education was negatively associated with psychological and moderate physical dating abuse perpetration. The findings have implications for future research and for practice

The Social Ecology of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse

A conceptual framework based on social ecology, social learning, and social control theories guided identification of social contexts, contextual attributes, and joint effects that contribute to development of adolescent alcohol misuse. Modeling of alcohol use, suggested by social learning theory, and indicators of the social bond, suggested by social control theory, were examined in the family, peer, school, and neighborhood contexts. Interactions between alcohol modeling and social bond indicators were tested within and between contexts. Data were from a longitudinal study of 6,544 students, 1,663 of their parents, and the U.S. Census. All contexts were uniquely implicated in development of alcohol misuse from ages 11 through 17 years and most alcohol modeling effects were contingent on attributes of social bonds

Patient Privacy and Conflicting Legal and Ethical Obligations in El Salvador: Reporting of Unlawful Abortions

Postabortion care providers who breach patient confidentiality endanger women’s health and violate ethics. A 1998 abortion ban in El Salvador likely spurred an increase in the number of women investigated, because many women were reported to legal authorities by health care providers. Having analyzed safeguards of confidentiality in laws and ethical guidelines, we obtained information from legal records on women prosecuted from 1998 to 2003 and identified factors that may lead to reporting through a survey of obstetrician-gynecologists (n=110). Although ethical and human rights standards oblige providers to respect patients’ privacy, 80% of obstetrician-gynecologists mistakenly believed reporting was required. Most respondents (86%) knew that women delay seeking care because of fear of prosecution, yet a majority (56%) participated in notification of legal authorities