Having a family history of alcohol (FH+) use is a well-documented risk factor for alcohol use and alcohol related problems. However, there are limited studies examining the impact of FH + on current ...alcohol use among Latino immigrants. This study aimed to determine the influence of having a FH + on current alcohol use among Latino immigrants and the influence of alcohol outcome expectancies (AOEs) and acculturation on this relationship. This is a longitudinal secondary data analysis of data from the Recent Latino Immigrant Study (RLIS), the first community-based cohort study to examine pre- to post-immigration alcohol use trajectories of young adult Latino immigrants. Linear mixed models were performed to assess the association between various pre- and post-immigration factors and alcohol use among Latino immigrants. There were 518 young adult Latino immigrants with 18.7% reporting a FH + with those with a FH + having higher mean AUDIT score compared to those without (4.74 vs. 3.81; p = 0.028). Positive AOEs were associated with increase AUDIT scores. FH + individuals with greater positive AOEs experienced higher AUDIT scores compared to FH- individuals. Family cohesion was protective against alcohol use while endorsement of Americansism was associated with increased alcohol use. Theses results provide the framework for more in-depth exploration regarding the influences of FH+, AOEs, and acculturation have on the alcohol use among Latino immigrants. Future longitudinal research studies should account for whether traditional cultural values mediate or moderate the relationship between a FH+, AOE, and alcohol use of Latino immigrants.
Latinos are disproportionately impacted by drinking and driving arrests and alcohol-related fatal crashes. Why, and how, these disparities occur remains unclear. The neighborhood environments that ...recent Latino immigrants encounter in their host communities can potentially influence health behaviors over time, including the propensity to engage in drinking and driving. This cross-sectional study utilizes a sample of 467 documented and undocumented adult recent Latino immigrants in the United States to answer the following research questions: (a) How do neighborhood-level factors, combined with social support, impact drinking and driving risk behaviors?; and (b) Does acculturative stress moderate the effects of those associations? Results indicate neighborhood-level factors (informal social control and social capital) have protective effects against drinking and driving risk behaviors via the mediating mechanism of social support. Acculturative stress moderated associations between neighborhood informal social control and social support, whereby the protective effects of informal social control on social support were not present for those immigrants with higher levels of acculturative stress. Our findings contribute to the limited knowledge of drinking and driving among Latino immigrants early in the immigration process and suggest that, in the process of developing prevention programs tailored to Latino immigrants, greater attention must be paid to neighborhood-level factors.
Background: This study examined (a) the direct association of family cohesion on alcohol use severity among adult Hispanic immigrants; (b) the indirect association of family cohesion on alcohol use ...severity via social support; and (c) if gender moderates the direct and indirect associations between family cohesion and alcohol use severity. Method: Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 411 (men = 222, women = 189) participants from Miami-Dade, Florida. Results: Findings indicate that higher family cohesion was directly associated with higher social support and lower alcohol use severity. Higher social support was also directly associated with lower alcohol use severity. Additionally, family cohesion had an indirect association with alcohol use severity via social support. Moderation analyses indicated that gender moderated the direct association between family cohesion and alcohol use severity, but did not moderate the indirect association. Conclusions: Some potential clinical implications may be that strengthening family cohesion may enhance levels of social support, and in turn, lower alcohol use severity among adult Hispanic immigrants. Furthermore, strengthening family cohesion may be especially beneficial to men in efforts to lower levels of alcohol use severity.
The aim of this paper is to describe an approach to the study of the educational trajectories of students at risk of exclusion and to discuss the suitability of this methodological procedure for a ...narrative approach. In this research, the theory of the life course by reconstructing life stories has been used to observe how the different experiences in the educational trajectory of these students develop and how these affect their involvement with their studies and school. Through this paper, the research process will be exposed, from the epistemological foundation of research to the method employed for the analysis and discussion of results. A way to delve into an insufficiently explored form of research will be proposed. The application of Barton and Lazarsfeld’s qualitative analysis procedures is novel in the paper; not only for the depth achieved in the analysis of the trajectories of the subjects, but also for the possibility of its integral application in the data analysis software ATLAS.ti. The main conclusions reached in this text are: (1) the full validity of the analysis procedures established by Barton and Lazarsfeld; (2) the progress that supposes its application with the support of the software ATLAS.ti; (3) Semantic exploration through the tools available facilitates the deepening of the development of biographical-narrative research.
HIV testing early in the immigration process can facilitate timely linkage to HIV prevention and treatment services for immigrants. This study aims to determine the prevalence of self-report HIV ...testing pre- and post-immigration and the associations between pre-immigration HIV sexual risk behaviors, access to healthcare post-immigration, and HIV testing post-immigration among young adult recent Latino immigrants. Cross-sectional data from 504 recent Latino immigrants aged 18 to 34 who immigrated to Miami-Dade County, Florida during the 12 months before assessment were analyzed using robust Poisson regression models. We found that 23.8% of participants reported HIV testing post-immigration and 56.7% reported HIV testing pre-immigration. The prevalence ratio for post-immigration HIV testing was higher for participants that had health insurance (adjusted prevalence ratio aPR: 1.70, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.21–2.38) and a regular doctor or healthcare provider after immigration (aPR: 1.43, 95% CI 1.03–2.00), and post-immigration HIV testing was higher for participants that had ever been tested for HIV before immigration (aPR: 2.41, 95% CI 1.68–3.45). Also, the prevalence ratio was lower for those who engaged in condomless sex in the three months prior to immigration (aPR: 0.65, 95% 0.47–0.90). These findings suggest that addressing barriers to healthcare and prevention services for young adult recent Latino immigrants is needed to scale-up HIV testing in this population early in the immigration process.
Abstract
Background
A well-established gender-differentiated association between acculturation and current smoking exists among Latino adults. There are far fewer studies on the potential influence ...of acculturation on smoking cessation, and extant findings are mixed.
Purpose
Using a multidimensional measure of acculturation, the current study examined the independent and interactive associations of gender and acculturation with smoking cessation among Mexican American smokers engaged in a quit attempt.
Methods
Using a latent variable modeling approach to repeated measures analysis, the independent and interaction effects of acculturation in two cultural directions (American and Mexican) were examined for their prospective associations with smoking abstinence. Interactions of acculturation domains with gender were also examined. Acculturation was assessed at baseline and abstinence status was assessed at 3 and 26 weeks post-quit.
Results
The interaction of American and Mexican cultural identity was significantly associated with smoking abstinence, such that greater American cultural identity was positively associated with abstinence only among those with high Mexican cultural identity. The interaction of English proficiency with gender was significant such that English proficiency was positively associated with abstinence among men but not women.
Conclusions
Findings in the cultural identity domain are consistent with a “benefits of biculturalism” perspective, and may be particularly relevant to the adoption of an American cultural orientation among persons with an already-strong heritage-culture orientation. Findings also replicate a gender-differentiated association between acculturation and cessation. Implications for treatment development and future research are discussed.
Greater English language proficiency was associated with quitting smoking among Mexican men, but not women. High American cultural identity was associated with quitting smoking, but only among persons who also have high Mexican cultural identity.
Latino emerging adults in the United States are at a high risk of HIV and have a low prevalence of HIV testing. This study examined the association between self-efficacy for HIV testing, distress ...tolerance and lifetime history of HIV testing, and tested the moderating effect of distress tolerance and sexual risk behaviors on the association between self-efficacy and lifetime history of HIV testing. Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 157 Latino emerging adults aged 18-25 using an online survey and were analyzed using hierarchical logistic regression and moderation analyses. We found that 62.8% of those engaging in sexual risk behaviors had ever been tested for HIV. Participants that reported higher levels of self-efficacy (aOR=3.49, 95%CI: 1.78-6.83) were more likely to have ever been tested for HIV in their lifetime. There was a statistically significant three-way interaction among self-efficacy for HIV testing, distress tolerance and sexual risk behaviors (b=2.76, 95%CI: .52, 5.00, p=.016). This interaction suggests that among those that reported any sexual risk behaviors, higher levels of self-efficacy were associated with lifetime history of HIV testing only at higher levels of distress tolerance. Further research is warranted to determine how self-efficacy and distress tolerance work together among high-risk groups to promote HIV testing.
Method
Two hundred Hispanic emerging adults from Arizona (n = 99) and Florida (n = 101) completed a cross‐sectional survey, and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and ...moderation analyses.
Results
Higher social media discrimination was associated with higher symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety. Moderation analyses indicated that higher social media discrimination was only associated with symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety among men, but not women.
Conclusion
This is likely the first study on social media discrimination and mental health among emerging adults; thus, expanding this emerging field of research to a distinct developmental period.
Objectives: This study explored whether cultural identity predicts health lifestyle behaviors. Method: Participants included 302 recently immigrated (<5 years in the U.S.) Latinx adolescents (53% ...boys; mean age 14.51 years at baseline) from Miami and Los Angeles. Participants completed cultural identity measures at baseline and 1-year post baseline. A path analysis was used to estimate associations between cultural identities (ethnic, national, and bicultural) and health lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, diet, and sleep hygiene). Results: Ethnic identity positively predicted diet. Results also indicated a significant interaction between ethnic and national identity on sleep hygiene. Specifically, when national identity was high (+1 SD), ethnic identity positively predicted sleep hygiene. Conclusion: This study focuses on health lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity, diet, and sleep hygiene in this population. Results highlight the need to explore the protective nature of cultural identity retention in relation to health lifestyle behaviors in Latinx adolescents.
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