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Objective: Examine whether caregiver depressive symptoms at baseline predict longitudinal child asthma outcomes in the two populations with the largest asthma disparities: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Methods: 267 Hispanic caregiver-child dyads (Mexican =188, Puerto Rican =79; children 5-12 years) were recruited from clinics and hospitals in Phoenix, AZ and the Bronx, NY. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale assessed caregiver depressive symptoms; higher scores indicate greater depressive symptomology. Medical records verified child asthma diagnosis. Assessments for outcome variables occurred at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12-month follow-ups. Pulmonary function was measured by spirometry, asthma control was measured by the Asthma Control Test, steroid bursts and acute healthcare utilization were assessed by caregiver report and medical records, and adherence was measured by doser devices on controller medications. Structural equation modeling analyzed baseline caregiver depressive symptoms as a predictor of longitudinal child asthma outcomes, and differences between subgroups. Results: Higher caregiver depressive symptoms predicted better pulmonary function (β = 0.02, p=.001) in Mexican children, and fewer steroid bursts (β= -0.41, p=.01) and better medication adherence (β = 0.02, p=.07) in Puerto Rican children. Caregiver depressive symptoms did not predict pediatric asthma control or acute healthcare utilization in either subgroup. Conclusions: Caregiver depressive symptomology had unexpected effects on child asthma outcomes. Results may be explained by the Hispanic paradox, caregiver resilience, acculturation, and the study's longitudinal nature. Further research is needed on social determinants of health that may influence differences in child asthma outcomes in heterogeneous Hispanic communities.

This article presents the effects of a synchronized Latino youth/parent intervention on adolescent inhalant use. The analytic sample included only Latino adolescents (N=487) between the ages of 12 and 14. Randomized at the school-level, the design included three possible conditions: 1) child and parent received the prevention interventions, 2) only the parent received the prevention intervention, 3) neither child or parent received the prevention interventions. Drawing from the ecodevelopmental perspective, the overall hypothesis was that youth randomly assigned to the condition with both interventions will report the strongest inhalant use prevention outcomes. Descriptive statistics and regression tests of significant group differences by treatment condition confirmed the overall hypothesis. Children receiving the youth intervention and whose parents received the synchronized parenting intervention reported the strongest desired inhalant prevention effects. The findings are interpreted from an ecodevelopmental perspective and implications for practice, policy and future research are discussed.

This article describes a feasibility pilot of the linguistically adapted keepin’ it REAL (kiR) substance-use prevention curriculum in Uruguay within the context of marijuana legalization. Originall...

Rationales used to legitimize forced dispersal and mixed-income housing policies are socially constructed based on assumptions about concentrated poverty. This study evaluates qualitative data on public housing residents who were in the process of being dispersed as part of a HOPE VI program in order to examine their thoughts about their original home and neighborhood. Residents’ thoughts about their neighborhood are compared to policy rationales. Results indicate that current policy rationales are mostly in line with the goals and motivation of the city but are largely incongruent with the perceptions residents have of their pre-relocation home and neighborhood. The article concludes with policy recommendations for increasing and incorporating residents’ views into policy design.

Gender differences in alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs use in Mexico are rapidly disappearing. This study explores the possible relationship between engaging in romantic relationships on substance use offers and the moderating effects of gender among a group of adolescents (N = 432) living in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The data used to test these relationships were collected through self-administered surveys in 2010. OLS regressions were estimated, predicting substance offers. The results demonstrate an association between having been in a relationship and receiving substance use offers in the previous 12 months. Having had a boyfriend/girlfriend had a significant influence on the offers received by adolescent females, but not for males.

This study presents the results of an assessment of 377 Mexican heritage 7th grade adolescents attending middle school in Arizona. The students answered questions concerning personal substance use, linguistic acculturation and parental monitoring. Linguistic acculturation in general did not predict substance use, while greater perceived parental monitoring significantly predicted a lesser likelihood to use substances for both boys and girls. There was a significant acculturation by parental monitoring interaction for every use of alcohol for boys, with parent monitoring effects being more pronounced in reducing alcohol use among highly acculturated boys. Results are discussed in terms of how acculturation impacts family processes and the drug use behaviors of Mexican heritage adolescents living in predominantly Mexican enclaves.

This study explored intentions to emigrate and substance use among youth (ages 14–24) from a central Mexico state with high emigration rates. Questionnaires were completed in 2007 by 702 students attending a probability sample of alternative secondary schools serving remote or poor communities. Linear and logistic regression analyses indicated that stronger intentions to emigrate predicted greater access to drugs, drug offers, and use of illicit drugs (marijuana, cocaine, inhalants), but not alcohol or cigarettes. Results are related to the healthy migrant theory and its applicability to youth with limited educational opportunities. The study’s limitations are noted.

The family is one of the most important contexts for children’s development and well-being. Parents play a central role in the family, and the degree to which parents monitor their children’s behaviors has been shown to be associated with fewer risky behaviors, especially substance use. Prior research on parental monitoring and substance use, however, has several limitations. Most studies have focused on older adolescents, as well as adolescents from primarily White, Euro-American heritage. Prior studies largely have been cross-sectional and unable to test if parental monitoring decreases substance use over time. This article explicitly addresses these limitations by examining a longitudinal sample of primarily Latino youth in pre-adolescence (5th grade). Using an Ecodevelopmental framework, we hypothesized that parental monitoring will be associated with lower levels of youth substance use and more beneficial substance use intentions, norms, and attitudes. We further hypothesized that the effects of parental monitoring may differ by gender and between Latino and non-Latino youth. The data came from a school-based randomized trial of a substance use prevention program in Phoenix, AZ. To test our hypotheses, we use regression models, with adjustments for clustering and multiple imputation of missing data. The results show that parental monitoring has significant beneficial and longitudinal effects on youth’s substance use and related substance use intentions, norms, and attitudes. These beneficial effects of parental monitoring are invariant to the youth’s gender or Latino ethnicity, except in the case of marijuana use: parental monitoring is significantly more effective in reducing girls’ marijuana use.

This study examines how cohesion and parent–child conflict relate to alcohol use among Mexican-heritage adolescents. The sample consists of 120 adolescents (14 to 18 years) participants from the Southwest sub-sample of the Latino Acculturation and Health Project. Lifetime and recent alcohol use and binge drinking were tested. Results from the logistic regressions identified high and low levels of family cohesion as a risk factor for alcohol use compared to medium levels of cohesion, and parent–child conflict predicted lifetime use and binge drinking. Low and high family cohesion levels appear to be especially problematic among Mexican adolescents who are trying to navigate two different cultural worlds. Although high family cohesion is often a characteristic of Mexican families, Mexican-heritage adolescents may view high family cohesion as a hindrance to their own independence. Unresolved conflict seems to be connected to children's problem behaviors and alcohol misuse could be utilized by adolescents as a mechanism to reduce emotional distress caused by family tensions.

This study used baseline data from the Southwest sample of the Latino Acculturation and Health project to examine whether familism and cohesion are related to problem behaviors in a sample of Mexican and Mexican American adolescents in the Southwest U.S. This study is important to practitioners, and prevention and intervention researchers because it examines buffers to problem behaviors among an increasingly at-risk population. The results confirm that familism is a powerful protective factor against aggressive behavior, conduct problems and rule breaking in this sample. The results draw attention to the importance of family among Mexican and Mexican American families. Family cohesion, however, was found to be protective against conduct problems and rule breaking but not aggressive behavior. Possible explanations for this result are discussed. Additional findings suggest that adolescents who have the ability to navigate between culture of origin and mainstream culture are also protected against some problem behaviors.

This article identifies the interactions among a group of high school students, their teachers, and a university research team as they evolve from an adult-directed to a student-led collaboration that resulted in the creation of a set of culturally grounded prevention messages that effectively prevented or delayed the onset of adolescent drug use. Beginning with an overview of the theoretical triad that served as the project's foundation, we describe the processes used to understand the unfolding dynamics within the collaboration and provide a checklist for those who might wish to replicate the collaborative process.

This article reports the results of a descriptive study conducted with middle school and high school age youth residing in northwestern Spain. The main outcome of the study is to advance knowledge about the drug use attitudes and behaviors of immigrants versus native youth in a social context where Latin American immigrants share a common language and a set of core cultural norms with the host society. The research was conducted by a bi-national Spain–US research team as a preliminary study leading to the development of joint culturally appropriate prevention interventions for youth in the northern region of Galicia, Spain. Surveys were administered in Spring 2005 to 817 students in 7th to 10th grades in 10 urban, secondary schools with high immigrant enrollment. The sample included Spanish natives (two-thirds) and Latin American immigrants (one-third), mainly from Colombia, Argentina, and Venezuela. Multiple regression analyses predicted substance use intentions, and a composite variable measuring lifetime and last 30-day frequency and amount of alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use. Controlling for the fact that the immigrant students were generally older and performing less well academically than natives, and for other predictors, Latin American immigrant youth were less at risk than native youth on their intentions to use substances and on their reported actual substance use. In a mediational analysis, most of the key explanatory variables in youth substance use etiology failed to account for the immigrant versus native differences, including a range of risk and protective factors for substance use, substance use norms, strength of ethnic identity, and degree of social integration within native-born social networks. Differential access to drugs mediated the immigrant–native gap in substance use intentions but did not mediate differences in actual substance use.

Although researchers often incorporate various measures of ethnicity and ethnic identity (EI) into research about substance use, the relationships among ethnicity, EI, and substance use remain unclear (Marsiglia, Kulis, & Hecht, 2001; Phinney, 1996). This paper explores whether ethnicity and three EI instruments are useful in predicting substance use outcomes among three samples of ethnically diverse middle school youth. Findings include that age, gender, and/or racial or ethnic group membership influenced the strength of EI and that age, sex, and strength of EI influence substance use norms and behaviors. In each case where significant effects were obtained, a stronger sense of EI as measured by two of the instruments predicted more negative attitudes toward, and less use of, alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. Implications for preventing substance use among middle school youth by building on and strengthening ethnic identity are provided.

This study sought to determine if exposure to two communication-oriented activities, videotapes and public service announcements, accounts for changes in substance use among adolescents participating in the Drug Resistance Strategies Project's keepin’ it REAL adolescent substance use prevention curriculum. Middle-school students (4,734, 72% Latino) responded to questionnaires related to these analyses. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model was fit separately to six substance use outcomes. The results suggested that intervention students who saw four or five videos engaged in less substance use in the past month than did students who saw fewer videos. Having seen the PSAs one or more times did not predict the reported change in substance use.

This study examined whether language preference, as an indicator of acculturation, moderated the effects of a culturally grounded substance use prevention intervention for Mexican and Mexican American middle school students (N = 2,146) in Phoenix, Arizona. The main hypothesis was that levels of program effectiveness would vary based on the language preference of the students and the specific culturally grounded version of the intervention they were assigned. Findings show that matching language preference to particular versions of the intervention did not influence substance use related program outcomes, but that overall program effects (intervention versus control) did vary by language preference. English-language dominant participants, the most at risk sub-group, responded more positively to the intervention, while Spanish dominant, who had low substance use rates at baseline, and bilingual participants did not demonstrate significant differences between the intervention and control groups. Implications for school social work prevention interventions and prevention science in general, are discussed.

This article examines key aspects of the school environment — its composition by ethnicity and acculturation — as important social contexts for understanding Mexican immigrant and Mexican American adolescents' drug use norms and behaviors. Results are presented based on surveys completed by Mexican-background students from 35 Phoenix. Arizona middle schools, whose enrollment ranged from a numerical minority to an overwhelming majority. Multivariate mixed models tested for the influence of school ethnic composition measures on substance use outcomes, while accounting for individual level predictors and for the nesting of data at the school level. The proportional representation of Latinos in the school was not a factor in an individual's drug use norms or drug use for the sample overall. Once students were broken down by acculturation status, however, ethnic composition had an effect. Less acculturated Mexican heritage students in schools with higher proportions of Latino students reported less substance use and less adherence to pro-drug norms. Further investigation using other measures of ethnic composition suggested that these effects were attributable to the larger presence of less acculturated Latinos in the school rather than more acculturated Latino students. These school-level effects support the individual-level results indicating that less acculturated Mexican American students face less daunting substance use risks. The results suggest that ethnic group size, but not necessarily numerical predominance, matters and that within-group differences influence the effect of a particular ethnic group's presence in the school. In other words, the majority does not always rule. These findings are interpreted using the concepts of segmented assimilation and school level social capital.

This article presents the results of a study conducted with 243 Native American students who were part of a multi-ethnic sample of adolescents attending middle school in a large urban center in the Southwest region of the United States. Native adolescents who felt a stronger sense of belonging in their school were found to report a lower lifetime use of alcohol and cigarettes, lower cigarette and marijuana use in the previous month, lower frequency of current use of these substances, fewer substances ever used, and a later age of initiation into drug use than other Native students. Research implications are discussed in relationship to school environment, culturally-grounded prevention curricula, and school social work practice.

An ecological risk and resiliency framework was applied to explore how social contexts, especially the role of families and schools, are affecting Latino/a pre-adolescent substance use in the urban Southwest. A mixed research design, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, guided the study. Quantitative data were collected through surveys administered as part of a school-based prevention intervention experiment (N = 2,125). Individual interviews conducted with a randomly selected number of matched students (N = 60) provided the qualitative data. The main theme emerging throughout both data sets was a strong resilience against drug use of the participating 7th grade urban youth. The vast majority of students did not use hard drugs, and agreed that alcohol use was inappropriate at their age. A high degree of attachment and strong ties to their parents and their school environment emerged as a shared protective factor. Recommendations include social work interventions that support the resiliency characteristics of urban Latino/a youth in different social contexts such as communities, schools, and families. Limitations of the study are reviewed and suggestions for future research are offered.

This paper presents a case study of a neighborhood based coalition formed by two major participants, a neighborhood association formed by white and older neighbors and a school based parents association formed by younger Latino neighbors. Differences in their communication and organizational sales emerged after an external agency brought them together to form a substance abuse prevention coalition. This paper explores emerging themes as two different communities attempt to organize around shared community concerns. Challenges and guidelines for developing multiethnic urban coalitions are also provided.

This article describes and critiques the pilot phase of a project in which an ethnically diverse group of students from a large southwestern urban high school created culturally based substance abuse prevention videos for urban middle school students. The rationale evolved from research that suggested that a peer-created, culturally-specific approach to drug abuse prevention would be more effective than would programming created by adults operating from a “so-called” culturally-neutral” perspective. The dual perspective of this article includes both the field experiment per se and the data collected, using a case study perspective. Overarching themes of culture and power are discussed, as are the elements of age and gender. Implications extending beyond the pilot offer insights for researchers and practitioners.

PHRASES SUCH AS health equity, minority health, and health disparities have increasingly become part of the lexicon of social work and other helping professions. The phrase behavioral health equity is more focused and strongly resonates within our profession. Schools of social work have been involved in behavioral health equity education and research for more than a century, usually using other terms (Davies, 1994).

This article explores relationships between acculturation status, HIV/AIDS knowledge, and perceived risk of HIV infection among a selected group of Mexican American youth from a large Southwestern city. The vulnerability, risk and resiliency model served as the theoretical framework for the research. Students exhibiting lower acculturation levels were significantly less knowledgeable about HIV/ AIDS and felt at a significantly higher risk for HIV infection than their more acculturated classmates. Lower acculturation had a temporary resiliency effect on the female students. The implications of these findings for future research, policy development, prevention programs and social work practice are discussed.

This paper explores the socio-educational needs and reviews the acculturation stressors that American Indian students encounter while attending school. Also described are the effects that these stressors had on a selected group of American Indian adolescent students attending school in a Southwestern school district. Social work with groups is presented as a culturally grounded intervention to maximize students' efforts to achieve and maintain a certain level of biculturalism. Specific findings from the case study are presented and implications are shared for possible future replication of this approach.

This paper explores the relationship between ethnic, gender, and sexual identities among Latinos/as from a developmental perspective. Culturally prescribed gender roles are explored and lack of support from the indigenous communities are discussed as oppressive factors that inhibit a healthier integration of both ethnic and sexual identities. The role social workers can play in facilitating the integration of these identities and other recommendations are provided within a culturally grounded approach.

This paper explores the perceptions of a group of Latino youth in regards to their chances of gaining access to and succeeding in college. The study was conducted in a major Midwestern city to understand why Latino enrollment and degree completion in area colleges were low. In order to assess Latino student perceptions, community forums and structured questions were used. Respondents had a shared perception that Latino students were not welcome at area colleges. Latino youth and their families identified a series of logistic, cultural specific, and self-efficacy barriers that impeded them from fully benefitting from a college education. Young women and men who had not yet experienced college life were very positive about pursuing a post-secondary education. However, students who were already enrolled in college had a rather negative view of their experience and of their chances of succeeding. Recommendations for improvement provided by the respondents ranged from language and culturally specific ...