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The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) promotes the implementation of best-practices tobacco control policies at a global scale. This article describes features of the sociocultural and political-economic context of Mexico that pose challenges and opportunities to the effective translation of WHO-FCTC policies there. It also considers how strategic communication efforts may advance these policies by framing their arguments in ways that resonate with prevalent values, understandings, and concerns. A focus on a smoke-free policy illustrates barriers to policy compliance, including how similar issues have been overcome among Latino populations in California. Overall, this article aims to lay the foundation for comparative research from policy uptake to impact so that the scientific evidence base on tobacco control policies includes examination of how context moderates this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study examined directionality between personal (i.e., coherence and confusion) and cultural identity (i.e., ethnic and U.S.) as well as their additive effects on psychosocial functioning in a sample of recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents.Method: The sample consisted of 302 recent (<5 years) immigrant Hispanic adolescents (53% boys; Mage = 14.51 years at baseline; SD = .88 years) from Miami and Los Angeles who participated in a longitudinal study.Results: Results indicated a bidirectional relationship between personal identity coherence and both ethnic and U.S. identity. Ethnic and U.S. affirmation/commitment (A/C) positively and indirectly predicted optimism and negatively predicted rule breaking and aggression through coherence. However, confusion predicted lower self-esteem and optimism and higher depressive symptoms, rule breaking, unprotected sex, and cigarette use. Results further indicated significant site differences. In Los Angeles (but not Miami), ethnic A/C also negatively predicted confusion.Conclusion: Given the direct effects of coherence and confusion on nearly every outcome, it may be beneficial for interventions to target personal identity. However, in contexts such as Los Angeles, which has at least some ambivalence toward recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents, it may be more beneficial for interventions to also target cultural identity to reduce confusion and thus promote positive development. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the influence of migration status, nativity and country of residence on joint associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) in anthropometric indicators of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living in the US and in Mexico., Methods: We examined data from two large national surveys, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the US (NHANES, 2011⁻2012) and Mexico (ENSANUT, 2012). Using self-reported minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and SB, we calculated four categories for analyses. Anthropometric measures consisted of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). We used data of migration status, nativity and country of residence. Linear regression models examined how joint categories of PA and SB were associated with BMI and WC according to migration status, nativity and country of residence, controlling for health risk behaviors., Results: Analyses showed that even among those in the category with the lowest risk behavior, &ldquo;physically active and low sedentary&rdquo;, there were differences in BMI and WC by migration status, nativity and country of residence. Within this lower risk category, Mexican immigrants living in the US had the greatest association with high BMI, while US-born Mexican-Americans living in the US had the highest WC values when compared with the group of Mexicans living in Mexico., Conclusions: Joint categories of PA and SB were associated with BMI and WC by migration status, nativity and country of residence among populations with Mexican ethnicity.

The links between discrimination and adjustment in U.S. Latino/a immigrant adolescents is an important but understudied phenomenon. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal associations (across 1 year) among discrimination, prosocial behaviors, and depressive symptoms in U.S. Latino immigrant adolescents using two competing models: associations between discrimination and prosocial behaviors via depressive symptoms (mental health strain model), and associations between discrimination and depressive symptoms via prosocial behaviors (prosociality strain model). Participants were 302 Latino/a recent immigrant adolescents (53.3 % boys, M age = 14.51 years at Time 1, SD = .88 years) who completed measures of discrimination, depressive symptoms, and prosocial behaviors at 6-month intervals. The results provided support for both proposed models. The discussion examines the importance of prosocial behaviors in understanding adjustment and effects of discrimination among recently immigrated U.S. Latino adolescents.

This study evaluated the immigrant paradox by ascertaining the effects of multiple components of acculturation on substance use and sexual behavior among recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents primarily from Mexico (35 %) and Cuba (31 %). A sample of 302 adolescents (53 % boys; mean age 14.51 years) from Miami (n = 152) and Los Angeles (n = 150) provided data on Hispanic and US cultural practices, values, and identifications at baseline and provided reports of cigarette use, alcohol use, sexual activity, and unprotected sex approximately 1 year later. Results indicated strong gender differences, with the majority of significant findings emerging for boys. Supporting the immigrant paradox (i.e., that becoming oriented toward US culture is predictive of increased health risks), individualist values predicted greater numbers of oral sex partners and unprotected sex occasions for boys. However, contrary to the immigrant paradox, for boys, both US practices and US identification predicted less heavy drinking, fewer oral and vaginal/anal sex partners, and less unprotected vaginal/anal sex. Ethnic identity (identification with one's heritage culture) predicted greater numbers of sexual partners but negatively predicted unprotected sex. Results indicate a need for multidimensional, multi-domain models of acculturation and suggest that more work is needed to determine the most effective ways to culturally inform prevention programs.