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Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer a novel avenue for engaging students in the scientific process (Bangera and Brownell, 2014). In contrast to traditional laboratories, CUREs are designed to foster autonomy through student-driven hypothesis generation, experimentation, data analysis, and dissemination of findings (Auchincloss et al., 2014; Spell, Guinan, Miller, and Beck, 2014). In this article, the authors describe the development and evaluation of the BIOL 1108: Health Disparities in the Border Region II CURE, which represents efforts to address concerns through purposeful integration of civic engagement education into the CURE curriculum. A health disparities course theme was identified given the widespread health inequalities along the U.S.-Mexico border that have posed a challenge to the U.S. healthcare system (Bastida, Brown, and Pagán, 2008; Rosales, Carvajal, and de Zapien, 2016). They also present both quantitative and qualitative evidence suggesting that participation in the CURE positively impacts students' development of public health outreach skills, researcher autonomy and self-efficacy, and affective dispositions toward the role of science in society

The authors present findings from formative research to assess the need and receptivity for a Web-based, integrated healthy sexual and dating relationships intervention among community college students in South Central Texas. Texas ranks third highest among U.S. states in its overall teen birth rate; 69% of those births are among females 18 to 19 years of age. Texas also ranks No. 1 among U.S. states in its repeat teen pregnancy rate, reflecting the need for effective pregnancy and dating violence prevention among young adults. The goals of this study were the following: (1) examine patterns of sexual behaviors, dating violence, and related psychosocial factors among students attending community colleges in South Central Texas; (2) examine differences in patterns of specific types of dating violence perpetration and victimization by gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual identity; (3) examine associations between psychosocial factors and dating violence perpetration and victimization; and (4) assess the usability and short-term psychosocial outcomes of activities from a Web-based healthy sexual and dating relationships intervention. Collectively, these findings will inform the development of an integrated Web-based healthy sexual and dating relationship intervention that is acceptable and engaging, and potentially scalable for use in community college settings.

Drawing from the socio-ecological model, this study examined the relationships between child, family, and neighborhood/community factors and self-regulation among five subgroups of adolescents aged 12–17 years with developmental challenges and delays (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder, developmental delay, learning disability, and intellectual disability). Data for this study came from the 2019 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative dataset (n=3,181). Using multiple regression analyses, we found that not all five subgroups of adolescents shared similar experiences. In sum, having good health and health insurance was positively associated with self-regulation, while adverse childhood experiences and being bullied were negatively linked to self-regulation. Family and neighborhood/community-related variables that were positively related to adolescents' self-regulation consisted of parent-child closeness, having college-educated parents, household food security, and parents' knowledge of where to obtain help in their neighborhood. Family variables negatively associated with adolescents' self-regulation included living in two-parent households and receiving public assistance, but only for adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Socio-demographic variables significantly linked to adolescents' self-regulation were biological sex, age, Hispanic ethnicity, and race. Future research and practice should focus on identifying and addressing the diverse ecological factors influencing adolescents' social-emotional development to improve behavioral outcomes and support their transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Willingness to intervene as an effective bystander is critical in preventing partner violence and fostering safety among college students. Informed by the Social Determinants of Health framework, this conceptual paper provides an overview of the background and historical evolution of bystander intervention and invites a rethinking of how various factors impact bystander intervention for partner violence among college students by highlighting the roles of (1) economic factors and education, (2) sexual beliefs, myths, and media, (3) gender values and norms, (4) environmental factors, (5) college students at risk, (6) social support network and access to services, (7) acculturation and familiarity with the U.S. culture, and (8) cost-benefit analyses. We also discuss potential practice, research, and policy implications. Understanding the Social Determinants of Health is instrumental in addressing the root cause of intersecting health disparities, which is vital in preventing violence, encouraging bystander intervention, and creating a safer community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress is widely known to have debilitating effects on physical health and mental wellbeing, particularly on one's coping styles, personality traits, and outlook on life. Cumulative and chronic stress, which can serve as a triggering or aggravating factor for many pathological disorders if left unaddressed, has been linked to many life-threatening diseases. While many studies have looked at how optimism and pessimism are used as a form of coping mechanism, few have examined how different bio-psycho-social reactions to stress shape the level of optimism and pessimism. Using a sample of adult individuals aged 18 and older in the United States (n = 3361), this study addressed the following research questions: (1) What types of stress are predictive of optimism and pessimism? (2) Which responses to stress and coping mechanisms are most predictive of optimism and pessimism? (3) Do optimism and pessimism share the same stress-related risk and protective factors? Overall, this study found that while optimism and pessimism share conceptual similarities, they are not necessarily influenced by the same stress mechanisms. Stress, whether personal or financial, was associated with a negative outlook on life. This study showed that having good sleep quality and a lower number of psychological stress symptoms was linked to increasing optimism and reducing pessimism, while overeating or eating unhealthily was connected to both optimism and pessimism. Additionally, this study found that exercise/walking and emotional support mediated the effects of the responses to stress on the respondents' level of optimism and pessimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the predictors of loneliness, with a focus on the roles that discrimination plays and how it intersects with gender and educational attainment among three subgroups of adults at different life stages (young, middle, and late adulthood). In sum, our study found that the link between discrimination and loneliness varied across age groups, making the examination of its root cause from the ecological perspective and identifying symptoms/triggers for loneliness critical in developing different targeted interventions. Findings from this study can be used to guide social work intervention efforts undertaken to prevent and reduce loneliness [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of analytics on Twitter feeds is a very popular field for research. A tweet with a 280-character limitation can reveal a wealth of information on how individuals express their sentiments and emotions within their network or community. Upon collecting, cleaning, and mining tweets from different individuals on a particular topic, we can capture not only the sentiments and emotions of an individual but also the sentiments and emotions expressed by a larger group. Using the well-known Lexicon-based NRC classifier, we classified nearly seven million tweets across seven battleground states in the U.S. to understand the emotions and sentiments expressed by U.S. citizens toward the 2020 presidential candidates. We used the emotions and sentiments expressed within these tweets as proxies for their votes and predicted the swing directions of each battleground state. When compared to the outcome of the 2020 presidential candidates, we were able to accurately predict the swing directions of four battleground states (Arizona, Michigan, Texas, and North Carolina), thus revealing the potential of this approach in predicting future election outcomes. The week-by-week analysis of the tweets using the NRC classifier corroborated well with the various political events that took place before the election, making it possible to understand the dynamics of the emotions and sentiments of the supporters in each camp. These research strategies and evidence-based insights may be translated into real-world settings and practical interventions to improve election outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Healthy Families Healthy Kids Initiative (HFHKI) is a community-based initiative developed based on the socio-ecological model to address preventive health care needs in El Paso County, Texas, one of the most economically and health-challenged border communities in the United States. HFHKI's three main goals are to increase access to experiential learning and health education, service delivery, and sustainable systems/linkages of care. These were accomplished through seven critical activities. We present the rationale, background, setting, and conceptual framework for the initiative, followed by the methods used to develop and assess the success of the activities and results of our project outcomes. We end with a discussion of lessons learned and future directions. We also share insights gained from our community health promotion intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic, which will enrich current conversations among applied social scientists. Overall, our project served 2,347 participants of all age ranges during our first year of project implementation across all 7 activities. We recommend the use of the socio-ecological model in designing, implementing, and improving health interventions aimed at enhancing family and community health, with each intervention tailored to the needs of different segments of the community. While the need to contain the COVID-19 virus amid the pandemic has created challenges in health promotion efforts, the need to help affected communities regain control of their health cannot be stressed enough. Our project can serve as an implementation framework for community-based projects on the U.S.-Mexico border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using two waves of data from a multi-wave longitudinal survey of Hispanic origin young adults (n = 1,547), this study examined the empirical links between physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and perpetration, and two key social risk factors in emerging adulthood (high-risk sexual behavior and poor mental health). Respondents were recruited from the Los Angeles, CA area. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. Overall, our analyses found that incidents of IPV at an earlier time point predicted experiencing IPV at a later time point in a similar fashion, indicating that IPV persisted over time. Additionally, this study found that physical and psychological IPV often co-occurred, irrespective of the direction of the violence (perpetration or victimization). Next, respondents who reported a greater number of lifetime sexual partners and poor mental health reported more physical IPV perpetration. Among the socio-demographics, male respondents were more likely to face IPV physical victimization but less likely to perpetrate this form of violence than their female counterparts. This study highlights the importance of examining the co-occurrence, bidirectionality, and persistence of IPV in understanding its dynamic mechanisms, advancing risk identification, and developing preventive measures to mitigate IPV risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilising semi-structured interviews, this study investigated various educational determinants contributing to college major selection and career choice of 40 undergraduates who had been admitted to a social work programme in southwestern United States. Major key principles of the life course approach were incorporated in this study to elucidate the participants' educational aspirations. Five common life themes (i.e. (1) career transitions, (2) significant life events and turning points, (3) linked lives, (4) altruism and social justice and (5) rational choice) were developed to illustrate the salient factors that steered their educational pathways. Although the majority of the participants exhibited similarities in social background, life perception and professional outlook, the routes undertaken by each participant differed vastly, signalling the complexity of each participant's life course. These findings revealed that even the most pragmatic and rational decision-making process is not context-free. Research findings were discussed in relevance to contemporary practice implications.

This study seeks to investigate the importance of life course capital on the educational aspirations of 40 social work undergraduates who were predominantly visible ethnic minority, immigrant descendants or non-traditional students in the mainstream US. Applying the resource perspective in this context, minority students' academic successes hinge on their ability to acquire valuable resources needed for academic success over their life course (e.g. economic capital such as parental financial investment, scholarship and financial aids; cultural capital such as educational aspirations and values; and social capital such as parents' involvement and social networks). Overall, minority social work students in this study face a multifaceted array of challenges associated with family financial strain, poor quality of early education, work obligations and economic constraints. Despite the fact that the participants exhibited a remarkable range of educational resilience, the diversities in their journeys to social work were influenced by a number of life course resources and varied systematically by personal experience as well as age cohort.

This article examines the aspiration-attainment gap and educational resilience among children of Mexican immigrants in the midst of the post-1965 U.S. demographic transformation. Two widespread theoretical explanations are used to understand the educational disparities faced by this subpopulation: the cultural argument, which emphasizes their family process and value orientation, and the structural model, which stresses the roles of the family's socioeconomic status and structural assimilation in mainstream society. Overall, both theoretical orientations were partially supported. Protective determinants and risk factors that foster or impede educational attainment are enumerated. Relevant practice implications are also discussed.

Well-integrated and productive communities are an asset to the development and advancement of our nation, and they have an important role to play in planning, learning, and enforcing safety to enhance national and border security. REACH (Resilience, Education, Action, Commitment, and Humanity) is a community-based project housed at The University of Texas at El Paso that aims to prevent targeted violence and domestic terrorism in El Paso County. We integrated three frameworks (i.e., Whole Community Preparedness, Socio-Ecological Model, and Global Citizen Education) to involve local residents in efforts to combat and mitigate targeted violence. REACH had two goals: to (1) prevent targeted violence and domestic terrorism through education, outreach, and community capacity-building aimed at identifying and deterring radicalization (primary prevention) and (2) reduce the short-term and long-term impact and prevent re-occurrence of targeted violence and domestic terrorism (secondary and tertiary prevention). Overall, our project served 8,934 participants directly and reached many more through our media cavmpaigns and outreach efforts during our 2 years of project implementation (2021–2023). Our project design may serve as an implementation model for other community-based projects on the U.S.-Mexico border and can be replicated with other target populations in the U.S. Insights and lessons learned from this project are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of immigration is especially controversial in the United States as immigrants today have not only increased in number but constitute a more heterogeneous population. Unlike the earlier waves of immigrants, which were predominantly of European origin, the post-1965 migration trend from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean has tremendously altered the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population. In-depth exploration of various contextual factors affecting ethnic identity formation can offer insights that help social work practitioners and policy planners overcome the difficulty in working with immigrant populations and their descendants. This article reviews significant contextual aspects influencing immigrant children's ethnic identity formations and proposes practice recommendations that help facilitate the children's adaptation in the host society. (Contains 2 notes.)

Using data collected from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study investigated the links between intimate partners' relationship dynamics and criminal offending in 'fragile families.' We assessed the mechanisms underlying relationships among parents with young children from the perspective of three dominant theories in the field of criminology (i.e., strain, social control/bonding, and social learning theories), as well as the potential moderating effects of gender. In this study, criminal offending is operationalized as whether the respondents have been formally 'booked or charged with breaking a law' since the last data collection period. Overall, our study lends some support for all three theories, but we found little evidence that the relationships among our substantive predictor variables and formal contact with the criminal justice system differed by gender. Keywords Relationship dynamics * Fragile families * Gender * Criminal offending, A rich body of prior research offered various theoretical explanations for understanding factors associated with criminal behaviors and formal contact with the criminal justice system. However, much of the research [...]

This research examined illicit drug use and substance abuse disorders among Hispanic emerging adults using a two time-point study. Hypothesized predictors included concurrent use of different types of substances in adolescence and early adulthood (illicit drug use, binge alcohol use, and cigarette-smoking), along with the socialization context (family, peer, school, and other contextual factors) in adolescence. Overall, the findings showed that emerging adults who engaged in binge use of alcohol reported higher levels of illicit drug use and substance abuse disorders. Smoking cigarettes was associated with higher levels of illicit drug use in emerging adulthood, but not substance use disorders. Illicit drug use and binge alcohol use in adolescence were linked to higher levels of illicit drug use in emerging adulthood. Further, respondents who engaged in higher levels of illicit drug use, binge drinking, and smoking in adolescence were more likely to report higher levels of substance use disorders in early adulthood, signaling the importance of assessing adolescent drug use as a critical period for curbing long-term substance use-related impairment. Sibling alcohol use, college aspirations, and perceived discrimination during adolescence were also predictive of higher levels of substance use disorders in early adulthood. Higher academic achievement in adolescence, however, was associated with lower levels of illicit drug use in emerging adulthood. Lastly, males reported higher levels of illicit drug use and substance abuse disorders than females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using convenience and purposive sampling, this study examined the aspiration-attainment gap and occupational health risks that 40 Mexican origin migrant farm workers faced and the personal resources they drew from to overcome adversities. Data were collected from a community farm worker agency in El Paso, Texas in 2018. Overall, this study showed that participants confronted a series of social impediments and structural disadvantages (economic hardship, low wages, limited formal education, lack of work experience besides farming, systemic deprivation, discrimination, and dangerous workplace). Optimism, familism, spirituality, and perseverance were among the strategies they relied on to foster resilience and bridge the aspiration-attainment gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]