Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G J Botvin

Publications and source records attributed to G J Botvin.

84 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Linguistic acculturation and gender effects on smoking among Hispanic youth.

BACKGROUND: Hispanic populations have been shown to be at high risk for smoking. The complex psychological process of adaptation to a different culture (acculturation) has been linked to smoking among Hispanic adults and adolescents. Although a positive association between acculturation and smoking appears to depend on gender among adults, research with Hispanic adolescents has ignored the moderating effect of gender. METHODS: Students in 22 New York City schools completed self-report questionnaires and provided carbon monoxide breath samples at two annual assessments. Sixth and seventh graders who identified themselves as Hispanics participated in the study (N = 1,295 at baseline; N = 1,034 at 1-year follow-up). The questionnaire included items related to smoking, acculturation, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Analyses were conducted to determine the effects of linguistic acculturation and gender on smoking. Girls smoked more frequently than boys at both time points. Being more acculturated was also associated with more smoking at the two survey assessments. As predicted, adolescent smoking depended on both gender and linguistic acculturation. For girls, but not boys, the highly acculturated adolescents smoked more frequently than either the bilingual or the less acculturated. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, smoking prevention programs designed for Hispanic youth may benefit from an emphasis on Hispanic culture.

Acculturation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Factors promoting cigarette smoking among black youth: a causal modeling approach.

A longitudinal model of Black adolescent smoking was tested using 223 seventh-grade students attending public schools in northern New Jersey. Interpersonal and intrapersonal factors were hypothesized to have an impact on Black seventh graders' decision to smoke. After conducting an exploratory Principal Factor Analysis (PFA) using a varimax rotation with the Time 1 data, a structural equation model was developed and refined through successive iterations. The final model revealed friends' smoking to be the most significant predictor of Black adolescent smoking at Time 1, but perceived smoking norms and intrapersonal factors such as decision making, self-efficacy, and self-esteem at home and at school exerted an important influence on smoking at Time 2. These results suggest that social influence factors may be important early in the smoking initiation process, but factors such as perceived smoking norms and intrapersonal factors may play an important role in maintaining the smoking habit in Black adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social influence predictors of alcohol use among New York Latino youth.

We examined demographic and social influence predictors of adolescent drinking among New York City Latino adolescents, including specific Latino subgroups (i.e., Puerto Rican, Dominican, Colombian, and Ecuadorian). Sixth- and seventh-grade students (N = 3129) who identified themselves as Latino or Hispanic on the survey questionnaire comprised our Latino sample. The survey included self-reported frequency of alcohol use, demographic items, and measures of social influences for drinking. Logistic-regression analyses revealed that social influences (how many friends drink, attitudes of parents and friends toward respondent's drinking) are strong predictors of current drinking (defined as drinking at least once a month) for the overall sample of Latino youth, as well as for Puerto Rican youth and Dominican youth. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Preventing drug abuse in schools: social and competence enhancement approaches targeting individual-level etiologic factors.

Drug abuse continues to be an important public health problem throughout the world. Although considerable progress has been made in identifying effective prevention approaches, there is a large gap between what research has shown to be effective and the methods generally used in most schools. The most promising prevention approaches target individuals during the beginning of adolescence and teach drug resistance skills and norm setting either alone or in combination with general personal and social skills. Evaluation studies testing these approaches show that they can significantly reduce adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. While some studies show that these effects may decrease over time, booster interventions have been found to maintain and in some instances even enhance prevention effects. The results of one large-scale evaluation study shows that it is possible to produce reductions in drug use that last until the end of high school. Available evidence suggests that these approaches may be effective when taught by different kinds of teachers and with different populations. The current paper provides a brief review of school-based prevention approaches targeting individual-level etiologic factors, evidence supporting their effectiveness, and a discussion of potential mediating mechanisms.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Alcohol and marijuana use among rural youth: interaction of social and intrapersonal influences.

Epidemiological research indicates that the prevalence rate of drug use among adolescents has risen steadily during this decade, and although alcohol use has stabilized it is still highly prevalent. Psychosocial etiological models have typically examined main effects of risk and protective factors. This study examined moderating effects of intrapersonal skills on social (peer and parental) risks associated with alcohol and marijuana use among eighth-grade rural adolescents, an understudied population. Results indicated that the relationships of peer and parental attitudes, and peer usage to alcohol and marijuana use, are moderated by adolescents' decision-making and self-reinforcement skills. Social risk factors were strongly associated with increased alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents with poor intrapersonal skills. However, good decision-making and self-reinforcement skills diminished the influence of social risk factors on substance use. Results are discussed in terms of implications for psychosocial models of alcohol and drug use, and for designing effective school-based universal prevention interventions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Preventing illicit drug use in adolescents: long-term follow-up data from a randomized control trial of a school population.

National survey data indicate that illicit drug use has steadily increased among American adolescents since 1992. This upward trend underscores the need for identifying effective prevention approaches capable of reducing the use of both licit and illicit drugs. The present study examined long-term follow-up data from a large-scale randomized prevention trial to determine the extent to which participation in a cognitive-behavioral skills-training prevention program led to less illicit drug use than for untreated controls. Data were collected by mail from 447 individuals who were contacted after the end of the 12th grade, 6.5 years after the initial pretest. Results indicated that students who received the prevention program (Life Skills Training) during junior high school reported less use of illicit drugs than controls. These results also support the hypothesis that illicit drug use can be prevented by targeting the use of gateway drugs such as tobacco and alcohol.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developing strategies for AIDS prevention research with black and Hispanic drug users.

More than 8 of 10 intravenous drug users infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are black or Hispanic. Recognizing that sociocultural factors affect HIV transmission, public health officials have called for interventions designed for ethnic-racial minority groups. Considered in this paper are the nature and extent of AIDS among ethnic-racial minorities and the cultural aspects of drug use and sexual behavior related to HIV transmission. That drug users and their associates are practicing safer needle use is evident; that they are changing their sexual behavior is less so. Calling for rapid advances in knowledge and expanded efforts in intervention, Federal agencies have instituted numerous programs to support innovative research and demonstration projects in ethnic-racial minority communities. Needed are studies that (a) describe the phenomena of drug use and sexual behavior among ethnic-racial minority populations, (b) establish the efficacy of culturally specific AIDS prevention strategies in drug treatment and community settings, and (c) demonstrate new ways of recruiting, treating, and reducing relapse among drug users.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A psychosocial approach to smoking prevention for urban black youth.

Despite the high rates of smoking-related cancers among black Americans, little is known about the type of smoking prevention program that might be effective with black youth. The current study pilot-tested a promising smoking prevention approach to determine its feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness. A total of 608 students in nine predominantly black urban junior high schools were stratified by community and randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Students in the treatment condition participated in a 12-session smoking prevention program which taught resistance skills and general life skills. Process data indicated that this prevention approach was feasible and acceptable to students, teachers, and administrators. Outcome data indicated that this program reduced the proportion of children who smoked in the past month by 56 percent, and it increased knowledge of the adverse consequences of smoking and normative expectations concerning adult and peer smoking. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and modifications which might further strengthen the efficacy of this approach for urban black adolescents.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship between language spoken and smoking among Hispanic-Latino youth in New York City.

This study was designed to examine the relationship between language spoken and smoking (at least once a month) among New York City Hispanic-Latino adolescents, using a large sample of specific Hispanic-Latino subgroups (Puerto Rican, Dominican, Colombian, and Ecuadorian youth) and controlling for social and environmental factors. The sample included 3,129 Hispanic-Latino students in 47 New York City public and parochial schools. Of the total sample, 43 percent were Puerto Rican, 20 percent Dominican, 7 percent Colombian, and 7 percent Ecuadorian. The students completed questionnaires that were designed to assess social and environmental influences on their smoking and determine what languages they spoke (English and Spanish) with parents and friends. Self-reported smoking data were collected by means of the bogus pipeline to enhance the veracity of self-reports. In the logistic regression model, including background, social influence, and language use variables, 101 students were smokers. Logistic regression analysis indicated that being bicultural (speaking both English and Spanish) at home and with friends appeared to increase the odds of currently smoking. Separate logistic regression analyses for girls and boys revealed that being bicultural at home increased the odds of currently smoking for boys but not girls. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention.

Acculturation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Smoking behavior of adolescents exposed to cigarette advertising.

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between the exposure of adolescents in the seventh and eighth grades to cigarette advertising and their being smokers. A survey questionnaire given to 602 adolescents assessed their exposure to cigarette advertising and provided measures of their smoking behavior, demographic characteristics, and some psychosocial variables. The results indicated that exposure to cigarette advertising and having friends who smoked were predictive of current smoking status. Adolescents with high exposure to cigarette advertising were significantly more likely to be smokers, according to several measures of smoking behavior, than were those with low exposure to cigarette advertising. The findings extend previous research identifying factors that may play a role in the initiation and maintenance of smoking among adolescents.

Adolescent↗