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Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati

Publications and source records attributed to Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Perceptions of ceremonial and nonceremonial uses of tobacco by American-Indian adolescents in California.

BACKGROUND: American-Indian adolescents have the highest tobacco use prevalence of all ethnic groups in the United States. Although much has been written about the role of tobacco in traditional Native-American cultures, little is known about modern-day perceptions of tobacco among American-Indian adolescents. METHODS: This study conducted focus groups of 40 American-Indian adolescents in urban and rural areas of Southern California. Participants discussed the role of traditional ceremonial tobacco use in their lives, the use of commercial tobacco as a substitute for sacred tobacco, the perceived safety of traditional versus commercial tobacco, and the perceptions of American-Indian imagery in tobacco advertising. RESULTS: Many American-Indian adolescents may be introduced to traditional tobacco use at early ages. Smoking is viewed as a sign of respect for the elders, but there are acceptable ways for adolescents to participate in ceremonies without inhaling smoke. Commercial cigarettes often are substituted for homegrown tobacco at ceremonies and events. Traditional tobacco was perceived as less dangerous than commercial tobacco because it does not contain chemical additives. However, respondents still perceived that smoking traditional tobacco and breathing tobacco smoke conferred health hazards. Participants found the use of American-Indian imagery in tobacco advertising offensive and stereotypical. Indian casinos were mentioned frequently as places where smoking occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Continued health education efforts are needed to decrease habitual use of commercial tobacco products and secondhand smoke exposure among American-Indian youth. Further research is needed to identify ways for American-Indian youth to participate in their cultural traditions while minimizing their risk for tobacco-related diseases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The influence of depressive symptoms on experimental smoking and intention to smoke in a diverse youth sample.

Numerous studies have shown associations between smoking and depression, but the generalizability of the relationship across ethnic groups remains unknown. The present study assessed the association between depression and smoking intention and experimentation among adolescents from four ethnic groups in the Los Angeles area-Chinese/Chinese American, Latino/Hispanic, Persian/Iranian, and White. Over 800 7th graders in the Los Angeles area completed measures of depressive symptoms, experimentation with smoking, intention to smoke, and sociodemographic covariates. Chinese/Chinese American students had the lowest levels of depressive symptoms, whereas Latinos/Hispanics had the highest levels. Latinos/Hispanics also were the most likely to intend to smoke in the next year and were the most likely to have started experimenting with cigarette smoking. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with intention to smoke even after controlling for language use acculturation, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. The association between depressive symptoms and intention to smoke did not vary significantly across ethnic groups. These results indicate that the association between depressive symptoms and adolescent smoking generalizes across diverse ethnic groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Internet accessibility and usage among urban adolescents in Southern California: implications for web-based health research.

The World Wide Web (WWW) poses a distinct capability to offer interventions tailored to the individual's characteristics. To fine tune the tailoring process, studies are needed to explore how Internet accessibility and usage are related to demographic, psychosocial, behavioral, and other health related characteristics. This study was based on a cross-sectional survey conducted on 2373 7th grade students of various ethnic groups in Southern California. Measures of Internet use included Internet use at school or at home, Email use, chat-room use, and Internet favoring. Logistic regressions were conducted to assess the associations between Internet uses with selected demographic, psychosocial, behavioral variables and self-reported health statuses. The proportion of students who could access the Internet at school or home was 90% and 40%, separately. Nearly all (99%) of the respondents could access the Internet either at school or at home. Higher SES and Asian ethnicity were associated with higher internet use. Among those who could access the Internet and after adjusting for the selected demographic and psychosocial variables, depression was positively related with chat-room use and using the Internet longer than 1 hour per day at home, and hostility was positively related with Internet favoring (All ORs = 1.2 for +1 STD, p < 0.05). Less parental monitoring and more unsupervised time were positively related to email use, chat-room use, and at home Internet use (ORs for +1 STD ranged from 1.2 to 2.0, all p < 0.05), but not related to at school Internet use. Substance use was positively related to email use, chat-room use, and at home Internet use (OR for "used" vs. "not used" ranged from 1.2 to 4.0, p < 0.05). Self-reported health problems were associated with higher levels of Internet use at home but lower levels of Internet use at school. More physical activity was related to more email use (OR = 1.3 for +1 STD), chat room use (OR = 1.2 for +1 STD), and at school ever Internet use (OR = 1.2 for +1 STD, all p < 0.05). Body mass index was not related to any of the Internet use-related measures. In this ethnically diverse sample of Southern California 7(th) grade students, 99% could access the Internet at school and/or at home. This suggests that the Internet is already a potential venue for large scale health communication studies. Adolescents with more psychosocial risk factors or detrimental health behaviors were more likely to use the Internet. Therefore, if used properly, Internet interventions could effectively address the high risk populations. Additional research is needed to gain a more complete understanding of the positive and negative consequences of Internet use among adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Characteristics of adolescents who provide neither parental consent nor refusal for participation in school-based survey research.

Schools offer a convenient setting for research on adolescents. However, obtaining active written parental consent is difficult. In a 6th-grade smoking study, students were recruited with two consent procedures: active consent (parents must provide written consent for their children to participate) and implied consent (children may participate unless their parents provide written refusal). Of 4,427 invited students, 3,358 (76%) provided active parental consent, 420 (9%) provided active parental refusal, and 649 (15%) provided implied consent (parental nonresponse). The implied consent procedure recruited more boys, African Americans, students with poor grades, and smokers. This dual-consent procedure is useful for collecting some limited data from students who do not provide active consent or refusal.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

More money more motivation? Master Settlement Agreement and tobacco control funding in communities of color.

This article examines state Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) funding of tobacco control in communities of color. The primary research question was whether MSA monies resulted in dedicated funding for communities of color at the state level. This article also explores some of the historical factors that shape the relationship of communities of color to MSA funding as well as some of the institutional barriers to implementing comprehensive tobacco control programs in these communities. Three model approaches to funding parity in tobacco control programs were examined as case studies. Because of the limited amount of research available in this area, the data on tobacco control funding for communities of color was collected in interviews with state tobacco control agencies during October 2003. Findings supported our hypothesis that there were few dedicated resources at the state level for tobacco control and prevention in communities of color.

Ethnicity↗
PubMed2004

Countering tobacco industry sponsorship of Hispanic/Latino organizations through policy adoption: a case study.

Restricted by Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) provisions, the tobacco industry employs corporate sponsorship of communities of color (e.g., sponsoring community cultural events and/or chambers of commerce) to secure their stronghold. The Hispanic/Latino Tobacco Education Network (H/LaTEN) initiated efforts to counter these marketing forms within the Hispanic community. In 1998, 38 California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCCs) were contacted to assess the tobacco industry's marketing tactics and penetration. CHCCs reported receiving tobacco funding in the past, making them susceptible to future protobacco industry influence. Subsequently, an intervention was implemented to inoculate the CHCCs against industry influence by encouraging an antitobacco corporate sponsorship policy adoption. Six CHCCs representing approximately 400 businesses in the community adopted this policy. Targeting susceptible organizations including and beyond the Hispanic community and advocating for an antitobacco corporate sponsorship policy adoption are strategies that can be used in tandem with MSA enforcement to effectively build resistance.

California↗
PubMed2004

A cultural psychology approach to "drug abuse" prevention.

Much research on the etiology of adolescent drug use has focused on posited risk and protective factors at the level of the individual or small group. However, those proximal influences exist within a cultural context that also influences drug use. To prevent drug use in the diverse population of the United States, research is needed on the influence of the cultural context on adolescent drug use, including the effects of immigrating from one cultural or sociodemographic context to another, as well as the effects of living within two different cultural systems simultaneously. Theoretical models and research methods from cultural psychology and cultural sociology are well-suited to examine the cultural context of drug use. We examine causal mechanisms by which acculturation might affect drug use by using two paradigms to conceptualize culture: a stress/coping paradigm and a cultural values paradigm. Implications of cultural risk and protective factors for transdisciplinary research on drug abuse prevention are also discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Exploring the cultural context of tobacco use: a transdisciplinary framework.

Understanding culture is an essential key to reducing tobacco use. Conceptualizations of culture vary across scientific disciplines and theoretical orientations. Because of the complexity of the causes and effects of tobacco use, no single discipline has sufficient capacity to undertake a comprehensive approach to studying culture and tobacco. Transdisciplinary research offers a means of bridging disciplinary perspectives. This paper reviews epidemiological data on observed variation in smoking patterns across national groups, ethnicities and genders, and presents reasons for studying culture in tobacco control research. We discuss and contrast conceptualizations and specific definitions of culture and identify aspects of each conceptualization that are relevant to research on tobacco. We present a multilevel, multidimensional conceptual framework for transdisciplinary research teams to use to think together about the influence of culture on tobacco and of tobacco on culture. The framework challenges researchers to think about how the sociocultural context influences tobacco use at micro, meso, and macro levels. Finally, we offer suggestions for improving transdisciplinary research on culture and tobacco.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed2003

Evaluating transdisciplinary science.

The past two decades have seen a growing interest and investment in transdisciplinary research teams and centers. The Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers (TTURCs) exemplify large-scale scientific collaborations undertaken for the explicit purpose of promoting novel conceptual and methodological integrations bridging two or more fields. Until recently, few efforts have been made to evaluate the collaborative processes, and the scientific and public policy outcomes, of such centers. This manuscript offers a conceptual framework for understanding and evaluating transdisciplinary science and describes two ongoing evaluation studies covering the initial phase of the TTURC initiative. The methods and measures used by these studies are described, and early evaluative findings from the first 4 years of the initiative are presented. These data reveal progress toward intellectual integration within and between several of the TTURCs, and cumulative changes in the collaborative behaviors and values of participants over the course of the initiative. The data also suggest that different centers may follow alternative pathways toward transdisciplinary integration and highlight certain environmental, organizational, and institutional factors that influence each center's readiness for collaboration. Methodological challenges posed by the complexities of evaluating large-scale scientific collaborations (including those that specifically aspire toward transdisciplinary integrations spanning multiple fields) are discussed. Finally, new directions for future evaluative studies of transdisciplinary scientific collaboration, both within and beyond the field of tobacco science, are described.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Drug abuse prevention program development. Results among Latino and non-Latino white adolescents.

Five program development studies from Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) were re-analyzed to discern Latino versus non-Latino Whites similarities and differences in receptivity to a wide variety of high school-based drug abuse prevention activities. In most of the program development studies, these youth attended alternative (continuation) high schools in Southern California. Although there were a total of 46% Latino students in these schools, 99% of the students indicated English as the main language spoken at school and home. Thus, taken together, almost all Latino youth in the various studies analyzed preferred to respond to survey questions in English. Latinos were relatively low in socioeconomic status (SES) and used drugs less frequently. Still, this group of highly acculturated Latinos and non-Latino Whites (37% of the school population) perceived that they were attending alternative schools for the same reasons (e.g., lack of credits, truancy). Very few differences in receptivity ratings of proposed TND activities were found as a function of ethnicity. In other words, the data suggest that the same types of lessons are applicable to older teens in both ethnic groups.

Adolescent↗