Examination of Personality, Social and Cognitive Factors on the Co-Occurrence of Health Risk Behaviors among Multi-Problem Youth: The Utility of An Integrative Framework

Research has identified a number of putative risk factors that places adolescents at incrementally higher risk for involvement in alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and sexual risk behaviors (SRBs). Such factors include personality characteristics such as sensation-seeking, cognitive factors such as positive expectancies and inhibition conflict as well as peer norm processes. The current study was guided by a conceptual perspective that support the notion that an integrative framework that includes multi-level factors has significant explanatory value for understanding processes associated with the co-occurrence of AOD use and sexual risk behavior outcomes. This study evaluated simultaneously the mediating role of AOD-sex related expectancies and inhibition conflict on antecedents of AOD use and SRBs including sexual sensation-seeking and peer norms for condom use. The sample was drawn from the Enhancing My Personal Options While Evaluating Risk (EMPOWER: Jonathan Tubman, PI), data set (N = 396; aged 12-18 years). Measures used in the study included Sexual Sensation-Seeking Scale, Inhibition Conflict for Condom Use, Risky Sex Scale. All relevant measures had well-documented psychometric properties. A global assessment of alcohol, drug use and sexual risk behaviors was used. Results demonstrated that AOD-sex related expectancies mediated the influence of sexual sensation-seeking on the co-occurrence of alcohol and other drug use and sexual risk behaviors. The evaluation of the integrative model also revealed that sexual sensation-seeking was positively associated with peer norms for condom use. Also, peer norms predicted inhibition conflict among this sample of multi-problem youth. This dissertation research identified mechanisms of risk and protection associated with the co-occurrence of AOD use and SRBs among a multi-problem sample of adolescents receiving treatment for alcohol or drug use and related problems. This study is informative for adolescent-serving programs that address those individual and contextual characteristics that enhance treatment efficacy and effectiveness among adolescents receiving substance use and related problems services.

Relation of health related hardiness to health perception and psychosocial adaptation in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of hardiness in health perception and psychosocial adaptation in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C (n = 32). The Health Related Hardiness Scale and the Psychosocial Adaptation to Illness Scale were administered to 32 adult hispanics diagnosed with chronic heptitis C at a gastroenterology center. The results indicate that a comparison of subjects with low and high hardiness scores did not reveal significant differences on any of the PAIS domains (health care orientation, sexual relationships, psychological distress, vocational, domestic and social environments). Furthermore, hardiness subscales of control and committment did not have any influence on patient's psychosocial adaptation nor in its domains. However, a comparison of subjects with low and high challenge scores indicates that those with low challenge had lower total psychosocial adaptation scores (M = 5.55, SD = 2.13) than subjects with high challenge scores (M = 4.24, SD = .67) ,t = (1, 30) = 2.34, p < 0.05. Differences were also found for the domains of health care orientation, psychological distress, social and vocational environment. Lastly, there were significant differences on perceived health rating (poor, fair, and good) for the total hardiness score (F = (2,29) =5.49, p < 0.05), control (F =(2,29) = 4.09, p < 0.05), committment (F=(2,29) = 3.76, p < 0.05) and challenge (F=(2,29)= 4.92, p < 0.05). Thus, those patients who rated their health as poor had lower hardiness levels. Findings have implications for promoting hardiness for better health perception and in certain aspects of psychosocial adaptations in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C.

The Efficacy of San Lazaro and His Manifestations: Divine Mediators of Health Within Miami's Cuban-American Santeria Community.

This study explored the origins, evolution and influence of the tradition of San Lázaro as it currently pertains to the Cuban-American Santeria community in Miami. The main argument of the study is that in the context of the contemporary religious culture of Santeria in Miami, San Lázaro is a hybrid spirit. Many manifestations of healing entities have come to merge in the person of this spirit. Though practitioners identify with specific manifestations of this spirit, the processes of transmigration have blurred the lines of deep-rooted faiths and created a fusion of meanings from disparate traditions, making San Lázaro an ambivalent personality. San Lázaro’s ambivalence is the very quality that makes him such an important Orisha. As a deity whose personalities demonstrates the combination of a diversity of qualities, including those that contradict each other, San Lázaro is deployed in a very broad range of healing context, making him a versatile Orisha. This study clarified the contrasting qualities this deity embodies and traces the socio-historical context in which the deity acquires the layers of meanings it is currently associated with. Drawing on interviews with Lázaranian worshipers [Lázarenos] in Miami and engaging in Bourdieu’s concept of Habitus, the study provided a window into the nature of the tradition of San Lázaro and how its usage is linked with the African heritage of the worshipers.

Health Literacy and Medicare Recipient's Knowledge of Health Insurance Options

Health literacy is a major problem for the aging population (Parker, Ratzan, & Lurie, 2003). The significance of this study was to access the relationship between health literacy and knowledge of Medicare to determine ways in which seniors can effectively navigate their healthcare insurance.