Hispanic adolescents with severe substance abuse problems: Parental involvement, acculturation-related factors, and attachment

The main objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between parent-related, acculturation-related, and substance use-related variables found within individual, familial/parental, peer and school adolescent ecological domains, in a clinical sample (i.e. adolescents who met criteria for a Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV [DSMIV] clinical diagnosis of substance abuse/dependence) of Hispanic adolescents from Miami, Florida. ^ The sample for this study consisted of 94 adolescent-mother pairs. The adolescent sample was 65% male, and 35% female, with a mean age of 15 years. More than half of the adolescents were born in the United States (60%) and had resided in the U.S. for an average of 12 years; 80% of the caregivers (primarily mothers) were foreign-born and lived in the U.S. for an average of 21 years. ^ Correlation and hierarchical regression were used to answer the research questions. The findings indicate that the hypothesized model and corresponding anticipated effect of the relationship between parental school and peer involvement on adolescents’ frequency of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use was not supported by the data. Parental “acculturation-related” variables did not explain any of the variance in adolescent substance use frequency in this sample. Mediation and moderation models were not supported either. However, some interesting relationships were found: ^ The larger the acculturation gap, the lower the parental involvement in school tended to be (r = -.21, p < .05). Adolescents who experienced a greater acculturation gap with their parents (-.81, p >.01) had an earlier onset of marijuana (-.33, p < .01) and cocaine use (r = -.24, p <.01). The less acculturated parents experienced more parenting stress (r = -.31, p = < .01). Attachment was positively associated with parental peer involvement (r = .24, p < .05) and inversely associated with parenting acculturative stress (r = -.24, p < .05). Attachment was also positively associated with marijuana (r = .39, p < .01) and cocaine use (r = .33, p < .01). Adolescent males reported being more attached to their mothers when compared to adolescent females (r = .22, p >.05), they also reported using marijuana more frequently than females (.21, p >.05). ^

A diagnostic framework for demand amplification problems in supply chains

This dissertation delivers a framework to diagnose the Bull-Whip Effect (BWE) in supply chains and then identify methods to minimize it. Such a framework is needed because in spite of the significant amount of literature discussing the bull-whip effect, many companies continue to experience the wide variations in demand that are indicative of the bull-whip effect. While the theory and knowledge of the bull-whip effect is well established, there still is the lack of an engineering framework and method to systematically identify the problem, diagnose its causes, and identify remedies. ^ The present work seeks to fill this gap by providing a holistic, systems perspective to bull-whip identification and diagnosis. The framework employs the SCOR reference model to examine the supply chain processes with a baseline measure of demand amplification. Then, research of the supply chain structural and behavioral features is conducted by means of the system dynamics modeling method. ^ The contribution of the diagnostic framework, is called Demand Amplification Protocol (DAMP), relies not only on the improvement of existent methods but also contributes with original developments introduced to accomplish successful diagnosis. DAMP contributes a comprehensive methodology that captures the dynamic complexities of supply chain processes. The method also contributes a BWE measurement method that is suitable for actual supply chains because of its low data requirements, and introduces a BWE scorecard for relating established causes to a central BWE metric. In addition, the dissertation makes a methodological contribution to the analysis of system dynamic models with a technique for statistical screening called SS-Opt, which determines the inputs with the greatest impact on the bull-whip effect by means of perturbation analysis and subsequent multivariate optimization. The dissertation describes the implementation of the DAMP framework in an actual case study that exposes the approach, analysis, results and conclusions. The case study suggests a balanced solution between costs and demand amplification can better serve both firms and supply chain interests. Insights pinpoint to supplier network redesign, postponement in manufacturing operations and collaborative forecasting agreements with main distributors.^