Celia C. Lo

Intimate Partner Violence Within Law Enforcement Families

Using data from the Baltimore Police Stress and Domestic Violence study, the authors examined how exposure to stressful events on the job affects law enforcement employees’ physical aggression toward domestic partners, evaluating the role of negative emotions and authoritarian spillover in mediating the impact of such task-related stress. The authors consulted general strain theory and angry aggression theory to explain domestic violence in police families. Significant positive effects on physical aggression toward an intimate partner were found for variables measuring authoritarian spillover and negative emotions. However, these effects were different for different gender and racial groups.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Access to Substance Abuse Treatment

A secondary dataset, Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001–2003, was employed to examine racial/ethnic differences in access to specialty and non-specialty substance abuse treatment (compared with no access to treatment). The study found that non-Hispanic White Americans were (1) likelier than members of all racial/ethnic minority groups (other than Hispanics) to address substance abuse by accessing care through specialty addiction-treatment facilities, and were (2) also less likely to access substance abuse care through non-specialty facilities. Because non-specialty facilities may have staffs whose professional training does not target treating chronic, bio-psycho-social illness such as substance abuse, our results imply that treatment facilities deemed non-specialty may need to enhance staff training, in order to ensure individuals are properly screened for substance use conditions and are referred for or provided with effective counseling and medications as appropriate.

Discrimination's Role in Minority Groups’ Rates of Substance‐Use Disorder

This study asked whether, among the three largest American racial/ethnic minorities, presence/absence of current substance-use disorder is explained to any degree by social status and discrimination. It examined interaction effects involving discrimination and social status, exploring whether social-status factors are channeled through discrimination, fostering disorder. Logistic regression techniques were applied to data from the nationally representative dataset 2001-2003 Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys. Findings generally suggest that presence of substance-use disorder is likely to be associated with perceived discrimination. Significant interaction effects were also found: Discriminations strongest association with substance-use disorder was observed for Asian respondents with lower incomes and for Hispanic respondents with little education. This study significantly expands knowledge, since little research preceding it directly addressed relationships among social-status factors, discrimination, and substance-use disorder in minority populations. This studys results should encourage future researchers to further explore mechanisms of the mental health effects of discrimination.

The Effects of Victimization on Drug Use: A Multilevel Analysis

Agnews general strain theory suggests that negative life experiences constitute stress that may lead to deviance, unless effective coping strategies are forthcoming. In the present study, the principles of general strain theory were employed to examine the age-varying effects of three types of victimization on drug-using behavior: sexual victimization, physical victimization, or other victimization. Study data came from seven waves of the National Youth Survey, a longitudinal survey of youth ages 11 to 17 years when the study began in 1976. The broad hypotheses of general strain theory were supported, by the data, with some qualifications. Results of the data analysis also showed that victimizations impact on drug use is type-specific and/or drug-specific. Further studies with more sophisticated measures of drug use should clarify the role of victimization (by type) in various drug-using behaviors. The studys limitations are noted.

Protecting Alabama Students from Alcohol and Drugs: A Multi-Level Modeling Approach

This research examines both risk and protective factors in the frequency of drug and alcohol use by Alabama public school students in grades six through 12. Factors are measured at the individual and county level. The data on both levels were obtained by the Substance Abuse Services Division of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The results of data analysis—comprising hierarchical linear modeling techniques (HLM)—show that, overall, the individual protective factors do reduce student use of alcohol and drugs, controlling for certain risk factors. The county-level structural-disadvantage factor, however, operates in direction opposite to expectations. According to the results, structural disadvantage reduces rather than increases student use of all drugs. The implications of the important role structural variables play in individual drug use are discussed.

Social Location, Social Integration, and the Co-occurrence of Substance Abuse and Psychological Distress

Background: In the United States, social stratification has generally led individuals occupying lower social locations to have more health problems than other individuals, even acknowledging that social groups are distinguished by their particular manifestations of health problems. Objectives: This study examined whether two social integration factors, marriage and religiosity, mediate the relationship between social location and co-occurrence of substance abuse and psychological distress and the nature of this relationship. Methods: Multinomial logistic regression was conducted on data from a national sample of 34,650 adults mostly between the ages of 18 to 35, collected through the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Results: White males who were lesser educated and living in poverty were more likely to exhibit co-occuring substance abuse and psychological distress than their demographically similar counterparts. Additionally, being married and religious appeared to be protective factors within the overall study cohort with fewer co-occurring behaviors reported. Conclusion: The data generally confirm the hypothesis concerning mediating roles for religiosity and marriage. Scientific Significance: Confirmation that marriage and religiosity can protect adults against co-occurring substance abuse and psychological distress potentially provides the information necessary to better target health policy and interventions that serve to further enhance the population’s mental health.

Racial Differences in Co-Occurring Substance Use and Serious Psychological Distress: The Roles of Marriage and Religiosity

The study examined how marriage and religiosity can protect members of certain racial/ethnic groups against co-occurring substance use and serious psychological distress. Using the national dataset 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we analyzed data via multinomial logistic regression, observing several important results. Our findings generally support the deprivation-compensation thesis, in that religiosity elevates the mental health of racial/ethnic minority individuals more than that of Whites. We also found, however, that race/ethnicity moderates effects of education and poverty on the co-occurring behaviors, with Whites’ mental health benefiting more from wealth and education than Blacks’ or Hispanics’ mental health did.

The role of social structural factors in treatment of mental health disorder

Background Mental disorder implies a biopsychosocial condition, so adequate mental health treatment involves not just medical and pharmacological care but also psychotherapy or counseling. Aims The present study determined how social structural factors might explain accessing of primary care providers and specialty care providers in response to mental disorder, hypothesizing that the two broad types of care differ as to the likelihood of offering minimally adequate treatment. Method We analyzed data from the cross-sectional study called “2000–2001 Healthcare for Communities”, employing five imputed data sets to handle missing data and defining minimally adequate treatment of mental disorder as “at least four counseling sessions at any provider and prescribed medication”. Results While mental disorder can be treated in primary care or specialty facilities, our results show that minimally adequate treatment (as defined) is most likely to be obtained via specialty care. Conclusion For individuals with mental disorder, accessing only primary care creates social inequity, because care from specialty facilities is comparatively more adequate.

The Impact of School Environment and Grade Level on Student Delinquency: A Multilevel Modeling Approach

Effects on delinquency made by grade level, school type (based on grade levels accommodated), and prosocial school climate were assessed, controlling for individual-level risk and protective factors. Data were obtained from the Substance Abuse Services Division of Alabama’s state mental health agency and analyzed via hierarchical linear modeling, yielding three major findings. First, grade level’s effects on delinquency varied strongly by school type, although in the multivariate context the interaction effects of grade level and school type were not significant. Second, prosocial school climate significantly explained differential delinquency rates. Third, the requirement that students change schools upon reaching a certain grade level does, as the literature notes, appear to lead to a poor environmental fit for students’ developmental needs.

Offense Specialization of Arrestees An Event History Analysis

The data set employed in the present study came from interviews with arrestees conducted between 1999 and 2001 as well as from their official arrest records obtained from jail administrators. A total of 238 arrestees ages 18 to 25 constituted the final sample. Event history analysis examined each arrestees movement from periods of no arrests to periods including arrests for any of four types of offense; background variables were controlled, and relevant time-varying factors became the explanatory factors. The results show a tendency among these arrestees to specialize, to varying degrees, in violent offenses, drug offenses, miscellaneous offenses, and property offenses. Evidence of versatility is presented. Anticrime measures are also discussed.