Edward Bein

Correlates of heavy substance use among young gay and bisexual men: The San Francisco Young Men's Health Study

Correlates of heavy substance use among a household-based sample of young gay and bisexual men (n=428) were identified and the odds ratio (OR) was calculated. A total of 13.6% reported frequent, heavy alcohol use and 43% reported polydrug use. Compared with men employed in professional occupations, men in service positions (OR=3.77) and sales positions (OR=2.51) were more likely to be heavy alcohol consumers. Frequent gay bar attendance and multiple sex partners were related to heavy alcohol use, as well as to polydrug use. Polydrug users were more likely to be HIV seropositive (OR=2.05) or of unknown HIV serostatus (OR=2.78). HIV serostatus was similarly related to frequent drug use. These correlates of heavier substance use among young gay and bisexual men could be used to identify and intervene early with members of this population who are at risk of substance misuse, as well as HIV/AIDS risk.

Predictors of Sexual Risk in Latino Gay/Bisexual Men: The Role of Demographic, Developmental, Social Cognitive, and Behavioral Variables

This study examined four types of predictors of sexual risk within a sample of 110 predominantly English-speaking Latino gay/bisexual men residing in the city of San Francisco. More than one fourth of the sample reported at least one instance of unprotected anal intercourse in the last 30 days; one fifth of the sample reported unprotected anal intercourse with a nonmonogamous sexual partner within the same time period. Findings suggest that weak personal intentions for safer sex and low levels of perceived self-efficacy are associated with risky sexual practices. In addition, a history of sexual abuse in childhood, drug use during sexual activity, and frequency of sex in public cruising environments emerged as significant predictors of sexual risk. Multivariate analyses indicated that a four-predictor model (including a young age, low levels of intention/self-efficacy, a high frequency of sex under the influence of drugs, and a high frequency of sex with nonmonogamous partners) is the most parsimonious model to predict sexual risk in this population. A history of childhood sexual abuse correlated positively with all predictors of risk in the model, except age.

Relapse outcomes in a randomized trial of residential and day drug abuse treatment

Relapse outcomes at 6-, 12-, and 18-month intervals were compared between clients randomly assigned to day (n=114) versus residential (n=147) drug abuse treatment. Day clients were more likely than residential clients to relapse 6 months post-admission (OR=3.06, p<0.001); however, no setting differences at 12 or 18 months were found. Few baseline predictors were prospectively related to relapse at 12 and 18 months. These predictors were usual employment status (part-time OR=17.47, p<0.001; full-time OR=2.54, p<0.001), history of drug injecting (OR=5.39, p<0.01), multiple sex partners (OR=1.16, p<0.01), and not having a gay sexual partner (OR=0.05, p<0.03) during 6 months prior to admission. Still, these baseline predictors, together with the existing literature, could be used by drug treatment professionals to identify individuals who may be at high risk for relapse over time, and to offer specialized treatment and aftercare resources as intervention and prevention measures.

Linguistic Analysis of Affective Speech in Psychotherapy: A case grammar approach

The Computer Assisted Language Analysis System (CALAS) was used to examine the relationship of various linguistic measures to outcome measures in high and low verbalized affect segments of 32 patients in psychotherapy. Results indicated that in the high affect segments, therapists with poor outcome cases used more “cognitive” verbs than therapists with good outcome cases. Therapists in general differed from patients by speaking with a more differentiated pattern of speech in both the high and low affect segments. Specifically, therapists used relatively more stative verbs in high affect segments and more action verbs in low affect segments than patients. Therapists also included more information in their speech, but spoke more efficiently (i.e., fewer embedded clauses) than patients. It is suggested that lexical measures may supplement existing measures in the study of psychotherapy dialogue. Das computergestutzte Sprachanalysesysesystem (CALAS) wurde eingesetzt, um die Beziehung verschiedener linguistisc...

Differing Cognitive Trajectories of Mexican American Toddlers The Role of Class, Nativity, and Maternal Practices

Recent studies reveal early and wide gaps in cognitive and oral language skills—whether gauged in English or Spanish—among Latino children relative to White peers. Yet, other work reports robust child health and social development, even among children of Mexican American immigrants raised in poor households, the so-called immigrant advantage. To weigh the extent to which Mexican heritage or foreign-born status contributes to early growth, we first compare levels of cognitive and communicative skills among children of Mexican American and native-born White mothers at 9 and 24 months of age, drawing from a national sample of births in 2001. Just one fifth of Mexican American toddlers kept pace with the cognitive growth of White toddlers at or above their mean rate of growth through 24 months of age, matched on their 9-month cognitive status. We then assess how factors from developmental-risk or ecocultural theory help to explain which Mexican American toddlers kept pace with White peers. Growth was stronger among toddlers whose family did not live beneath the poverty line, and whose mothers reported higher school attainment, more frequent learning activities, and exhibited steadier praise during a videotaped interaction task, factors more weakly observed among foreign-born Mexican American mothers. We found little evidence that foreign-born mothers exercised stronger home practices that advanced toddlers’ early cognitive growth as posited by immigrant-advantage theory. The positive factors emphasized by developmental-risk theory helped to explain variation in the cognitive growth of children of native-born, but not foreign-born, Mexican mothers.

How Well Does Long-Term Psychoanalytically Oriented Inpatient Treatment Work?: A Review of a Study by Blatt and Ford

This article reviews a recent archival study of long-term psychoanalytically oriented inpatient treatment by Blatt and Ford (1994). They conclude that the intensive inpatient treatment effected impressive improvements for their sample of late-adolescent and young adult patients. This article details serious methodological, statistical, and interpretive limitations and errors in Blatt and Fords study that call into question the validity of its conclusions. The usefulness of Blatts distinction between anaclitic and introjective configurations of psychopathology for studying treatment outcome is also examined. Dieser Artikel kritisiert eine kurzliche Archivstudie uber stationere, psychoanalytisch orientierte Langzeitpsychotherapie von Blatt und Ford (1994). Diese folgern, das eine intensive stationare Behandlung zu beachtlichen Verbesserungen bei jugendlichen und jungen erwachsenen Patient(inn)en Fuhrt. Der Artikel raumt sehr detaillert eine Reihe von Einschrankungen hinsichtlich der Methode, der statistis...