Maya A. Corneille

Ethnic Identity, Neighborhood Risk, and Adolescent Drug and Sex Attitudes and Refusal Efficacy: The Urban African American Girls' Experience

This study examined the impact of ethnic identity and neighborhood risk on drug and sex attitudes and refusal efficacy among early adolescent urban African American females (n = 175). The model also predicted a moderating relationship of ethnic identity on neighborhood risk for drug and sex attitudes and refusal efficacy. Data were collected as part of a larger drug education program and analyzed via hierarchical multiple regression. The analyses controlled for household structure and menarche. Results indicated a direct relationship of higher ethnic identity and higher sexual refusal efficacy, higher disapproval of drug use, and lowered intentions to use drugs. Neighborhood risk was directly related to lower disapproval of drug use. There was a small moderating effect of ethnic identity on neighborhood risk for intention to use drugs. Findings provide support for prevention programs for African American youth that seek to reduce risk behaviors by increasing ethnic identity, particularly in low resource communities. *This study was based on the first authors dissertation. It was partially supported by funding from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (Grant #-5 KD1 SP08655).

What's Culture Got to Do with It? Prevention Programs for African American Adolescent Girls

This paper examines prevention programming for African American girls by placing the prevention process within the larger African and African American cultural context. We provide an overview of the theories and issues we consider most relevant to African American culture, including Africentric theory, ethnic identity, gender identity and relational theory, developmental issues, the community context, and historical considerations. Drawing from our own drug prevention work, we provide examples of how to incorporate culture into prevention programs to make them most relevant for the target population. We also summarize our own efforts to create culturally appropriate prevention interventions and their impact on the girls in our programs. We conclude with suggested directions for future research into culture-specific prevention programs.

Age and HIV Risk and Protective Behaviors Among African American Women

Though HIV prevention efforts have focused on young adult women, women of all ages may engage in HIV risk behaviors and experience barriers to condom use. This article examines the effect of age on sexual risk and protective attitudes and behaviors among African American women. Unmarried heterosexual African American women between the ages of 18 and 61 completed pen-and-paper survey measures. Participants were recruited from three local colleges and universities and several community-based agencies including health clinics, faith-based institutions, social service agencies, and other community-based organizations in a southeastern metropolitan area. Results indicated that as age of participants increased, participants reported less frequent condom use, reported lower condom use intentions, and perceived their partners attitudes toward condoms to be less favorable, even after controlling for the effects of relationship length, education, and partner status. As age increased, participants reported higher condom negotiation efficacy. Findings suggest that older, sexually active heterosexual women may be at higher risk than younger women for sexually transmitted infections associated with lack of condom use.

The Impact of a Culturally Enhanced Drug Prevention Program on Drug and Alcohol Refusal Efficacy among Urban African American Girls

This study examined the utility of the Specific Event Drug and Alcohol Refusal Efficacy scale (SEDARE) as an outcome of a culturally enhanced drug abuse prevention program for urban African-American girls in early adolescence. The SEDARE captures the perceived likelihood that youth will use drugs and alcohol in specific situations. Ninety-two girls participated in the program. Girls in the intervention group had higher drug refusal efficacy as measured by the SEDARE than girls in the comparison group. Girls varied in situations they perceived they could refuse drugs and alcohol. Findings are discussed with implications for drug abuse prevention programs for urban African-American girls.

Promoting academic achievement: the role of peers and family in the academic engagement of African American adolescents.

While grades are frequently used as indicators of academic achievement, they provide little information about the processes that encourage academic success. Academic engagement, on the other hand, evaluates thoughts, motivations, and behaviors that predict achievement and helps elucidate achievement mechanisms. Understanding academic engagement can facilitate an examination of the forces influencing and hindering achievement and can guide researchers and educators in developing and evaluating effective interventions for increasing academic success. Grounded in ecological theory, this study attempts to understand the influence of family cohesion and peer risky behavior on academic engagement. First, the study explores how socializing with peers who engage in risky behaviors (e.g., sexual behaviors, truancy, or substance use) influences academic engagement and its components (i.e., interest in school, education utility value, and academic effort). Second, the study assesses whether family cohesion buffers the relationship between socializing with these peers and academic engagement. The findings from hierarchical linear regression indicate that socializing with peers who engage in risky behaviors has a significant, negative impact on academic engagement. Family cohesion also was significantly associated with academic engagement over and beyond the effects of risky peers. Implications for families, schools, communities, and programming are discussed.

An Evaluation of an Enhanced Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS (SISTA) HIV Prevention Curriculum: The Role of Drug Education

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS (SISTA) curriculum against an enhanced SISTA curriculum that included additional information about the relationship between drug use and HIV risk. The intervention aimed to reduce and prevent alcohol- and drug-related behaviors that negatively impact sexual decision making, such as having unprotected sex. It was hypothesized that the enhanced SISTA curriculum would lead to greater awareness of HIV risk and subsequently more consistent condom use. Participants were 260 young adult African American females, who identified as heterosexual. Measures of HIV knowledge and condom use were collected at pretest, posttest, and/or 3-month follow-up. The enhanced SISTA intervention demonstrated greater effectiveness than did the standard SISTA intervention in promoting HIV knowledge at posttest and subsequent condom use at 3-month follow-up. Implications for including drug education in HIV prevention efforts are discussed.

The Impact of Perceived Group Support on the Effectiveness of an HIV Prevention Intervention for African American Women

The enormous HIV/AIDS disparity among African American women and women in other ethnic groups dictates the need to implement the most effective HIV prevention interventions. This study examined the impact of perceived group support on HIV protective behaviors (i.e., attitudes and behaviors related to condom use, alcohol, and drugs) of African American women participating in an HIV prevention intervention. Participants were 398 heterosexual, unmarried African American women older than 18 years who agreed to participate in Sisters Informing Sisters on Topics about AIDS, a widely used HIV prevention program for African American women. Regression analyses revealed that higher perceived support contributed to (1) higher condom negotiation efficacy, (2) higher condom use efficacy, (3) consistent condom use for sexually active participants, (4) higher perception of drug harmfulness, and (5) drug disapproval at posttest. These effects were found while controlling for pretest measures of condom and drug attitudes and use along with age, partner status, length of relationship, and education. The findings suggest that HIV intervention efforts should attend to ways in which women receive and provide support to one another.