Rosalie Corona

How Latino American and European American adolescents discuss conflicts, sexuality, and AIDS with their mothers.

The authors examined how the structure of mother-adolescent conversations differs by ethnic group, age, and dyadic and individual factors. Mother-adolescent dyads of European or Latino descent participated in conversations and reported on their relationship and AIDS knowledge. Latina American mothers dominated conversations more than European American mothers, independent of socioeconomic status. Mothers dominated conversations about sexuality and AIDS more than conversations about conflicts. Mothers of older adolescents reacted more negatively, and older adolescents reported less satisfaction, less openness, and more sexual discussions with persons other than their mothers. Latino American adolescents whose mothers dominated conversations more reported fewer sexual discussions. Latina American mothers who dominated conversations more reported more openness and satisfaction. When mothers dominated conversations more, adolescents had lower AIDS knowledge.

Evaluation of Talking Parents, Healthy Teens, a New Worksite Based Parenting Programme to Promote Parent-Adolescent Communication about Sexual Health: Randomised Controlled Trial

Objective To evaluate a worksite based parenting programme—Talking Parents, Healthy Teens—designed to help parents learn to address sexual health with their adolescent children. Design Randomised controlled trial (April 2002-December 2005). Setting 13 worksites in southern California. Participants 569 parents completed baseline surveys at work, gave permission for confidential surveys to be posted to their adolescent children, and were randomised to intervention or control groups. Parents and adolescents completed follow-up surveys at one week, three months, and nine months after the programme. Intervention Talking Parents, Healthy Teens consists of eight weekly one hour sessions at worksites for parents of adolescent children in 6th-10th grade (about ages 11-16 years). Main outcome measures Parent-adolescent communication about a list of sexual topics; whether parent taught adolescent how to use a condom; ability to communicate with parent/adolescent about sex; openness of parent-adolescent communication about sex. Results Differences between intervention and control groups were significant for the mean number of new sexual topics that parents and adolescents reported discussing between baseline and each follow-up (P<0.001 for each); intervention parents were less likely than controls to discuss no new topics (8% v 29%, 95% confidence interval for difference 16% to 24%) and more likely to discuss seven or more new topics (38% v 8%, 19% to 41%) at nine months. Some differences increased after completion of the programme: at one week after the programme, 18% of adolescents in the intervention group and 3% in the control group (6% to 30%) said that their parents had reviewed how to use a condom since baseline (P<0.001); this grew to 29% v 5% (13% to 36%) at nine months (P<0.001). Compared with controls at nine months, parents and adolescents in the intervention group reported greater ability to communicate with each other about sex (P<0.001) and more openness in communication about sex (P<0.001). Conclusions A worksite based programme can have substantial effects on communication between parents and adolescents about sexual health. Trial registration Clinical Trials NCT00465010.

Parents’ Disclosure of Their HIV Infection to Their Children in the Context of the Family

We interviewed 33 HIV-infected parents from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS), 27 of their minor children, 19 adult children, and 15 caregivers about the process of children learning that their parents were HIV positive. We summarize the retrospective descriptions of parents’ disclosure of their HIV status to their children, from the perspective of multiple family members. We analyzed transcripts of these interviews with systematic qualitative methods. Both parents and children reported unplanned disclosure experiences with positive and negative outcomes. Parents sometimes reported that disclosure was not as negative as they feared. However, within-household analysis showed disagreement between parents and children from the same household regarding disclosure outcomes. These findings suggest that disclosure should be addressed within a family context to facilitate communication and children’s coping. Parents should consider negative and positive outcomes, unplanned disclosure and children’s capacity to adapt after disclosure when deciding whether to disclose.

Social and Cardiac Responses of Young Children with Autism

The behavioral and heart rate responses of 22 children with autism and 22 children with other developmental disabilities were compared whilst they were watching videotapes of a baby either playing or crying. We expected both groups to show arousal as increased heart rate when watching the video of the crying baby, and the children with autism to attend less than the other children to both videos. However, the children with autism were as attentive to the videos as the other children, and both groups showed heart rate slowing compared with a baseline condition. There was no change in heart rate during interactions with a stranger or separation from mothers. The findings suggest that the lack of social attention often demonstrated by children with autism does not stem from increased arousal in social situations. An alternative explanation is considered.

Religiosity, refusal efficacy, and substance use among African-American adolescents and young adults.

Abstract Research points toward multiple pathways (i.e., psychosocial domains) through which religiosity influences substance use behaviors. This study examined whether refusal efficacy mediated the relationship between religiosity and substance use in African-American adolescents and young adults. Four hundred thirty-five urban and rural African-Americans, aged between 12 and 25, completed measures of private and public religiosity, refusal efficacy, and substance use (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use). Tests for mediation were computed with private and public religiosity as independent variables, drug refusal efficacy as mediator, and substance use as the criterion. Results show that drug refusal efficacy mediated the relationship between private religiosity and tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit drug use, but not for alcohol use. Refusal efficacy also mediated the relationship between public religiosity and alcohol use, but not for other licit and illicit substances. The findings provide support for the unique impact of public religiosity when considering its role in preventive intervention. Future research should consider examining other psychosocial domains which may mediate the effect of religiosity on substance use behaviors among African-American adolescents.

Richmond Latino Needs Assessment: A Community-University Partnership to Identify Health Concerns and Service Needs for Latino Youth

The presence of Latinos in Virginia is a new phenomenon and as a result, less is known about the health needs of these newest community members. We formed a community-university partnership to identify health concerns and service needs as they relate to Latino youth living in Richmond, Virginia and the surrounding area. Using a mixed-method approach, survey data was obtained from 212 Latino adults, qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 community leaders and focus groups with 23 Latino parents (16 mothers, 7 fathers) and 6 Latino boys. Participants expressed concern about sexually transmitted infections/pregnancy among youth (76%), youth behavior problems at home/school (75%), and mental health problems (75%). Participants also expressed worry that youth would lose their connection to their Latin culture (83%). Qualitative data provided more information regarding these concerns by linking them with inter-ethnic tensions, and immigration and acculturation-related stressors. Survey participants also indicated a need for bilingual mental health services (88%) and after-school programs for youth (94%). This study provided the local community with information on the health concerns and service needs of a new group of community youth—Latino youth. Findings were presented to local community and City organizations that used the information to respond to the identified needs and/or concerns. The process in which the data was obtained may prove useful to other individuals interested in obtaining local level health information in emerging communities.

Association of Family Stressful Life-Change Events and Health-Related Quality of Life in Fifth-Grade Children

OBJECTIVE To examine the association of recent family-related stressful life-change events (SLEs) with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in fifth graders. DESIGN Population-based, cross-sectional survey. SETTING Three US metropolitan areas; 2004-2006. PARTICIPANTS A total of 5147 fifth graders and their parents. MAIN EXPOSURES Nine recent family-related SLEs: a parents death, another family members death, a family members injury/illness, a family members alcohol/drug problems, loss of a pet, recent change of residence, addition of a new baby or child to the household, parental separation, and parental divorce. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The HRQOL measured using the 23-item Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. RESULTS Twenty-four percent of children had no reported recent SLEs; 33% had 1, 25% had 2, 12% had 3, and 6% had 4 or more. Mean HRQOL scores (total, physical, and psychosocial scales) were lower for children with more SLEs. The mean total HRQOL score was 80.4 (95% confidence interval, 79.4-81.3) for children with no recent SLEs and 71.8 (70.2-73.5) for children with 4 or more SLEs (P < .001). In adjusted logistic regression analyses, children with more SLEs had greater odds of impaired HRQOL compared with children without any SLEs. Psychosocial HRQOL fully mediated the relationship between SLEs and physical HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS The occurrence of multiple family-related SLEs in children is associated with less positive HRQOL. By incorporating the needs of families as part of comprehensive, high-quality care, health care professionals can identify these types of family-level needs and assist families in accessing community resources for support.

Effects of gender, media influences, and traditional gender role orientation on disordered eating and appearance concerns among Latino adolescents ☆

This study examined the main and interaction effects of gender, traditional gender role orientation, and media-influenced sociocultural values and ideals about appearance in a sample of 96 Latino adolescents controlling for age, country of origin, and BMI. Girls and less traditionally oriented youth reported significantly more disordered eating and appearance concerns than did boys and more traditionally oriented youth. Gender moderated the relationship between traditional gender role orientation and disordered eating and appearance concerns. Contrary to our hypothesis, media-influenced sociocultural values and ideals about appearance did not significantly predict disordered eating and appearance concerns. However, the interaction between gender and sociocultural values and ideals about appearance was significant. Our findings highlight the importance of continued research on gender, media, and cultural influences as they relate to disordered eating and appearance concerns among Latino youth.

Brief Report: A Qualitative Analysis of Discussions about HIV in Families of Parents with HIV

OBJECTIVE To explore communication about HIV prevention, risk behaviors, and transmission in families affected by HIV. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 parents with HIV, 27 children (9- to 17-years old), and 19 adult children (>or=18-years old) across the U.S. Coders reviewed transcripts, identified themes, and coded transcripts. RESULTS Youth felt uncomfortable discussing HIV with their parent who has HIV because they worried about upsetting and reminding the parent of his/her illness. Adult children reported learning about HIV prevention by watching how the illness affected their parents. Few siblings reported talking with one another about HIV because they worried about upsetting their brother/sister and about their sibling unintentionally disclosing the parents illness to others. CONCLUSIONS Discussions between youth and their parent with HIV and their siblings vary, highlighting the need for further research in this area.

Mothers’ and adolescents’ perceptions of AIDS vulnerability:

The authors examined perceived vulnerability to AIDS among mothers and adolescents. One hundred and eleven mother–adolescent dyads of Latino descent participated in the study, completing questionnaires about perceived AIDS vulnerability, exposure to people with AIDS, AIDS knowledge, and mother–adolescent communication about AIDS and sexuality. Mothers reported lower levels of AIDS vulnerability than did their adolescents, although mothers were more knowledgeable about AIDS than were their adolescents. The results of this study have implications for the role of perceived vulnerability in health behaviour models and for future interventions aimed at preventing HIV in adolescents.