Katherine Karriker-jaffe - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Katherine Karriker-jaffe
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2011
Issues. This review examines whether area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substan... more Issues. This review examines whether area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substance use and whether study results are impacted by the size of the area examined, definition of socioeconomic status (SES), age or ethnicity of participants, outcome variables or analytic techniques. Approach. Five electronic databases and the reference sections of identified papers were searched to locate studies of the effects of area-level SES on substance use published through the end of 2007 in English-language, peer-reviewed journals or books. The 41 studies that met inclusion criteria included 238 effects, with a subsample of 34 studies (180 effects) used for the main analyses. Study findings were stratified by methodological characteristics and synthesised using generalised estimating equations to account for clustering of effects within studies. Key Findings. There was strong evidence that substance use outcomes cluster by geographic area, but there was limited and conflicting support for the hypothesis that area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substance use. Support for the disadvantage hypothesis appeared to vary by sample age and ethnicity, size of area examined, type of SES measure, specific outcome considered and analysis techniques. Implications. Future studies should use rigorous methods to yield more definitive conclusions about the effects of area-level SES on alcohol and drug outcomes, including composite measures of SES and both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion. Further research is needed to identify confounds of the relationship between area-level SES and substance use and to explain why the effects of area-level SES vary by outcome and residents' age. [Karriker-Jaffe KJ. Areas of disadvantage: A systematic review of effects of area-level socioeconomic status on substance use outcomes. Drug Alcohol Rev 2011;30;84-95]
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2013
This study examined relationships of extremes in neighborhood socioeconomic status with use of to... more This study examined relationships of extremes in neighborhood socioeconomic status with use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. Hypotheses were (1) residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods would be positively associated with stress-related and higher-risk substance use patterns (e.g., drug use), and (2) residence in affluent neighborhoods would be positively associated with "healthy" substance use (e.g., drinking within recommended guidelines) and negatively associated with substance use patterns incompatible with a culture of health. Age was examined as a potential moderator. Data were from nationally-representative samples of U.S. adults (N=14,531) from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys linked with indicators of neighborhood SES from the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census. Analyses included gender-stratified multivariate logistic regression using weights to adjust for sampling and non-response. As hypothesized, compared to middle-class neighborhoods, residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods was associated with higher odds of both men's and women's tobacco use and with women's other drug use. Residence in affluent neighborhoods was associated with lower odds of men's tobacco use and women's marijuana use. The association of neighborhood SES with men's tobacco use was modified by age, with the highest odds of daily tobacco use evident for all men in disadvantaged neighborhoods, as well as for younger men in middle-class neighborhoods. There were no significant associations of either alcohol outcome with neighborhood SES. Increased risk of substance use for younger residents in both disadvantaged and middle-class neighborhoods and for older residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods suggest a need for targeted prevention interventions.
Journal of addiction research & therapy, Jan 28, 2013
Economic conditions and drinking norms have been in considerable flux over the past 10 years. Acc... more Economic conditions and drinking norms have been in considerable flux over the past 10 years. Accordingly, research is needed to evaluate both overall trends in alcohol problems during this period and whether changes within racial/ethnic groups have affected racial/ethnic disparities. We used 3 cross-sectional waves of National Alcohol Survey data (2000, 2005, and 2010) to examine a) temporal trends in alcohol dependence and consequences overall and by race/ethnicity, and b) the effects of temporal changes on racial/ethnic disparities. Analyses involved bivariate tests and multivariate negative binomial regressions testing the effects of race/ethnicity, survey year, and their interaction on problem measures. Both women and men overall showed significant increases in dependence symptoms in 2010 (vs. 2000); women also reported increases in alcohol-related consequences in 2010 (vs. 2000). (Problem rates were equivalent across 2005 and 2000.) However, increases in problems were most dra...
Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2009
This study examined the relationship between acculturation and six distinct drinking outcomes. We... more This study examined the relationship between acculturation and six distinct drinking outcomes. We expected high levels of acculturation to be associated with higher odds of being a drinker and, among drinkers, with lower frequency of drinking, less alcohol consumption per year, less heavy drinking, fewer episodes of drunkenness, and fewer dependence symptoms. The data consisted of a nationally representative sample of Latino men ages 18 and older (N = 784) from the 2005 National Alcohol Survey. The men were predominantly Mexican and Mexican American (64%), and most were born outside the United States (68%). Analyses included both bivariate and multivariate regression models using weights to adjust for sampling and nonresponse. The hypotheses were partially supported. Men at high levels of acculturation were more likely than their peers at low levels of acculturation to be drinkers but only if they had above-average incomes. Counter to expectations, among drinkers there was a protect...
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015
There is a need to improve classification of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in general population s... more There is a need to improve classification of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in general population surveys. We developed and tested follow-up questions for 2 commonly reported symptom domains (withdrawal and larger/longer) to assess effects on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 AUD classification. Telephone interviews recontacted a selective follow-up sample of respondents under age 46 from the 2010 National Alcohol Survey with at least 1 lifetime AUD symptom (n = 244). Items included detailed questions about past-year AUD symptoms. Three items (vomiting, sweating, irritability) were recoded as acute intoxication rather than withdrawal if they most recently occurred within 8 hours of stopping drinking. The larger/longer criterion was recoded as socially motivated if respondents endorsed "got caught up in drinking with a group of friends" and not "feel compelled to drink and just can't stop" as a reason for drinking more than intended. Of 225 current drinkers, 11% reported past-year withdrawal, with 28% of those reporting acute intoxication instead of physical withdrawal. Adjusting past-year withdrawal classification reduced AUD prevalence by 6%. A minority (12%) reported the past-year larger/longer criterion. Of those, 50% indicated social reasons for drinking more than intended, rather than compulsion to drink. Adjusting the past-year larger/longer criterion reduced AUD prevalence by 8%. Accounting for both adjustments reduced AUD prevalence by 13%. Cases that met AUD criteria after both adjustments were substantially heavier drinkers than those that were reclassified. Follow-up items could be implemented in epidemiologic studies with minimal response burden and may help reduce misclassification of AUD.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2013
Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and he... more Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and health. To understand the simultaneous influence of neighborhood and family contexts on adolescents, this study examined relationships of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood social disorganization, family conflict, parent-child bonding and parental control with trajectories of physical and social aggression. The sample included 5,118 adolescents between ages 11 and 18 (50% female, 52% Caucasian) living in predominantly rural areas. Multilevel growth curve models showed an interaction between neighborhood disadvantage, family conflict and gender on the physical aggression trajectories. The interaction suggested more rapid processes of both increase in and desistance from physical aggression over time for boys with high neighborhood disadvantage and high family conflict, as well as a higher starting point, more gradual increase and slower process of desistance over time for girls in similar neighborhood and family contexts. Less parent-child bonding and less parental control also were associated with higher initial levels of physical aggression. For social aggression, an interaction between family conflict and gender showed girls with high family conflict had the highest initial levels of social aggression, with a more gradual increase over time for these girls compared to their male counterparts in high-conflict families or their female counterparts in low-conflict families. Less parent-child bonding was associated with higher initial levels and a faster increase over time of social aggression, and less parental control was associated with higher initial levels of social aggression. The findings suggest early family-based interventions may help prevent perpetration of both physical and social aggression during adolescence.
Journal of Urban Health, 2013
Alcohol use can cause significant harm. We examined the relationships between neighborhood disadv... more Alcohol use can cause significant harm. We examined the relationships between neighborhood disadvantage, consumption of high-alcohol-content beverages (HACB), drinking norms, and self-reported drinking consequences using data from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys (N = 9,971 current drinkers) and the 2000 Decennial Census. We hypothesized that (1) individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods would report more negative drinking consequences than individuals living in more affluent neighborhoods, and (2) this relationship would be mediated by HACB consumption and pro-drunkenness drinking norms. Neighborhood disadvantage was based on a composite measure of socioeconomic indicators from the 2000 Decennial Census (five-item composite, alpha = 0.89). We measured high alcohol content beverage consumption in terms of whether respondents engaged in frequent or heavy consumption of malt liquor, fortified wine, or distilled spirits/liquor. The outcome was a dichotomous indicator of two or more of 15 past-year social, legal, work, and health consequences. Simultaneous, multivariate path modeling tested direct and indirect effects of neighborhood disadvantage, HACB consumption, and pro-drunkenness norms on consequences. Individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported significantly more negative drinking consequences than individuals living in more affluent neighborhoods. Consumption of high-alcohol-content beverages and pro-drunkenness norms did not mediate this relationship. However, heavy distilled spirits/liquor use was a significant mediator of other neighborhood characteristics (i.e., percent African American). Living in an African American neighborhood was related to increased spirits/liquor consumption and, in turn, reporting more negative drinking consequences. Greater scrutiny of advertising and tax policies related to distilled spirits/liquor is needed to prevent future drinking problems, especially in minority neighborhoods.
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 2007
The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testoster... more The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testosterone, estradiol, pubertal status, and pubertal timing) and social context variables (family, peer, school, and neighborhood) in predicting adolescent involvement with cigarettes and alcohol in a sample of 409 adolescents in Grades 6 and 8. Models including the biological and contextual variables and their interactions explain significantly more variance in adolescent cigarette and alcohol involvement than do models including only the main effects of the biological and contextual variables. Post hoc analyses of significant interactions suggest that, in most cases, moderation occurred in the hypothesized direction. Consistent with dual hazards models of adolescent antisocial behaviors, the relationships between the biological and substance use variables become positive and stronger as the context becomes more harmful. Considerations of adolescent substance use should recognize the possible role of biological variables and how their influence may vary by social context.
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2011
Purpose: Violence profiles were created on the basis of whether adolescents used violence against... more Purpose: Violence profiles were created on the basis of whether adolescents used violence against both peers and dates, against dates but not peers, against peers but not dates, or against neither peers nor dates. We determined (1) whether risk and protective factors from five domains (individual attributes and behaviors, the peer, family, school, and neighborhood contexts), based primarily on social learning and social control theories, were associated with violence profiles, (2) whether factors distinguishing profiles varied by gender, and (3) which of the domains was most important in distinguishing profiles. Methods: Data are from adolescents in grades 8 through 10 from schools in three nonmetropolitan Counties (n ϭ 2,907). Results: Adolescents who used violence against both peers and dates used more of each type of violence compared with those who used only one type of violence. They also had more maladaptive risk and protective scores than adolescents perpetrating only peer violence or neither type of violence, although they had few differences from those perpetrating only dating violence. Most social learning theory risk factors and social control theory protective factors distinguished the profiles as did psychological attributes and substance use. Factors distinguishing profile membership were generally the same for boys and girls, although some associations were stronger for boys than for girls. The model fit statistics suggest that the individual attributes and behaviors and the peer context models fit the data the best. Conclusions: Suggestions for developing theoretically based interventions for preventing both peer and dating violence are presented.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2008
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014
The harms of second-hand smoke motivated tobacco control legislation. Documenting the effects of ... more The harms of second-hand smoke motivated tobacco control legislation. Documenting the effects of harms from others' drinking might increase popular and political will for enacting alcohol policies. We investigated the individual-level relationship between having experienced such harms and favouring alcohol policy measures, adjusting for other influences. We used the landline sample (n = 6957) of the 2010 National Alcohol Survey, a computer-assisted telephone interview survey based on a random household sample in the USA. Multivariable regression models adjusted for personal characteristics, including drinking pattern (volume and heavy drinking), were used to investigate the ability of six harms from others' drinking to predict a three-item measure of favour for stronger alcohol policies. Adjusting for demographics and drinking pattern, number of harms from others' drinking predicted support for alcohol policies (P < 0.001). In a similar model, family- and aggression-related harms, riding with a drink driver and being concerned about another's drinking all significantly influenced favour for stronger alcohol policy. Although cross-sectional data cannot prove a causal influence or directionality, the association found is consistent with the hypothesis that experiencing harms from others' drinking (experienced by a majority) makes one more likely to favour alcohol policies. Other things equal, women,…
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2009
We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggre... more We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggression were moderated or mediated by neighborhood social organization and examined sex differences in neighborhood effects for rural adolescents. We used five waves of survey data collected over 2.5 years linked with neighborhood data from interviews with parents and the U.S. Census. The sample (N = 5118) was 50.1% female, 52.0% white and 38.3% African-American; average age at baseline was 13.1 years. Multilevel growth curve models for both girls and boys showed no significant interactions between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and indicators of social organization. Neither sample showed evidence of mediated effects. In main effects models, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with the average aggression trajectory for girls. For boys, the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social disorganization appeared to be confounded with each other. Neighborhood disadvantage is detrimental for rural girls regardless of the level of social organization.
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014
To examine whether alcohol's harms to others are more prevalent i... more To examine whether alcohol's harms to others are more prevalent in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods and whether men or women are at differential risk in these neighbourhoods. Cross-sectional survey data from 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys were linked to geo-referenced indicators of neighbourhood disadvantage from the US 2000 Decennial Census. The pooled sample included 10,121 adults (54% female; average age 44.4 years; 69% White; 13% African-American; 13% Hispanic). A dichotomous indicator denoted neighbourhoods based on the top quartile on a five-item measure of disadvantage (alpha = 0.90). We examined past-year family problems due to someone else's drinking (marriage difficulties and/or financial trouble) and victimisation by someone who had been drinking (having property vandalised and/or being pushed, hit or assaulted). During the prior 12 months, 6% of women and 3% of men experienced family problems from someone else's drinking, and 4% of women and 7% of men reported being victimised by drinkers. Multivariate logistic regression models adjusting for individual-level socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics showed the relationship between neighbourhood disadvantage and harms from someone else's drinking was moderated by gender, with significantly higher odds of family problems in disadvantaged neighbourhoods for men but not for women, as well as significantly higher odds of crime victimisation in disadvantaged neighbourhoods for women but not men. Experiences of harms from someone else's drinking in disadvantaged neighbourhoods vary for men and women. Targeted intervention strategies are needed to reduce alcohol's harm to others.
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2011
Issues. This review examines whether area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substan... more Issues. This review examines whether area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substance use and whether study results are impacted by the size of the area examined, definition of socioeconomic status (SES), age or ethnicity of participants, outcome variables or analytic techniques. Approach. Five electronic databases and the reference sections of identified papers were searched to locate studies of the effects of area-level SES on substance use published through the end of 2007 in English-language, peer-reviewed journals or books. The 41 studies that met inclusion criteria included 238 effects, with a subsample of 34 studies (180 effects) used for the main analyses. Study findings were stratified by methodological characteristics and synthesised using generalised estimating equations to account for clustering of effects within studies. Key Findings. There was strong evidence that substance use outcomes cluster by geographic area, but there was limited and conflicting support for the hypothesis that area-level disadvantage is associated with increased substance use. Support for the disadvantage hypothesis appeared to vary by sample age and ethnicity, size of area examined, type of SES measure, specific outcome considered and analysis techniques. Implications. Future studies should use rigorous methods to yield more definitive conclusions about the effects of area-level SES on alcohol and drug outcomes, including composite measures of SES and both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion. Further research is needed to identify confounds of the relationship between area-level SES and substance use and to explain why the effects of area-level SES vary by outcome and residents' age. [Karriker-Jaffe KJ. Areas of disadvantage: A systematic review of effects of area-level socioeconomic status on substance use outcomes. Drug Alcohol Rev 2011;30;84-95]
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2013
This study examined relationships of extremes in neighborhood socioeconomic status with use of to... more This study examined relationships of extremes in neighborhood socioeconomic status with use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. Hypotheses were (1) residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods would be positively associated with stress-related and higher-risk substance use patterns (e.g., drug use), and (2) residence in affluent neighborhoods would be positively associated with "healthy" substance use (e.g., drinking within recommended guidelines) and negatively associated with substance use patterns incompatible with a culture of health. Age was examined as a potential moderator. Data were from nationally-representative samples of U.S. adults (N=14,531) from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys linked with indicators of neighborhood SES from the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census. Analyses included gender-stratified multivariate logistic regression using weights to adjust for sampling and non-response. As hypothesized, compared to middle-class neighborhoods, residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods was associated with higher odds of both men's and women's tobacco use and with women's other drug use. Residence in affluent neighborhoods was associated with lower odds of men's tobacco use and women's marijuana use. The association of neighborhood SES with men's tobacco use was modified by age, with the highest odds of daily tobacco use evident for all men in disadvantaged neighborhoods, as well as for younger men in middle-class neighborhoods. There were no significant associations of either alcohol outcome with neighborhood SES. Increased risk of substance use for younger residents in both disadvantaged and middle-class neighborhoods and for older residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods suggest a need for targeted prevention interventions.
Journal of addiction research & therapy, Jan 28, 2013
Economic conditions and drinking norms have been in considerable flux over the past 10 years. Acc... more Economic conditions and drinking norms have been in considerable flux over the past 10 years. Accordingly, research is needed to evaluate both overall trends in alcohol problems during this period and whether changes within racial/ethnic groups have affected racial/ethnic disparities. We used 3 cross-sectional waves of National Alcohol Survey data (2000, 2005, and 2010) to examine a) temporal trends in alcohol dependence and consequences overall and by race/ethnicity, and b) the effects of temporal changes on racial/ethnic disparities. Analyses involved bivariate tests and multivariate negative binomial regressions testing the effects of race/ethnicity, survey year, and their interaction on problem measures. Both women and men overall showed significant increases in dependence symptoms in 2010 (vs. 2000); women also reported increases in alcohol-related consequences in 2010 (vs. 2000). (Problem rates were equivalent across 2005 and 2000.) However, increases in problems were most dra...
Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2009
This study examined the relationship between acculturation and six distinct drinking outcomes. We... more This study examined the relationship between acculturation and six distinct drinking outcomes. We expected high levels of acculturation to be associated with higher odds of being a drinker and, among drinkers, with lower frequency of drinking, less alcohol consumption per year, less heavy drinking, fewer episodes of drunkenness, and fewer dependence symptoms. The data consisted of a nationally representative sample of Latino men ages 18 and older (N = 784) from the 2005 National Alcohol Survey. The men were predominantly Mexican and Mexican American (64%), and most were born outside the United States (68%). Analyses included both bivariate and multivariate regression models using weights to adjust for sampling and nonresponse. The hypotheses were partially supported. Men at high levels of acculturation were more likely than their peers at low levels of acculturation to be drinkers but only if they had above-average incomes. Counter to expectations, among drinkers there was a protect...
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015
There is a need to improve classification of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in general population s... more There is a need to improve classification of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in general population surveys. We developed and tested follow-up questions for 2 commonly reported symptom domains (withdrawal and larger/longer) to assess effects on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 AUD classification. Telephone interviews recontacted a selective follow-up sample of respondents under age 46 from the 2010 National Alcohol Survey with at least 1 lifetime AUD symptom (n = 244). Items included detailed questions about past-year AUD symptoms. Three items (vomiting, sweating, irritability) were recoded as acute intoxication rather than withdrawal if they most recently occurred within 8 hours of stopping drinking. The larger/longer criterion was recoded as socially motivated if respondents endorsed "got caught up in drinking with a group of friends" and not "feel compelled to drink and just can't stop" as a reason for drinking more than intended. Of 225 current drinkers, 11% reported past-year withdrawal, with 28% of those reporting acute intoxication instead of physical withdrawal. Adjusting past-year withdrawal classification reduced AUD prevalence by 6%. A minority (12%) reported the past-year larger/longer criterion. Of those, 50% indicated social reasons for drinking more than intended, rather than compulsion to drink. Adjusting the past-year larger/longer criterion reduced AUD prevalence by 8%. Accounting for both adjustments reduced AUD prevalence by 13%. Cases that met AUD criteria after both adjustments were substantially heavier drinkers than those that were reclassified. Follow-up items could be implemented in epidemiologic studies with minimal response burden and may help reduce misclassification of AUD.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2013
Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and he... more Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and health. To understand the simultaneous influence of neighborhood and family contexts on adolescents, this study examined relationships of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood social disorganization, family conflict, parent-child bonding and parental control with trajectories of physical and social aggression. The sample included 5,118 adolescents between ages 11 and 18 (50% female, 52% Caucasian) living in predominantly rural areas. Multilevel growth curve models showed an interaction between neighborhood disadvantage, family conflict and gender on the physical aggression trajectories. The interaction suggested more rapid processes of both increase in and desistance from physical aggression over time for boys with high neighborhood disadvantage and high family conflict, as well as a higher starting point, more gradual increase and slower process of desistance over time for girls in similar neighborhood and family contexts. Less parent-child bonding and less parental control also were associated with higher initial levels of physical aggression. For social aggression, an interaction between family conflict and gender showed girls with high family conflict had the highest initial levels of social aggression, with a more gradual increase over time for these girls compared to their male counterparts in high-conflict families or their female counterparts in low-conflict families. Less parent-child bonding was associated with higher initial levels and a faster increase over time of social aggression, and less parental control was associated with higher initial levels of social aggression. The findings suggest early family-based interventions may help prevent perpetration of both physical and social aggression during adolescence.
Journal of Urban Health, 2013
Alcohol use can cause significant harm. We examined the relationships between neighborhood disadv... more Alcohol use can cause significant harm. We examined the relationships between neighborhood disadvantage, consumption of high-alcohol-content beverages (HACB), drinking norms, and self-reported drinking consequences using data from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys (N = 9,971 current drinkers) and the 2000 Decennial Census. We hypothesized that (1) individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods would report more negative drinking consequences than individuals living in more affluent neighborhoods, and (2) this relationship would be mediated by HACB consumption and pro-drunkenness drinking norms. Neighborhood disadvantage was based on a composite measure of socioeconomic indicators from the 2000 Decennial Census (five-item composite, alpha = 0.89). We measured high alcohol content beverage consumption in terms of whether respondents engaged in frequent or heavy consumption of malt liquor, fortified wine, or distilled spirits/liquor. The outcome was a dichotomous indicator of two or more of 15 past-year social, legal, work, and health consequences. Simultaneous, multivariate path modeling tested direct and indirect effects of neighborhood disadvantage, HACB consumption, and pro-drunkenness norms on consequences. Individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported significantly more negative drinking consequences than individuals living in more affluent neighborhoods. Consumption of high-alcohol-content beverages and pro-drunkenness norms did not mediate this relationship. However, heavy distilled spirits/liquor use was a significant mediator of other neighborhood characteristics (i.e., percent African American). Living in an African American neighborhood was related to increased spirits/liquor consumption and, in turn, reporting more negative drinking consequences. Greater scrutiny of advertising and tax policies related to distilled spirits/liquor is needed to prevent future drinking problems, especially in minority neighborhoods.
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 2007
The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testoster... more The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testosterone, estradiol, pubertal status, and pubertal timing) and social context variables (family, peer, school, and neighborhood) in predicting adolescent involvement with cigarettes and alcohol in a sample of 409 adolescents in Grades 6 and 8. Models including the biological and contextual variables and their interactions explain significantly more variance in adolescent cigarette and alcohol involvement than do models including only the main effects of the biological and contextual variables. Post hoc analyses of significant interactions suggest that, in most cases, moderation occurred in the hypothesized direction. Consistent with dual hazards models of adolescent antisocial behaviors, the relationships between the biological and substance use variables become positive and stronger as the context becomes more harmful. Considerations of adolescent substance use should recognize the possible role of biological variables and how their influence may vary by social context.
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2011
Purpose: Violence profiles were created on the basis of whether adolescents used violence against... more Purpose: Violence profiles were created on the basis of whether adolescents used violence against both peers and dates, against dates but not peers, against peers but not dates, or against neither peers nor dates. We determined (1) whether risk and protective factors from five domains (individual attributes and behaviors, the peer, family, school, and neighborhood contexts), based primarily on social learning and social control theories, were associated with violence profiles, (2) whether factors distinguishing profiles varied by gender, and (3) which of the domains was most important in distinguishing profiles. Methods: Data are from adolescents in grades 8 through 10 from schools in three nonmetropolitan Counties (n ϭ 2,907). Results: Adolescents who used violence against both peers and dates used more of each type of violence compared with those who used only one type of violence. They also had more maladaptive risk and protective scores than adolescents perpetrating only peer violence or neither type of violence, although they had few differences from those perpetrating only dating violence. Most social learning theory risk factors and social control theory protective factors distinguished the profiles as did psychological attributes and substance use. Factors distinguishing profile membership were generally the same for boys and girls, although some associations were stronger for boys than for girls. The model fit statistics suggest that the individual attributes and behaviors and the peer context models fit the data the best. Conclusions: Suggestions for developing theoretically based interventions for preventing both peer and dating violence are presented.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2008
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014
The harms of second-hand smoke motivated tobacco control legislation. Documenting the effects of ... more The harms of second-hand smoke motivated tobacco control legislation. Documenting the effects of harms from others' drinking might increase popular and political will for enacting alcohol policies. We investigated the individual-level relationship between having experienced such harms and favouring alcohol policy measures, adjusting for other influences. We used the landline sample (n = 6957) of the 2010 National Alcohol Survey, a computer-assisted telephone interview survey based on a random household sample in the USA. Multivariable regression models adjusted for personal characteristics, including drinking pattern (volume and heavy drinking), were used to investigate the ability of six harms from others' drinking to predict a three-item measure of favour for stronger alcohol policies. Adjusting for demographics and drinking pattern, number of harms from others' drinking predicted support for alcohol policies (P < 0.001). In a similar model, family- and aggression-related harms, riding with a drink driver and being concerned about another's drinking all significantly influenced favour for stronger alcohol policy. Although cross-sectional data cannot prove a causal influence or directionality, the association found is consistent with the hypothesis that experiencing harms from others' drinking (experienced by a majority) makes one more likely to favour alcohol policies. Other things equal, women,…
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2009
We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggre... more We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggression were moderated or mediated by neighborhood social organization and examined sex differences in neighborhood effects for rural adolescents. We used five waves of survey data collected over 2.5 years linked with neighborhood data from interviews with parents and the U.S. Census. The sample (N = 5118) was 50.1% female, 52.0% white and 38.3% African-American; average age at baseline was 13.1 years. Multilevel growth curve models for both girls and boys showed no significant interactions between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and indicators of social organization. Neither sample showed evidence of mediated effects. In main effects models, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with the average aggression trajectory for girls. For boys, the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social disorganization appeared to be confounded with each other. Neighborhood disadvantage is detrimental for rural girls regardless of the level of social organization.
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014
To examine whether alcohol's harms to others are more prevalent i... more To examine whether alcohol's harms to others are more prevalent in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods and whether men or women are at differential risk in these neighbourhoods. Cross-sectional survey data from 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys were linked to geo-referenced indicators of neighbourhood disadvantage from the US 2000 Decennial Census. The pooled sample included 10,121 adults (54% female; average age 44.4 years; 69% White; 13% African-American; 13% Hispanic). A dichotomous indicator denoted neighbourhoods based on the top quartile on a five-item measure of disadvantage (alpha = 0.90). We examined past-year family problems due to someone else's drinking (marriage difficulties and/or financial trouble) and victimisation by someone who had been drinking (having property vandalised and/or being pushed, hit or assaulted). During the prior 12 months, 6% of women and 3% of men experienced family problems from someone else's drinking, and 4% of women and 7% of men reported being victimised by drinkers. Multivariate logistic regression models adjusting for individual-level socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics showed the relationship between neighbourhood disadvantage and harms from someone else's drinking was moderated by gender, with significantly higher odds of family problems in disadvantaged neighbourhoods for men but not for women, as well as significantly higher odds of crime victimisation in disadvantaged neighbourhoods for women but not men. Experiences of harms from someone else's drinking in disadvantaged neighbourhoods vary for men and women. Targeted intervention strategies are needed to reduce alcohol's harm to others.