Beyond Education Dollars: Does Social Safety Net Spending Affect High School Graduation Rates?

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between social safety net (SSN) spending and high school graduation rates for all students, as well as students belonging to minoritized groups. Also, to determine whether public SSN investments and PK-12 education are independent. METHODS: Using Common Core Data and the State-by-State Spending on Kids data, we estimated the effects of per-child SSN spending on graduation rates over time (2010-2016) using two-way fixed effects. RESULTS: SSN spending positively impacts high school graduation rates, with slightly larger magnitudes for students belonging to minoritized groups. The effects of public investments in SSN health, and PK-12 education on high school graduation rates are independent. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that the positive effects of SSN spending on high school graduation rates are independent of any impacts associated with education spending, suggesting that these two types of public investments affect high school graduation through different pathways.

Student and Teacher Perspectives of Service Utilization at Their School-based Health Center.

School-based health centers (SBHCs) positively influence student health. However, the extent to which these benefits are actualized varies across sites. We conducted focus groups with high school students and teachers at an underperforming SBHC to identify facilitators and barriers to student access to SBHC services. Our qualitative analysis revealed four main emergent categories: (1) students' knowledge of SBHC services; (2) teachers' perceptions of, and experiences with, the SBHC; (3) accessing and utilizing SBHC services; and (4) student and teacher suggestions to improve the school-SBHC relationship. Our findings suggest that the relationships between health center staff and teachers are crucial and can be damaged with poor implementation. Additionally, there was a general lack of knowledge about the procedures for accessing services at the SBHC. Participants provided recommendations, including strategies for better outreach and engagement with teachers and students, as well as operational strategies to enhance communication systems and the physical environment.

Gendered powerlessness in at-risk adolescent and young women: an empirical model.

In the United States, youth aged 13-24 comprised approximately 21% of new HIV infections in 2017; 13% of these infections occurred among women, the majority of whom (86%) acquired HIV through heterosexual contact (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2019a. HIV and youth. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/age/youth/index.html, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2019b. HIV among women. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/gender/women/index.html). We fit and validated a developmentally appropriate empirical model of Connell's Theory of Gender and Power (Connell, R. W. 1987. Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, Connell, R. W. 2013. Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons) in a sample of young women and assessed whether gendered powerlessness reflected a multidimensional higher-order latent factor, as the theory implies. Anonymous computer-assisted interviews were administered to at-risk, sexually active young women (N = 1,101). Factor analyses and structural equation modeling were used to determine the dimensionality of gendered powerlessness. Associations with condom use were examined to validate the model. We fit a three-component model of gendered powerlessness, but not a higher-order latent factor. We observed that high scores on two dimensions of gendered powerlessness - cathexis and sexual division of power - were associated with lower likelihood of condom use. Our three-component model helps elucidate the role that components of gendered powerlessness play in young women's health behaviors and underscores the need for measures tailored to young women at high risk of contracting HIV.

Latinx Mental Health Scholars' Experiences with Cultural Adaptation and Implementation of Systemic Family Interventions.

An increasing number of culturally adapted family-level interventions address mental health disparities with marginalized populations in the United States. However, with these developments many barriers have arisen, such as challenges with degree of cultural fit, engagement, and sustainability. We conducted 12 elite phenomenological interviews with mental health scholars involved in prevention and intervention family research with various Latinx communities within and outside of the United States. These scholars discussed their experiences of overcoming barriers in their research. We used thematic analysis to code and analyze participant responses, and our findings support the gaps in previous literature and highlight potential pathways to overcoming barriers in cultural adaptation research. Themes included the need for: (a) better understanding of the intersection between culture and context; (b) community-centered approaches to addressing implementation challenges; and (c) structural changes within institutional, governmental, and political levels. We discuss implications for researchers and practitioners working with Latinx families.

Un número cada vez mayor de intervenciones adaptadas culturalmente a nivel familiar abordan las desigualdades en la salud mental con poblaciones marginadas en los Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, con estos avances han surgido muchos obstáculos, como las dificultades con el grado de integración cultural, la participación y la sostenibilidad. Realizamos veinte entrevistas fenomenológicas selectas con investigadores de la salud mental dedicados a la investigación familiar en materia de prevención e intervenciones con varias comunidades latinas dentro y fuera de los Estados Unidos. Estos investigadores comentaron sus experiencias de superación de los obstáculos en su investigación. Utilizamos el análisis temático para decodificar y analizar las respuestas de los participantes; nuestros resultados respaldan la falta de datos en publicaciones previas y destacan las posibles vías para superar los obstáculos en la investigación sobre la adaptación cultural. Los temas incluyeron la nacesidad de: (a) una mejor comprensión del enlace entre la cultura y el contexto; (b) enfoques centrados en la comunidad para abordar las dificultades de implementación; y (c) cambios estructurales dentro de los niveles institucionales, gubernamentales y políticos. Debatimos las implicancias para los investigadores y los profesionales que trabajan con familias latinas.

Youth health outcomes from the Connect-to-Protect Coalitions to prevent adolescent HIV infections.

We assessed the relationships among HIV-related social and behavioral outcomes resulting from an adolescent-focused HIV structural change initiative in eight urban sites operating Connect to Protect (C2P) coalitions. Over a 4-year period, annual cross-sectional panels of adolescents (N = 2,248) completed an audio-computer-assisted interview, providing data on satisfaction with their communities as adolescent-supportive environments, internalized HIV stigma, lifetime HIV-testing, lifetime sexual risk-taking, and number of sexual partners in the prior year. We used structural equation modeling to estimate hypothesized links between time since coalition mobilization to our social and behavioral outcomes. Over the 4 years, adolescents perceived their communities to become more supportive (p < .05). Positive perceptions of community support were associated with lower lifetime HIV sexual risk (p < .05). The effect of time on risk behavior was mediated by perceptions of community support. Stigma was unchanged over time. Stigma had damaging effects on risk behavior, effects which were also mediated by perceptions of community support. Special efforts are needed to address the deleterious effect of HIV stigma on high-risk urban adolescents.

Structural Effects on HIV Risk Among Youth: A Multi-level Analysis.

We proposed a multilevel model of structural influences on HIV-risky sexual partnerships in a diverse sample of 1793 youth residing in 23 states and the District of Columbia. We examined the influence of concentrated disadvantage, HIV stigma, and sexual and gender minority stigma on engagement in HIV risky sexual partnerships and whether youth's participation in opportunity structures, anticipation of HIV stigma, and perceptions of their community as youth-supportive settings mediated structural effects. After controlling for age, HIV status, and race, we found structural HIV stigma had deleterious indirect effects on youth's participation in HIV-risky sexual partnerships. Concentrated disadvantage and structural sexual and gender minority stigma had direct negative effects on youth's perceptions of their communities as supportive and on their participation in prosocial activity. Support perceptions had direct, protective effects on avoidance of HIV-risky sexual partnerships. Structural stigma undermines youth's belief that their communities invest in their safety and well-being.

Ecological Barriers to HIV Service Access among Young Men who have Sex with Men and High-Risk Young Women from Low-resourced Urban Communities.

Using an ecological perspective, we sought to elucidate the perceived barriers preventing HIV service access among two groups of U.S. youth (ages 12-24) disproportionately affected by HIV, men who have sex with men and high-risk women. We content analyzed interviews with 318 key informants to identify distinct service barriers. The 29 barriers informants named were organized into six categories (service-seeking demands, stigmas, knowledge and awareness, service quality, powerful opposition, and negative emotions). Findings suggest that barriers impacting access to HIV prevention, testing, and linkage-to-care services are remarkably similar and point to the need for comprehensive approaches to improving youth's access services that address both individual-level barriers and extra-individual barriers simultaneously. Findings can be used to guide future research, programming and interventions to reduce the disproportionate spread of HIV among US youth.

Structural and Community Change Outcomes of the Connect-to-Protect Coalitions: Trials and Triumphs Securing Adolescent Access to HIV Prevention, Testing, and Medical Care.

Connect to Protect (C2P), a 10-year community mobilization effort, pursued the dual aims of creating communities competent to address youth's HIV-related risks and removing structural barriers to youth health. We used Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) to examine the perceived contributions and accomplishments of 14 C2P coalitions. We interviewed 318 key informants, including youth and community leaders, to identify the features of coalitions' context and operation that facilitated and undermined their ability to achieve structural change and build communities' capability to manage their local adolescent HIV epidemic effectively. We coded the interviews using an a priori coding scheme informed by CCAT and scholarship on AIDS-competent communities. We found community mobilization efforts like C2P can contribute to addressing the structural factors that promote HIV-risk among youth and to community development. We describe how coalition leadership, collaborative synergy, capacity building, and local community context influence coalitions' ability to successfully implement HIV-related structural change, demonstrating empirical support for many of CCAT's propositions. We discuss implications for how community mobilization efforts might succeed in laying the foundation for an AIDS-competent community.

Working together to solve disparities: Latina/o parents' contributions to the adaptation of a preventive intervention for childhood conduct problems.

Left untreated, conduct problems can have significant and long-lasting negative effects on children's development. Despite the existence of many effective interventions, U.S. Latina/o children are less likely to access or receive evidence-based services. Seeking to build the foundation to address these service disparities, the current study used a Community-Based Participatory Research approach to examine U.S. Latina/o parents' perceptions of the need for interventions to prevent childhood disruptive behaviors in their community in general, and of an existing evidence-based intervention-parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT)-in particular. Results suggest that parents recognize a need for prevention resources in their community and value most of the core features of PCIT. Nevertheless, important directions for potential adaptation and expansion of PCIT into a prevention approach were identified. Results point to several goals for future study with the potential to ameliorate the unmet mental health needs experienced by U.S. Latina/o families with young children at risk for developing conduct problems.

Views on sex and sex education among gang-involved Latino youth in the United States.

Although gang-involved Latino youth in the United States are uniquely at risk of adverse consequences from sexual behavior, little research is available that can guide those who wish to develop interventions to reduce sexual risk among these youth. To facilitate the development of effective interventions, we identified cultural and contextual factors that influence sexual behavior and sex education among gang-involved Latino youth in one U.S. community. By analyzing transcripts from interviews and focus groups with three different groups of key stakeholders--gang-experienced Latino youth, the parents of gang-experienced Latino youth, and the personnel of a program providing comprehensive human services for gang-involved Latino youth--we identified three domains to be considered in developing sexual risk-reduction interventions for gang-involved U.S. Latino youth. The focus of our discussion is on the implications of these findings for future development or adaptation of interventions.

Cultural competence: a literature review and conceptual model for mental health services.

This article presents a conceptual model of organizational cultural competence for use in mental health services that resulted from a comprehensive review of the research literature. The model identifies four factors associated with cultural competence in mental health services (community context, cultural characteristics of local populations, organizational infrastructure, and direct service support) and redefines cultural competence as the degree of compatibility among these factors. A strength of this model of organizational cultural competence is that it facilitates future research and practice in psychiatric services settings and links culturally competent practices to service parity.

Disentangling the relation between television viewing and cognitive processes in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comparison children.

OBJECTIVES: To develop causal hypotheses regarding the effects of television viewing on cognitive processes in children and to examine the proposition that deleterious effects of television may be stronger among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. DESIGN: Longitudinal study involving 2 phases occurring 18 months apart. SETTING: University research facilities in Lexington. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-nine children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 106 comparison children. The children's mean age was 7.18 years at phase 1 and 8.74 years at phase 2. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Laboratory measures of visual attention to television, cognitive engagement to televised stories, factual recall of televised stories, and causal recall of televised stories. Parental reports of a child's weekly television viewing. RESULTS: Among comparison children, phase 1 television viewing negatively predicted phase 2 visual attention and phase 2 cognitive engagement (after accounting for phase 1 levels of the outcome variables and any relevant demographic variables). Also among comparison children, phase 1 attention negatively predicted phase 2 television viewing, even after accounting for phase 1 levels of television viewing and relevant demographic variables. These patterns were not observed among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to recent arguments, television viewing was associated with cognitive abilities in comparison children but not children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a finding that suggests more careful examinations of the relation between television viewing and children's cognitive abilities are in order. Future studies should consider the possibility that any effects of television may be limited to certain developmental periods.