Gender and Childhood Victimization: A Longitudinal Study of Heavy Drinking in Young Adulthood.

The present longitudinal study, for 12 years, followed a group of young adults, examining (1) whether/how victimization in childhood increased the likelihood of heavy drinking; (2) whether depression mediated the strain-heavy drinking relationship; and (3) whether/how relationships among strain, depression, and heavy drinking differed across two gender groups. Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, dating 2004-2015 (5 interview waves and 22,549 person-wave measurements total). We linked consumption of 5+ drinks (during the month prior) to four discrete measures of violent victimization, to one measure of stressful events, and to depression. We needed to consider repeat measures of the same variables over time, so we used generalized estimating equations (GEE) to analyze data. Depression was found to increase heavy drinking uniformly. Empirical evidence confirmed that in the strain-heavy drinking relationship, depression plays a minor mediating role. Gender moderated heavy drinking's associations. Specifically, bullying in childhood raised risk for female respondents. The current strain was associated with a higher risk of heavy drinking among male respondents. Childhood victimization, as well as current life stress, play an important role in depression and heavy drinking. Future research should focus on the development of specific, targeted care to reduce heavy drinking's harm and promote equity among Americans.

Violent Victimization, Stressful Events, and Depression: A Longitudinal Study of Young Adults in the U.S.

We surveyed a sample of young adults in the United States to determine (1) whether/how depression is affected by violent victimization during childhood and/or by recent stressful events, as well as (2) whether any observed links between depression and violent victimization and/or stressful events would be uniform across racial/ethnic groups. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, we measured respondent depression in 5 interview waves dating 2004-2015. Our final sample for analysis numbered 22,549 person-waves. Our study showed that violent victimization in childhood, and recent stressful events, as well, alike exacerbated depression. Moreover, as we analyzed, in turn, the data for each ethnic subsample, we observed differential patterns in depression's associations with victimization. Childhood violent victimization-and also recently encountered stress-has a significant role in the development of depression in adulthood; this role appears to be moderated by race/ethnicity.

Data spanning three decades illustrate racial disparities in likelihood of obesity.

Obesity rates have risen significantly in recent decades, with underprivileged Americans associated with higher rates of the condition. Risks associated with obesity, furthermore, appear unequally distributed across different racial/ethnic groups, according to the literature. The present study examined racial disparities in obesity as a function of socioeconomic factors, using a sample of American adults from a 32-year longitudinal study. We accounted for the time factor as we evaluated obesity's associations with selected socioeconomic factors; we also examined race/ethnicity's moderating role in obesity-socioeconomic status associations over time. We used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to obtain a final sample of 118,749 person-waves for analysis. A subsample of person-waves numbering 65,702 represented data from White respondents; one numbering 31,618 represented data from Black respondents; and one numbering 21,429 represented data from Hispanic respondents. Needing to consider repeated measures of the same variables over time, we chose generalized estimated equations (GEE) for use in the data analysis. Speaking generally, the obtained results suggested that for the two smaller subsamples, minority race/ethnicity could have introduced disadvantages that helped explain links between obesity and race/ethnicity. Results also showed that White-Black disparities in obesity have widened slightly in the past three decades, while White-Hispanic disparities have stabilized during the same time period.

Explaining Health Outcomes of Asian Immigrants: Does Ethnicity Matter?

The present study intended to evaluate whether 4 discrete ethnic groups of Asian immigrants could, for empirical reasons, be assigned a set of unique operating factors explaining health outcomes of members. The set comprised several acculturation, social structure, lifestyle, and health-related factors. Our study asked if these factors uniformly explained health outcomes across the 4 groups. We pooled National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data dating 1999-2015 and developed 2 outcomes: self-rated health and self-reported chronic illness (specifically, diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, prediabetes/diabetes, hypertension, cancer, or stroke). Since data for smaller Asian ethnic groups are not readily available, we confined our analyses to respondents of Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, and "other Asian" ethnicity. Descriptive statistics suggested that Asian Indian respondents were least likely to report having 1 of the 5 specified serious illnesses and self-rated their health higher than the other 3 respondent groups. Additionally, while some factors (e.g., body mass index, depression) proved related to the health outcomes across the 4 ethnic groups, we did observe for each group a unique pattern of factors associated with the outcomes. Our results confirmed, furthermore, a moderating role for ethnicity in associations between the outcomes and those operating factors in the set we evaluated. The study results should be of use in tailoring preventive and intervention programs to various ethnic groups of Asian immigrants; clearly, in promoting health, one approach will not fit all.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cigarette Use: The Roles of Mental Illness and Health-Care Access/Utilization.

BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence supports a hypothesis that cigarettes may be used to cope with mental illness. Little research, however, addresses how race/ethnicity is linked to mental health and cigarette use. OBJECTIVES: This study applied the self-medication hypothesis. It asked whether mental status was associated, via health-care access/utilization, with the cigarette use outcomes of four racial/ethnic groups. It also tested whether race/ethnicity moderated any such associations. METHODS: We used nationally representative data from the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to link cigarette use to mental status and health-care access/utilization. The final sample included 3827 White respondents, 1635 African-American respondents, 1144 Mexican-American respondents, and 781 Hispanic American (other than Mexican-American) respondents. RESULTS: Consistent with earlier research and the self-medication hypothesis, we observed a positive relationship between cigarette use and mental status. Associations of cigarette use and health-care access/utilization sometimes failed to take expected directions. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded from the findings that race/ethnicity's moderating role in associations between cigarette use and health-care access was generally more advantageous to Whites than other groups examined. Where treatment is delayed by lack of access to, or lack of trust in, care providers, mental health may worsen-and it is often minority Americans who lack access and trust. If minority Americans' health is to improve, shrinking racial health disparities, then access to adequate health care must be available to them, facilitating prompt treatment of mental and other illness.