Association of Daily Activities With Maternal-Child Bonding, Parenting Self-Efficacy, Social Support, and Parenting Behaviors Among Survivors Living in an Intimate Partner Violence Shelter: A Daily Diary Study.

Following a traumatic event such as intimate partner violence (IPV), survivors often experience stress related to the violence. These high levels of stress related to IPV can be associated with the daily activities of survivors and their relationships with their children, such as maternal-child bonding. The purpose of the current study is to explore the relationship between daily activities, daily stress levels, parenting self-efficacy and behaviors, and maternal-child bonding among survivors living in an IPV shelter using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology. Twenty-five mothers living in an IPV shelter in two states in the Southern United States completed a baseline survey and completed electronic daily diaries for 14 days. Higher daily stress was associated with the number of times the mothers met with the case manager. Higher daily stress was also related to lower parenting self-efficacy. The number of case management appointments and legal appointments were positively correlated with a higher bonding score. More social support was associated with more positive parenting. IPV and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were not significantly associated with maternal-child bonding, parenting behaviors, or parenting self-efficacy. Findings suggest that screening for maternal support may be particularly important for positive bonding and positive parenting. Findings also lend preliminary insight into practical places where service providers could act to protect the bonding process or mitigate risks to impede it. Future research should include objective data about the mother's emotions and her interactive behavior with her child. There is also a need to consider how federal programs fund and incentivize service providers to focus on mother-child dyads and how they can tailor services that promote bonding.

Presenting Methodological Resilience for Conducting Research with Vulnerable Populations During Current and Future Pandemics: A Case Study with IPV Shelters and Survivors in the United States.

Purpose: In this brief report, we highlight the challenges that we experienced while attempting to conduct primary data collection with intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors living in an IPV emergency shelter throughout the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and our strategies to overcome them. Method: In the summer of 2021, we began collecting data on a study investigating maternal-child bonding while living in IPV emergency shelters. We proposed a 14-day electronic daily diary methodology with follow-up semi-structured interview. The purpose of the study was to understand what factors affect maternal-child bonding to support survivors' relationships with their children while living in an emergency shelter. Results: We encountered two global obstacles to study implementation: the Institutional Review Board (IRB) pausing in-person data collection and low IPV shelter utilization. In what we term methodological resilience, we engaged in innovative and flexible team work to overcome these barriers. Specific strategies centered on creating an entirely remote data collection process and expanding our geographic area and participant eligibility criteria. Conclusions: Implications for researchers include greater communication with IRB offices, planning for multi-state recruitment, triangulated recruitment methods, reminder texts for participants and incremental incentives to ensure continued engagement with the study.

Acculturative stress and binge drinking among international students in the United States: Resilience and vulnerability approaches.

Objective: While international students frequently face behavioral health risks due to the stress of adjusting to new cultures, many demonstrate effective coping skills that minimize negative outcomes. The current study tested the mediating effects of resilience and mental health on the relationship between acculturative stress and binge drinking. Participants: International students (N = 322) in the United States. Methods: A cross-sectional design using both online and paper-based survey was implemented. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the hypothesized mediation model. Results: The results showed good model fit, with resilience mediating the relationship between acculturative stress and binge drinking in the conceptual model. Conclusions: Behavioral health problems and needs of international students are prevalent themes in social work practice; this study, therefore, has practical implications for U.S. colleges and universities as they make decisions about programs and services.

Peer victimization, depression, and sexual risk behaviors among high school youth in the United States: a gender-based approach.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Little research has examined how different types of peer victimization (i.e. school bullying, cyber-bullying, and physical and sexual dating violence) predict sexual risk behaviors and how depression may mediate the relationship of such behaviors with types of peer victimization. Few works have investigated gender differences in these direct and indirect associations as well. This study, therefore, examined gender differences in the direct and indirect associations among four types of peer victimization, depression, and sexual risk behaviors in United States (US) high school students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were drawn from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior System Survey, collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A multigroup path analysis was conducted using a national sample of high school students who reported having ever engaged in sexual intercourse (n = 5,288). RESULTS: All the peer victimization variables positively predicted depressive symptoms for both females and males. The direct effects of physical and sexual dating violence were associated with increased sexual risk behaviors for females and males. However, school-bullying victimization did not significantly predict sexual risk behaviors for either gender. Cyber-bullying victimization significantly predicted increased sexual risk behaviors for males only. Among indirect effects, depression positively mediated the relationship between cyber-bullying victimization and sexual risk behaviors for males only. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that male adolescents who are victimized may actually be at higher risk of negative outcomes compared to their female adolescent peers. This study highlights the need to pay attention to male victims who may be ashamed to self-identify and difficult to detect in cyber-bullying.

Reproductive health rights and survival: The voices of mothers experiencing homelessness.

Women experiencing homelessness report higher rates of reproductive health-related traumas, including unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, and abortion than their non-homeless peers. Using phenomenological hermeneutic methods, we sought to understand the reproductive health histories of women currently experiencing homelessness (N = 20, 25-61 years old, Mage = 38.33, SDage = 9.33) analyzing data collected between June 2014 and July 2015 in north central Texas. Three key themes highlight the essence of the women's experiences: (1) unexpected pregnancy-pregnancy just happened, (2) loss of reproductive health rights-I was broken, and (3) resilience-giving back and looking forward to good things. Many of the women became mothers through unexpected pregnancies, and overnight found that their lives were transformed irrevocably. Often unexpected pregnancy was the result or cause of a lack of ownership over their reproductive health and led to prolonged health-related traumas. Over time, though, many of the women whom we interviewed re-expressed resilience through social support, housing assistance, and a sense of giving back to society. Results indicate that reproductive health care providers require training to identify the relationship among unexpected pregnancy, reproductive health-related traumas, and housing insecurity. Providers can help preserve women's reproductive health rights through education and empowerment.

Childhood Maltreatment and Child Protective Services Involvement Among the Commercially Sexually Exploited: A Comparison of Women Who Enter as Juveniles or as Adults.

A risk for commercial sexual exploitation is childhood maltreatment. It's unknown whether juveniles in commercial sexual exploitation experience more childhood maltreatment than adults or how involved child protective services is in investigating maltreatment, a focus of this study. Women (N = 96) who sold sex commercially completed a cross-sectional questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t tests, chi-squares, and odds ratios were used to examine differences in background, childhood maltreatment, and child protective services involvement by juvenile or adult entry. Although 93% of participants experienced child maltreatment, juveniles had increased odds of parent/caregiver sexual abuse, being left alone, being kicked out, and running away from a parent/caregiver. There were no differences in cumulative childhood maltreatment resulting in an investigation or removal, indicating that juveniles not investigated or removed by child protective services had as much childhood maltreatment as juveniles who were investigated or removed by child protective services. Results highlight the need for child welfare staff to recognize childhood maltreatment as risks for commercial sexual exploitation.

Deep in the heart of Texas: A phenomenological exploration of unsheltered homelessness.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the experience of unsheltered homelessness in Fort Worth, Texas. Eighteen individuals participated in the study; 13 were full-time residents of Fort Worth and 5 were traveling through the area via freight train. All reported long-term histories of unsheltered homelessness. Interviews were conducted in naturalistic settings; for example, on the street, under bridges, and in camps. Results indicated that the participants entered homelessness through diverse paths, but all of these paths were characterized by loss and social isolation. Many described homelessness as a threatening and dangerous experience; relying on strong street-based social networks and their own personal strengths for survival. Participants viewed shelter service providers as sources of stress and stigma to be avoided but heavily utilized street outreach services and faith-based missions. The overemphasis by providers on "fixing" people, rather than addressing immediate needs, made many participants ambivalent about traditional services. This study supports the use of nontraditional housing interventions and robust community-based approaches to care for individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Do official hospitalizations predict medical vulnerability among the homeless?: a postdictive validity study of the vulnerability index.

The current study tested the postdictive validity of the Vulnerability Index (VI), an instrument used to assess medical vulnerability among people who are homeless. It also examined the relationship between hospitalization records and self-reported health status. The VI is based on self-reports of hospital utilization and chronic health conditions. Data were collected over a one-year period from individuals receiving homeless services in a southwestern city (N = 97, 53.3% male, 57.7% African American). Vulnerability Index scores and three subcomponents of the measure (chronic health conditions, substance use, and mental health problems) were regressed on official reports of past-year hospitalizations, controlling for gender and race, using four separate regression models. Official hospitalization records significantly predicted overall VI scores, but they did not predict the subcomponents of the measure. Results show that, within the current sample, official hospital records are predictive of overall VI scores and are correlated with self-reported hospitalization. The lack of relationship between hospital records and subcomponents of the VI may indicate an underutilization of health care for those with serious health conditions.

Racial differences in the consequences of childhood maltreatment for adolescent and young adult depression, heavy drinking, and violence.

PURPOSE: This study examined racial differences in the consequences of childhood maltreatment for depression, heavy drinking, and violence during adolescence and young adulthood among black and white young men. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a prospective longitudinal study of urban males (N = 971, 56% black). Childhood maltreatment was defined as substantiated physical or sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional maltreatment, or moral/legal/educational maltreatment, with the first referral before 12 years of age. Self-reports of depressive symptoms and heavy drinking (consuming more than six drinks on a single occasion) and official, parent, and self-reports of violent offending were assessed between 12 and 17 years of age (adolescence) and at 24/25 years of age (young adulthood). Regression analyses were conducted to examine childhood maltreatment and race, as well as maltreatment-by-race interactions, as predictors of the three outcomes. RESULTS: Prevalence of childhood maltreatment was higher for black than for white boys; however, there were no racial differences in timing, type, severity, and chronicity of maltreatment. When socioeconomic status and cohort were controlled, childhood maltreatment significantly predicted depressive symptoms and violence in adolescence but none of the outcomes in young adulthood. Race was a significant predictor of heavy drinking and violence during adolescence, and of all three outcomes in young adulthood. No significant race-by-maltreatment interaction effects were found. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood maltreatment has similar negative consequences for black and white male youth during adolescence. Extending intervention efforts through adolescence is important to alleviate these problems among victims.

Exploring the intersection of neighborhood racial and economic composition and individual race on substance use among male adolescents.

This article examines how Blacks and Whites living in neighborhoods with divergent racial and income profiles differed in early onset (by age 14 years) and adolescent lifetime prevalence (by age 18 years) of substance use, with longitudinal data from 473 high-risk boys (58% Black). A latent profile analysis identified four neighborhood classes: Black, lower-income; racially mixed, middle-income; White, middle-income; and White, upper-income. Bivariate analyses showed that Blacks living in racially mixed, middle-income neighborhoods reported the lowest rates of tobacco and marijuana use. Whites living in White, upper-income neighborhoods reported higher substance use prevalence, particularly marijuana. Findings suggest that substance use prevention efforts are critical for Whites in upper-income communities.

Racial differences in trajectories of heavy drinking and regular marijuana use from ages 13 to 24 among African-American and White males.

BACKGROUND: Although there are significant differences in prevalence of substance use between African-American and White adolescents, few studies have examined racial differences in developmental patterns of substance use, especially during the important developmental transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examines racial differences in trajectories of heavy drinking and regular marijuana use from adolescence into young adulthood. METHODS: A community-based sample of non-Hispanic African-American (n=276) and non-Hispanic White (n=211) males was analyzed to identify trajectories from ages 13 to 24. RESULTS: Initial analyses indicated race differences in heavy drinking and regular marijuana use trajectories. African Americans were more likely than Whites to be members of the nonheavy drinkers/nondrinkers group and less likely to be members of the early-onset heavy drinkers group. The former were also more likely than the latter to be members of the late-onset regular marijuana use group. Separate analyses by race indicated differences in heavy drinking for African Americans and Whites. A 2-group model for heavy drinking fit best for African Americans, whereas a 4-group solution fit best for Whites. For regular marijuana use, a similar 4-group solution fit for both races, although group proportions differed. CONCLUSIONS: Within-race analyses indicated that there were clear race differences in the long-term patterns of alcohol use; regular marijuana use patterns were more similar. Extended follow ups are needed to examine differences and similarities in maturation processes for African-American and White males. For both races, prevention and intervention efforts are necessary into young adulthood.

Homeless people who are animal caretakers: a comparative study.

Data from a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) were used to compare homeless people who report caring for animals with homeless people who do not report caring for animals, based on demographic variables and stated reasons for homelessness. Among homeless clients (N = 4,100; M age = 39 yr., SD 13.2), 5.5% reported animal caretaking; demographic differences between caretaking and not caretaking homeless clients and life factors related to homelessness were most often associated with animal caretaking. 41% of participants (n = 1,664) were female, and 59% (n = 2,436) were male. Findings suggest that first-time homeless, Euro-American women who were homeless due to domestic violence were the most likely to say they were caring for animals. The use of such an information system could aid in identifying this subpopulation and coordinating services for animal care.