ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of neighborhood disadvantage and perceptions of neighborhood on the development of aggressive behavior among a sample of urban low-income African American middle school aged youth (mean age = 11.65 years). Results of hierarchical linear modeling indicated that youth experienced significant changes in rates of aggression across the three middle school years, and that on average, negative youth perceptions of neighborhood predicted increases in aggression. Both parent and youth perceptions of neighborhood disadvantage trended toward significance as a moderator between objective neighborhood characteristics and aggression. These results are in accordance with past research, which suggests that personal evaluations of the disadvantage of a neighborhood influence child development and behavior. Future studies should examine the role that perceptions play in youth development, as well as in interventions geared towards thwarting youth aggression.
Subject(s)
Aggression/psychology , Black or African American/psychology , Poverty , Residence Characteristics , Social Environment , Violence/psychology , Adolescent , Child , Child Development , Female , Humans , Male , Multilevel Analysis , Socioeconomic Factors , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Minority teens with asthma are at particular risk for this life-threatening disease due to increased morbidity and mortality rates in addition to the normal challenges of adolescence. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this randomized controlled trial (n = 137) was to determine the effects of a coping-skills training program (intervention) compared with standard asthma education (attention control) in African-American teens with asthma. METHODS: Adolescents were recruited from five African-American dominant high schools serving low-income areas of Chicago. Data were collected at baseline, 2 months (immediately following the intervention), 6 months, and 12 months. Results. Both groups improved over time, with significant increases in asthma-related quality of life, asthma knowledge, and asthma self-efficacy, accompanied by decreases in symptom days and asthma-related school absences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that coping-skills training as implemented in this study provided no additional benefit beyond that experienced in the control group. However, group-based interventions delivered in the school setting may be beneficial for low-income, minority teens with asthma.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Asthma/psychology , Black or African American , Patient Education as Topic/organization & administration , Poverty , Urban Population , Adolescent , Asthma/ethnology , Asthma/therapy , Communication , Female , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Male , Nurse Practitioners , Quality of Life , School Health Services/organization & administration , Self Care/methods , Self Care/psychology , Self Efficacy , Stress, Psychological/prevention & controlABSTRACT
Antecedentes. Diferentes estudios refieren que los patrones internacionales de crecimiento son impropios a las características de la población latinoamericana y que existe limitado sustento que garantice su aplicabilidad. Objetivo. Proponer el uso de una metodología estadística que permita comparar y predecir los valores antropométricos de una población objeto a partir de una población base. Material y métodos. Prueba de Kolmogorov-Smirnov para establecer si existen diferencias significativas en las mediciones antropométricas de una población objeto local y una población base e identificar el factor de ajuste a través de un modelo de regresión lineal simple. Resultados. Existen diferencias significativas entre los patrones de crecimiento de la población colombiana y la estadounidense; los percentiles de la variable antropométrica estudiada de la población colombiana fueron inferiores a los estadounidenses. Determinada la relación lineal se obtuvo un coeficiente de determinación mayor al 90%, permitiendo afirmar que para todas las edades de ambos géneros existe un modelo de regresión lineal con el cual se pueden estimar las mediciones de la población colombiana a partir de información de población estadounidense. Conclusiones. La metodología estadística propuesta ajusta la clasificación nutricional de una población objeto cuando se compara con patrones de referencia foráneos, si no se dispone de tablas de referencia propias aceptadas por los organismos del estado. Para el caso de la población colombiana, los resultados del presente estudio muestran una tendencia a subestimar el estado nutricional porque se compara con poblaciones como la estadounidense, con tendencia de crecimiento diferente, situación que puede presentarse en otras poblaciones.
Background. Using international growth patterns has been described as being inappropriate for describing a Latin-American population's characteristics and there is limited support for guaranteeing their applicability. Objective. Proposing a statistical methodology for comparing and predicting a target population's anthropometric values from a base population's values. Materials and methods. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for establishing whether there were significant differences in a local target population's anthropometric measurements and those for a base population and identifying data fit by using a simple linear regression model. Results. There were significant differences between Colombian and US population growth patterns; the anthropometric percentiles studied for the Colombian population were lower than US ones. A greater than 90% coefficient of determination was obtained once the linear ratio had been determined; this led to stating that a linear regression model for all ages from both genders with measurements for the Colombian population could be estimated from US population information. Conclusions. The statistical methodology proposed here fit a target population's nutritional classification when compared to foreign reference patterns where stateorganism accepted reference tables were not available. The results of the present study showed a tendency towards underestimating the Colombian population's nutritional state because it had been compared to populations such as the US population which has different growth trends; such situation may be presented in other populations.
