Association of neighborhood context with offspring risk of preterm birth and low birthweight: A systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies.

Findings from studies investigating associations of residential environment with poor birth outcomes have been inconsistent. In a systematic review and meta-analysis, we examined associations of neighborhood disadvantage with preterm birth (PTB) and low birthweight (LBW), and explored differences in relationships among racial groups. Two reviewers searched English language articles in electronic databases of published literature.

Evidence of Syndemics and Sexuality-Related Discrimination Among Young Sexual-Minority Women.

Purpose: Syndemics, or the co-occurrence and interaction of health problems, have been examined extensively among young men who have sex with men, but their existence remain unexamined, to our knowledge, among sexual-minority (i.e., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) women.

Raising sexual minority youths' health levels by incorporating resiliencies into health promotion efforts.

Myriad health inequities that sexual minority youths (SMYs) experience have been documented over the past several decades. Evidence demonstrates that these are not a result of intrinsic characteristics; rather, they result from high levels of adversity that SMYs experience. Despite the pervasive marginalization that SMYs face, there is also evidence of great resilience within this population.

Resilience as a research framework and as a cornerstone of prevention research for gay and bisexual men: theory and evidence.

This commentary presents the content and results of a recent symposium held to discuss how resiliencies among gay and bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men, could inform HIV prevention interventions. We outline the argument for including resiliencies in prevention work and present a critique of the deficit-based approached to public health research as it applies to this line of inquiry. The commentary makes the case that HIV prevention work would be more efficacious if it were designed to incorporate naturally occurring resiliencies that manifest among gay male communities rather than primarily using interventions that address vulnerabilities among men who continue to reside in high risk contexts.

It gets better: resolution of internalized homophobia over time and associations with positive health outcomes among MSM.

Health disparities research among gay and bisexual men has focused primarily on risk and deficits. However, a focus on resiliencies within this population may greatly benefit health promotion. We describe a pattern of resilience (internalized homophobia (IHP) resolution) over the life-course and its associations with current health outcomes.

Adversity and syndemic production among men participating in the multicenter AIDS cohort study: a life-course approach.

Objectives: We tested a theory of syndemic production among men who have sex with men (MSM) using data from a large cohort study.

Methods: Participants were 1551 men from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study enrolled at 4 study sites: Baltimore, Maryland-Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Participants who attended semiannual visits from April 1, 2008, to March 31, 2009, completed an additional survey that captured data about events throughout their life course thought to be related to syndemic production.

Resilience as an untapped resource in behavioral intervention design for gay men.

Men who have sex with men experience high rates of psychosocial health problems such as depression, substance use, and victimization that may be in part the result of adverse life experiences related to cultural marginalization and homophobia. These psychosocial health conditions interact to form a syndemic which may be driving HIV risk within this population. However, MSM also evidence great resilience to both the effects of adversity and the effects of syndemics.

Sex while intoxicated: a meta-analysis comparing heterosexual and sexual minority youth.

Background: The social marginalization and victimization experienced by sexual minority youth (SMY) may lead to increased risk behaviors and higher rates of negative health outcomes compared with their heterosexual peers.

Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis to examine whether SMY reported higher rates of sex while intoxicated. Studies that report rates of substance use during sex in both SMY and heterosexual youth and had a mean participant age of 18 or less were included in our meta-analysis.

Health risk behaviors in an urban sample of young women who have sex with women.

We examined the prevalence of sexual and substance use behaviors among a group of young women who have sex with women (WSW) aged 16 to 24. A convenience sample of 137 young WSW participants completed a confidential survey that included demographics, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors. Descriptive analyses were used to interpret the data.