Women's empowerment and current contraceptive use in Pakistan: informed by theory of gender and power.

Introduction: It is evident from the stagnant modern contraceptive rate and the growing population of Pakistan that the family planning (FP) programs in Pakistan have failed to deliver successfully. The study examines the association of domains of women's empowerment, following the Theory of Gender and Power, with the current use of contraceptive methods and how intimate partner violence (IPV) can moderate such associations in Pakistan.

Methods: Married women of reproductive age from the Pakistan DHS (2017-18) were included in the analysis ( = 14,502).

Internet-Delivered Sexually Transmitted Infection and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program: A Randomized Trial.

Background: Black older-teenaged women have disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unintended pregnancy (UTP). Internet-based interventions can be delivered to large groups of people in a relatively inexpensive manner. In this randomized trial, we examine the efficacy of an evidence-based STI/UTP prevention intervention adapted for older teens and for Internet delivery.

Lifetime Alcohol Use Trajectories and Health Status Among Persons Living with HIV (PLWH).

Objective: We characterized lifetime drinking trajectories among persons living with HIV (PLWH) and examined how trajectories are related to health.

Method: Adults (ages 20-71) were recruited between 2015 and 2017 for a cohort study examining the impact of alcohol use on geriatric comorbidities in PLWH in New Orleans. The New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV (NOAH) Study ( = 356; 68.

Patterns and correlates of substance use among young adult African American women.

Patterns and correlates of substance use among urban African American young women (ages 18-19,  = 459) were examined. Four patterns were identified: no/infrequent alcohol and marijuana use (64.9%); recent alcohol only use (18.

Latent Alcohol Use Typologies and Health Status Among a Cohort of Adults Living with HIV.

Aims: To characterize latent typologies of alcohol use among persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLWH) and test their relationship with physical and mental health status.

Methods: Baseline data from 365 adult in-care PLWH enrolled in the New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV study were analyzed. Indicators of current and former heavy drinking, intoxication, withdrawal and dependence symptoms, alcohol-related problems and past contact with alcohol use treatment were drawn from validated scales.

HIV Stigma, Mental Health, and Alcohol Use Disorders among People Living with HIV/AIDS in New Orleans.

Evidence suggests that HIV-related stigma is a contributing factor to mental health and substance use problems among people living with HIV (PLWH). Limited research, however, has examined the differential effects that multiple stigma constructs, specifically, anticipated, enacted, and internalized stigma may have on mental health and alcohol use disorders among PLWH. Furthermore, no studies have examined this relationship within the larger context of urban life stressors.

Parental Influences on Heavy Episodic Drinking Development in the Transition to Early Adulthood.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how parental relationship quality (communication frequency, time spent together, and closeness) during early adulthood is related to heavy episodic drinking (HED) during this developmental period and whether effects vary according to age, youth sex, or parent sex.

Methods: National data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Transition to Adulthood Study were analyzed. Youth participated in up to four interviews (2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011; n = 1,320-1,489) between ages 18-25 years.

Sources of Help for Dating Violence Victims: A Qualitative Inquiry Into the Perceptions of African American Teens.

Although teen dating violence victims' reticence in seeking help from adults is well documented, little is known about youths' comparative perceptions of the types of help offered by and effectiveness of various sources. This qualitative study solicited teens' perceptions of sources of help for victims using in-depth interviews with African American youth (ages 13-18) in two public high schools in New Orleans ( = 38). Participants were recruited purposively by researchers during lunchtime and via referral by school personnel.

Perceived Discrimination and Heavy Episodic Drinking Among African-American Youth: Differences by Age and Reason for Discrimination.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether associations between perceived discrimination and heavy episodic drinking (HED) vary by age and by discrimination type (e.g., racial, age, physical appearance) among African-American youth.

Preconception Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Birth Outcomes in Adolescent Girls.

Study Objective: Recommendations for preconception care usually include optimal nutrition and physical activity, but these have not been tested extensively for their relationship with birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth.

Design: Data from Waves I, II, and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) contractual dataset were used.

Methods: In Wave I in-home interview, participants were asked to recall their frequency of having 5 types of food on the previous day, including milk, fruit, vegetables, grains, and sweets.

Personality and adolescent pregnancy outcomes.

Aims: To examine the relationship between personality, pregnancy and birth outcomes in adolescents.

Background: Personality has been shown to be a strong predictor of many health outcomes. Adolescents who become pregnant have worse birth outcomes than adults.

Parent-child relationships, parental attitudes towards sex, and birth outcomes among adolescents.

Study Objective: To examine how parent-child relationships, parental control, and parental attitudes towards sex were related to pregnancy outcomes among adolescent mothers.

Design: Prospective cohort study. Parental report of relationship satisfaction, disapproval of adolescent having sex, discussion around sexual health, and sexual communication attitudes, and adolescent report of relationship satisfaction, parental control, and parental disapproval of sex were examined as predictors of self-reported birth outcomes.

Macro-level age norms for the timing of sexual initiation and adolescents' early sexual initiation in 17 European countries.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between country-level age norms for sexual initiation timing and early sexual initiation (ESI) among adolescent boys and girls.

Methods: Nationally representative data from 17 countries that participated in the 2006/2007 European Social Survey (ESS-3, n = 33,092) and the 2005/2006 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC, n = 27,702) were analyzed. Age norms were measured as the average country-level response to an item asking the age at which ESS respondents believed someone is too young to have sexual intercourse.

Academic performance, educational aspiration and birth outcomes among adolescent mothers: a national longitudinal study.

Background: Maternal educational attainment has been associated with birth outcomes among adult mothers. However, limited research explores whether academic performance and educational aspiration influence birth outcomes among adolescent mothers.

Methods: Data from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used.

Pre-Pregnancy Dating Violence and Birth Outcomes Among Adolescent Mothers in a National Sample.

Although infants born to adolescent mothers are at increased risk of adverse birth outcomes, little is known about contributors to birth outcomes in this group. Given past research linking partner abuse to adverse birth outcomes among adult mothers, we explored associations between pre-pregnancy verbal and physical dating violence and the birth weight and gestational age of infants born to adolescent mothers. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Waves I (1995/1996), II (1996), and IV (2007/2008) were analyzed.

Neighborhood disadvantage, racial concentration and the birthweight of infants born to adolescent mothers.

To study the relationship between neighborhood demographic characteristics (disadvantage, racial concentration) and the birthweight of infants born to adolescent mothers, potentially as mediated by smoking, prenatal care use, or perceptions of neighborhood safety. Data from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health were analyzed. Birthweight (continuous) and low birthweight (<2.

The association between prepregnancy parental support and control and adolescent girls' pregnancy resolution decisions.

Purpose: To examine the influence of prepregnancy parental support and control on adolescent girls' pregnancy resolution decisions.

Methods: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed. Girls whose first pregnancy reported in wave IV occurred after wave I and before age 20 were included (n = 1,107).

Tobacco advertising/promotions and adolescents' smoking risk in Northern Africa.

Background: Comprehensive tobacco advertising/promotion bans are effective against adolescent smoking but many developing countries have implemented only partial bans. This study examines the association between advertising/promotions exposure and adolescent cigarette smoking risk in North Africa, and possible mediation of this association by parent and peer smoking.

Methods: Adolescent data (n=12 329) from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey were analyzed (Libya, 2007; Egypt, 2005; Morocco, 2006; Tunisia 2007; and Sudan, 2005).

Predictors of birth weight and gestational age among adolescents.

Although pregnant adolescents are at high risk of poor birth outcomes, the majority of adolescents go on to have full-term, healthy babies. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States who were surveyed from 1994-1995 through 2008, were used to examine the epidemiology of preterm birth and low birth weight within this population. Outcomes of pregnancies were reported by participants in the fourth wave of data collection (when participants were 24-32 years of age); data were compared between female participants who reported a first singleton livebirth at less than 20 years of age (n = 1,101) and those who were 20 years of age or older (n = 2,846).

Parents' support and knowledge of their daughters' lives, and females' early sexual initiation in nine European countries.

Context: Associations between early sexual initiation and parental support and knowledge have not been uniformly tested in multiple European population-based samples. Understanding such associations is important in efforts to discourage females' early sex.

Methods: Data were compiled for 7,466 females aged 14-16 who participated in the 2005-2006 Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children survey in nine countries (Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Romania, Spain and Ukraine).

Early adolescent sexual initiation and physical/psychological symptoms: a comparative analysis of five nations.

Although most people in developed countries experience sexual initiation during adolescence, little is known about inter-country variability in the psychosocial correlates of early initiation. Population-based samples of 15-year-olds (n = 6,111, 52% female) who participated in the Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children Study (Finland, Scotland, France and Poland, 1997/1998) or the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (United States, 1996) self-reported sexual intercourse experience and physical (headaches, trouble sleeping) or psychological (unhappiness, loneliness, sadness, moodiness) symptoms. Analyses were conducted stratified by gender.