Everyday Interactions with University Authorities: Authority Treatment Quality, Outcome Favorability and First-Year Students' University Adjustment.

Two hundred and twelve first-year undergraduates completed an authority interaction checklist every time they had a (self-defined) meaningful interaction with university authorities during the first two weeks of their first semester. Students' degree of university identification before they began the term moderated the influence of campus authorities' treatment quality on academic engagement three months later. These longitudinal data provide support for the argument that people who identify with the group the authority represents will interpret the authority's behavior as indicative of their value to the group.

Keep It Up: development of a community-based health screening and HIV prevention strategy for reaching young African American men.

This article addresses the challenge of developing HIV prevention interventions that not only prove to be efficacious but also are designed from the outset to overcome obstacles to reaching priority populations. We describe how community input has informed development of Keep It Up (KIU), a community health screening and behavioral prevention program for young Black men. KIU embeds HIV prevention in a broader health promotion campaign, with the goal of reducing stigma and reaching a population that bears a disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS and other health problems-hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, and obesity.

Intimate partner violence among economically disadvantaged young adult women: associations with adolescent risk-taking and pregnancy experiences.

Context: Intimate partner violence negatively impacts the health of substantial proportions of young women in economically disadvantaged communities, where sexual initiation, aggressive behaviors, unintended pregnancies and childbearing are common among adolescents. It is therefore important to assess how adolescent risk behaviors and pregnancy experiences are linked to such violence during young adulthood.

Methods: Data from 526 participants in the Reach for Health Longitudinal Study who were surveyed during middle school (in 1995-1996 and 1996-1997) and at ages 22-25 (in 2005-2007) provided information on adolescent risk behaviors and pregnancy experiences, as well as experiences of intimate partner violence during young adulthood.

Parenting practices, parents' underestimation of daughters' risks, and alcohol and sexual behaviors of urban girls.

Purpose: In urban economically distressed communities, high rates of early sexual initiation combined with alcohol use place adolescent girls at risk for myriad negative health consequences. This article reports on the extent to which parents of young teens underestimate both the risks their daughters are exposed to and the considerable influence that they have over their children's decisions and behaviors.

Methods: Surveys were conducted with more than 700 sixth-grade girls and their parents, recruited from seven New York City schools serving low-income families.

New York City young adults' psychological reactions to 9/11: findings from the Reach for Health longitudinal study.

This research examines psychological distress among 955 economically disadvantaged New York City residents surveyed during high school and again after the September 11th terrorist attacks (9/11), when they were young adults. As part of the longitudinal Reach for Health study, young adult surveys were conducted from 6-19 months post-9/11 (average 8 months), providing opportunity to assess types of exposures and psychological distress, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, hopelessness, and anger. Regressions of psychological distress on 9/11 exposure were performed, controlling for high school distress, prior exposure to violence victimization, and socio-demographic characteristics.

Saving Sex for Later: an evaluation of a parent education intervention.

Context: Initiation of sexual intercourse prior to high school is prevalent among inner-city black and Hispanic youths, and has multiple negative health and social consequences. A promising strategy for addressing early adolescent sexual activity is parent education that addresses normal pubertal changes and the challenges of becoming a teenager.

Methods: A 2003-2005 randomized trial to test the effectiveness of Saving Sex for Later, a parent education program presented on three audio CDs, enrolled 846 families with fifth- and sixth-grade students in seven New York City schools.

Sexual behaviors and risks among bisexually- and gay-identified young Latino men.

This research compares patterns of sexual behavior and sexual risk of bisexually- and gay-identified Latino young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Four hundred forty-one Latino YMSM were surveyed at community venues in New York City. Twenty-two percent of the sample identified as bisexual, and 78% identified as gay.

Using peer recruitment and OraSure to increase HIV testing.

We describe a community-based pilot study to boost HIV testing in a minority community through social network recruitment and a noninvasive HIV testing methodology. Over an 11-month period, the number of test takers at the intervention site increased by 71.7%, and the proportions of test takers with risk factors similar to those of peer recruiters (heterosexual sex and multiple partners) increased by 24.

Ethnic and gay community attachments and sexual risk behaviors among urban Latino young men who have sex with men.

Culturally relevant prevention programs are required to reduce HIV risk exposure of Latino young men who have sex with men (YMSM). As part of Hermanos Jóvenes, 465 Latino YMSM were surveyed at community venues of New York City outside the gay-identified area of lower Manhattan. We examined factors that influence ethnic and gay community attachments; the association between community attachments and social support in sexual matters; and the relationship between levels of attachment, social support in sexual matters, and sexual risk behaviors.