Perceived neighborhood disorder as a moderator of the relationship between marijuana use and disinhibition in a sample of emerging adult African American females.

Disinhibition is associated with myriad risk-taking behaviors and adverse outcomes. Both marijuana use and poor neighborhood conditions have been associated with disinhibition. However, the extent to which neighborhood disorder interacts with marijuana use to influence disinhibition has not been studied, extensively.

Perceived neighborhood disorder and frequency of marijuana use among emerging adult African American females.

Emerging adult African American females are at increased risk for cannabis use disorders. Ecological models suggest that African Americans' increased risk for substance use disorders and associated adverse outcomes may result from chronic exposure to contextual disadvantages, such as living in economically deprived and disorganized communities. However levels of vulnerability for developing cannabis use disorders vary, even among residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Attitudes Toward and Sexual Partnerships With Drug Dealers Among Young Adult African American Females in Socially Disorganized Communities.

Drug markets in disadvantaged African American neighborhoods have altered social and sexual norms as well as sexual networks, which impact an individual's risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection. Presently, we describe the prevalence of sexual partnerships with males involved with illegal drugs among a sample of non-drug-dependent females. In 2010, 120 Black females aged 18 to 30 years completed a semistructured HIV-risk interview.

Examining racial/ethnic disparities in sexually transmitted diseases among recent heroin-using and cocaine-using women.

Background: This study examined racial differences in the prevalence of sexual risk behaviors and their associations with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among recent heroin-using and cocaine-using women.

Methods: Participants were 214 women (59% black, 41% white) who were recruited during 2002-2010 using targeted sampling to participate in a study in Baltimore, Maryland, and reported using heroin, cocaine, or crack during the previous 6 months. Participants completed self-report questionnaires about their drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and lifetime history of one of six STDs, including gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, genital herpes, genital warts, or trichomoniasis.

Prevalence and correlates of Hepatitis C among injection drug users: The significance of duration of use, incarceration and race/ethnicity.

The study examined associations between Hepatitis C (HCV) seropositivity and a lifetime history of jail or correctional facility incarceration among injection drug users. The sample consisted of 351 injection drug users recruited in inner-city neighborhoods of Baltimore. Multiple logistic regressions were fit to assess associations between HCV seropositivity and a lifetime history of incarceration for the total sample and stratified by race.

The association between poly-substance use, coping, and sex trade among black South African substance users.

The current study examined the relationship between poly-substance use and sex trade among 343 black South African substance users recruited from the Pretoria region between 2002 and 2006 (57% males; mean age 24 years). The assessment comprised a HIV-risk behavior interview, urinalysis to confirm self-report of drug use, and an HIV test. Logistic regression analyses indicated poly-substance use was positively associated with sex trade among persons using drugs to cope with stress.

Early Sexual Initiation among Urban African American Male Middle School Youth in Baltimore City.

Data regarding the etiology of problem-based child and adolescent outcomes indicates neighborhood socioeconomic status, land use mix, traffic danger, availability of drugs and alcohol and collective socialization are factors that influence or confound behavior among youth in urban areas. With socio-ecological models in mind, this study examined associations between early sexual initiation and neighborhood condition, externalizing behavior, drug use and perceived peer acceptance of drug use. One hundred and fifteen African American male adolescents (ages 11 to 15) enrolled in a randomized control trial provided the data for analysis.

Gender differences in the prevalence and behavioral risk factors of HIV in South African drug users.

South Africa continues to be the global epicenter of HIV infection. Further, extensive gender disparities in HIV infection exist with females four times as likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS as males (UNAIDS, AIDS epidemic update, 2006; WHO, Epidemiological fact sheets on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, 2006). A cross-sectional collection of drug users recruited in the Pretoria region of South Africa (N = 385) was used to model HIV infection as a function of sexual risk behaviors and drug use as modified by gender.

Prevalence and correlates of hepatitis A among adult drug users: the significance of incarceration and race/ethnicity.

This report examines associations between hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection prevalence and a history of incarceration in jail or a correctional facility among a population of drug users in Baltimore stratified by African American and white racial/ethnic status. The study sample consisted of 509 non-injection and injection drug users recruited from inner-city neighborhoods of the Baltimore metropolitan region. The baseline prevalence of HAV infection was 36.

Substance use among school-based youths in northern Mexico.

A small base of research suggests that adolescent substance use is a growing public health concern in Mexico. Employing confidential methods, the International Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health was administered to assess substance use among 1,238 students in northern Mexico. A large proportion of students indicated lifetime use of tobacco and alcohol.

Substance use among school-based youths in Puerto Rico: differences between gender and grade levels.

The present study examined substance use rates among adolescents in Grades 7-12 in Puerto Rico. Nine hundred eighty-nine students completed the Spanish version of the International Survey of Adolescent Health. More than 50% of middle school youths and 75% of high-school youths reported lifetime alcohol use.

Peer and sibling substance use: predictors of substance use among adolescents in Mexico.

Objective: To examine the extent to which peer drug use and sibling drug use predict alcohol abuse/dependence disorder status and the use of drugs other than alcohol among school-based youth in Mexico.

Methods: Data were collected on 1 203 middle and high school students in northern Mexico in May 1998. Participation was voluntary, and responses were confidential.

Screening for "substance abuse" among school-based youth in Mexico using the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument (POSIT) for Teenagers.

Indices of classification accuracy of the Substance Use/Abuse scale of a Spanish-language version of the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT) were evaluated among school-based youth in Mexico. Participants were 1203 youth attending one middle school (N = 619) and one high school (N = 584) in the third largest city of Coahuila, a northern border state in Mexico in May 1998. More than 94% of youth enrolled in the participating middle school and 89% of youth enrolled in the participating high school completed the International Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health.