Publications by authors named "Leah J Floyd"

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Background: Among adolescents, peers are an important source of drug procurement. However, little is known about factors associated with youths' involvement in drug trade.

Objectives: The aim of the study is to identify substance use behaviors and contextual factors related to drug dealing among Black and White adolescents.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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