Cigarette Smoking Status Among Latino/Hispanic Middle and High School Students in the United States.

Although Latino/Hispanic adolescent substance use is a growing research area in the United States, there is little research examining the prevalence and factors associated with adolescent cigarette smoking status in this population. A nationally representative sample of 5,929 middle and high Latino/Hispanic students in the 2009 US National Youth Tobacco Survey was selected to assess the prevalence and various risk and protective factors associated with cigarette smoking status. Results revealed one in five (20%) were experimental smokers, nearly one in eleven (8.

Direct and mediated associations between religious coping, spirituality, and youth violence in El Salvador.

Objective: To examine the direct and mediated relationships between religious coping, spirituality, social developmental factors, and violence among high-risk and gang-involved youth in a high-crime, Latin American country.

Methods: Using a community sample of 290 high-risk and gang-involved youth in San Salvador, El Salvador, structural equation modeling was employed to examine the relationships between religious coping, spirituality, social developmental factors (e.g.

Religious coping, spirituality, and substance use and abuse among youth in high-risk communities in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Little is known about the relationship between religious coping, spirituality, and substance use in developing nations such as El Salvador. Collected in 2011, the sample consists of 290 high-risk and gang-involved adolescents (11-17 years) and young adults (18-25 years) in San Salvador, El Salvador. Structural equation modeling and logistic regression are employed to examine the associations between the Measure of Religious Coping (RCOPE), the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale, and substance use and abuse.

Assessing empathy in Salvadoran high-risk and gang-involved adolescents and young adults: a Spanish validation of the basic empathy scale.

Empathy is considered a key construct in the empirical study of high-risk adolescent and young adult delinquency, crime, and violence. This study examined the psychometric properties and criterion-related validity of a Spanish adaptation of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), which is an important measure designed to capture both affective and cognitive empathy that has been validated in multiple languages but not in Spanish. The study's sample consisted of 208 high-risk and gang-involved adolescents and young adults in the Greater San Salvador Metropolitan Area.

Correlates of handgun carrying among adolescents in the United States.

Weapon-related violence, especially the use of handguns, among adolescents is a serious public health concern. Using public-use data file from the adolescent sample (N = 17,842) in the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this study examines the behavioral, parental involvement, and prevention correlates of handgun carrying. Overall, 3.