Violence Exposure, Mental Distress, Substance Use Behaviors, and Overdose Experiences Among People who Inject Drugs.

Rates of exposure to traumatic events are up to two times higher among people with substance use disorders (SUDs) compared to the US general population. Overdoses (OD) and overdose fatalities have continued to increase nationally and in Kentucky and are associated with elevated trauma symptoms. This paper examines the impacts of witnessing and experiencing OD among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Kentucky.

Early vs. Later Experiences of Violence and Polysubstance Use Among Adults Who Inject Drugs.

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) experience high rates of violence, especially in early childhood, increasing their likelihood of engaging in risky substance use behavior in adulthood. Additionally, complex trauma has been reported among PWID due to witnessing and experiencing an overdose, further highlighting the need to examine the role of multiple experiences of trauma on their vulnerability to substance misuse.

Methods: Our study of 350 PWID from rural Kentucky examined differences in polysubstance use between participants who experienced violence earlier (≤15 years old) versus later (≥16 years old) in their childhood.

"You Have to Humanize Your feelings:" Black fathers' Reflections on How Youth Violence Prevention and Perpetration Influence Their Overall Health and Fathering Practices.

In Baton Rouge, LA, and nationally, youth violence is a serious public health problem affecting the lives of community members. Fortunately, Black fathers have responded to the urgent call to prevent youth violence in Louisiana. In 2021, the SUPPORT project was launched to unearth stories of Black fathers' prevention practices and interventions.

The roles of vicarious trauma exposure and perceived social support in codeine syrup misuse among Black men living in prisons.

Using General Strain Theory, this study investigates the effects of vicarious trauma exposure and perceived social support on nonmedical codeine syrup misuse among Black incarcerated men nearing community re-entry. Data were drawn from the Helping Incarcerated Men project, a study examining mental health, substance misuse, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among Black men living in prisons who were within 180 days of release. A total of 200 Black men self-reported demographics (i.

Religion, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Gender Role Conflict Among Incarcerated Black Men.

Extant literature is mixed on the role of religiosity as a protective factor for mental health concerns and the effectiveness of faith-based prison programs on a reduction in recidivism. Religiosity and psychiatric symptoms are associated with gender role conflict, yet little is known about these relationships among Black incarcerated men. Undergirded by gender role conflict theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between religiosity, 30-day psychiatric symptoms, and three measures of gender role conflict: emotional restrictiveness, work-family conflict, and affectionate behavior towards men.

Cultural Predictors of Self-Esteem Among Black Women With Criminal Justice Involvement and Herpes Simplex Virus.

Black women have disproportionately alarming HSV-2 infection rates yet receive little attention in sexual health literature. Using a strengths-based resilience framework, this study sought to determine culturally relevant protective predictors of self-esteem for Black women who are justice-involved and have HSV-2. The authors conducted secondary data analysis on data from the "Black Women in the Study of Epidemics (B-WISE) Project," a longitudinal prospective study investigating health disparities and health services utilization among Black women with justice involvement.

The Associations between Father Involvement and Father-Daughter Relationship Quality on Girls' Experience of Social Bullying Victimization.

With much research into physical, cyber, and verbal bullying victimization, social bullying victimization is a type of victimization that can be hidden. Studies about Black father involvement have found involvement to be a buffer to adverse and risky behaviors of children, including different forms of victimization experienced by their daughters. This study examined one gap in the literature: the direct and potentially indirect associations between father involvement and father-child relationship quality on child reports of social bullying victimization among girls.

Incarcerated Black Men's Restrictive Emotionality: The Influence of Parental Closeness and Childhood Abuse.

Unlabelled: Black men are often socialized to limit their emotional expression, which can lead to negative relationships and emotional health outcomes. Yet, little is known about how childhood experiences influence their emotional restrictiveness in adulthood. This study examined the relationship between parental closeness, childhood abuse, and restricted emotionality among 183 Black incarcerated men nearing release.

Age at first alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents: Findings from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Background: Although studies have investigated the association between alcohol use and violent behaviors such as weapon carrying, few studies have examined the association between age at first alcohol use and weapon-carrying among adolescents. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between age at first alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents.

Methods: Data for this study came from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Cultural race-related stress and cannabis use among incarcerated African American men.

Objective: Research suggests African American men use cannabis to cope with racial discrimination. This conjecture may also be true for incarcerated African American men, who report high rates of cannabis use prior to and after incarceration. However, no studies to date have examined the association between race-related stress and chronic cannabis use among incarcerated African American men.

Adverse childhood experiences and household food insecurity among children aged 0-5 years in the USA.

Objective: Although studies have examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and health and mental health outcomes, few studies have investigated the association between ACE and household food insecurity among children aged 0-5 years in the USA. The objective of this study is to investigate the association between ACE and household food insecurity among children aged 0-5 years.

Design: The data used in this study came from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Implementing an HIV Prevention Intervention for Incarcerated African American Men: Lessons Learned From a Pilot Study.

This pilot study evaluated the feasibility of implementing an evidence-based, culturally adapted HIV intervention with substance-using African American men in a prison setting. We recruited 60, soon-to-be released African American male prisoners from a larger study ( = 211) to be randomly selected for participation in the group-based HIV intervention, Real Men Are Safe-Culturally Adapted (REMAS-CA). Participants who were not selected for participation in the intervention received standard Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV prevention counseling education, provided during participant assessment in the larger study.

Planning a mentorship initiative for foster parents: Does gender matter?

Despite the use of mentoring programs in fields such as business, career training, and youth development, little is known about how mentoring can be used to train and support new foster parents. This paper describes how Concept Mapping was used with current foster parents to develop a conceptual framework suitable to plan a foster parent mentor program. A secondary aim of this study was to explore priority differences in the conceptualization by self-reported gender (foster mothers vs.