Associations of Acculturation and Gender with Obesity and Physical Activity among Latinos.

Latinos disproportionately experience overweight/obesity (OWOB) and insufficient physical activity (PA), which are risk factors for numerous health conditions. Whereas numerous studies investigate acculturation as a determinant of OWOB and PA, few have examined acculturation multidimensionally, and none has examined its interaction with gender. Participants were 140 Latino adults.

Associations of positive and negative affect on health risk behaviors among Latinos.

Objective: Negative affect is widely emphasized in behavior modification interventions. However, positive affect is associated with smoking cessation, physical activity, and healthy dietary habits and may be an important treatment target. Few studies have examined the relationship between positive affect and health behaviors among Latinos, who disproportionately experience modifiable health risk behaviors.

Improving Spanish translations of tobacco dependence measures using cognitive interviewing.

Background: Cognitive interviewing is the practice of systematically collecting feedback about survey items from members of the priority population, with the goal of identifying and rectifying problems to increase the comprehensibility of the survey. Evidence is limited on the extent to which this method of pretesting improves survey items.

Objective: The current study examined the utility of incorporating cognitive interviewing to improve the Spanish translations of two measures of tobacco dependence.

The contribution of positive affect and loneliness on readiness and self-efficacy to quit smoking among Spanish-speaking Mexican American smokers.

Background: The existing research on affective and interpersonal determinants of smoking cessation largely under-represents minority smokers, such as Latinos.

Objective: The current study examined associations between affective and interpersonal factors with intermediary smoking cessation variables among Mexican-American smokers (N = 290; 60% male).

Methods: Measures of positive and negative affect, social support, and loneliness were each examined for associations with measures of motivational readiness to quit smoking, and smoking abstinence self-efficacy.

Sibling relationships among U.S. citizen children of undocumented Mexican parents.

Current U.S. immigration policies disproportionately impact Mexican-origin mixed-status families, yet few studies examine the consequences of immigration enforcement (e.

Creative Technology-Based Strategies for Engaging Young People with Serious Mental Health Conditions in Longitudinal Mental Health Services Research.

A better understanding of the transition from child to adult community mental health services is important given the high rates of service drop-out. Conducting longitudinal research is challenging during a major service provider change. Developmentally-typical transition-to-adulthood instability can deter study engagement.

Parenting in the Midst of Adversity: Tailoring a Culturally Adapted Parent Training Intervention According to the Parenting Experiences of Mexican-Origin Caregivers.

Although parent training (PT) interventions are considered the gold standard for preventing externalizing behaviors in children and youth, their dissemination in low-income Latina/o immigrant communities continues to be scarce throughout the United States (US). An alternative to address this gap in service delivery consists of implementing culturally adapted PT interventions characterized by cultural and contextual relevance. Thus, the main objective of this qualitative study was to document salient immigration-related experiences, as well as parenting needs and challenges, as reported by 30 low-income Mexican-origin immigrant caregivers residing in an urban setting in the Southern United States.