Predictive Factors of Alcohol Initiation among Brazilian Adolescents: Assessing the Role of Attitudes, Decision-Making, Communication, and Resistance Skills.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate if attitudes toward drug use, decision-making, communication, and alcohol resistance skills act as predictors of alcohol use and binge drinking initiation among Brazilian students, considering the sex differences.

Methods: We used a longitudinal sample of 1,103 seventh-grade students from 15 Brazilian public schools. We explored if attitudes toward drug use, decision-making, communication, and alcohol resistance skills at baseline predicted alcohol outcomes nine months later.

Addressing the needs for cultural adaptation of DARE-keepin' it REAL among Brazilian students: strategies to improve implementation.

Background: The widely implemented prevention program in Brazil, PROERD (a translated version of the DARE-kiR program), showed no evidence of effect in preventing drug use in a recent trial. The lack of cultural adaptation and instructors' deviations from the curriculum were identified as potential reasons for its ineffectiveness. This study aims to identify points of inadequacy of the PROERD program for the Brazilian culture, suggesting strategies for revising the curriculum to improve implementation.

Challenges in implementing school-based drug prevention programs led by law enforcement officers.

School-based prevention drug programs in the United States and Brazil are most commonly delivered by law enforcement officers (LEOs). However, limited research has explored challenges involved in the delivery of these interventions specifically related to their implementation by LEOs. We aim to describe the challenges affecting the implementation of school-based drug prevention programs delivered by LEOs.

Validity of the Kessler Psychological Distress scale in Brazilian higher education students.

to evaluate of the validity of the Brazilian version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, based on its internal structure, concurrent validity, and predictive validity, for the screening of psychological distress among higher education students. methodological study with 1,034 participants, using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale as well as the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. An analysis of the internal structure was conducted using a two-factor confirmatory factor analysis, which evaluated fit indices and hierarchical omega reliability coefficients.

A transdiagnostic model to prevention in mental and behavioral disorders: a comprehensive review and delineation of a new proposal.

Introduction: Current disease-specific models for prevention of mental disorders are challenged by the overlap of psychopathology, biological mechanisms, and risk factors. Moreover, mental disorders usually begin during childhood or adolescence, when symptoms fluctuate and are highly non-specific.

Discussion: We propose a staging model that integrates three domains - psychopathology, functional impairment and risk factors-, in which prevention is defined as actions to avoid stage progression, irrespective of diagnosis.

School readiness profiles: Does the quality of preschool education matter?

Studies evaluating school readiness profiles and quality of early education are scarce and have produced inconsistent results. This study aimed to identify school readiness profiles, correlating them with the quality of education, in an epidemiological sample of 722 children (4 and 5 years old; 48.9% female).

The S20 Brazilian Mental Health Report for building a just world and a sustainable planet: Part I.

This is the first part of two documents prepared by experts for the Brazilian S20 mental health report. These reports outline strategies aimed at addressing the exacerbated mental health challenges arising from a post-pandemic world. Ongoing psychiatric epidemiology research has yielded evidence linking mental health with intricate social determinants, including gender, race/ethnicity, racism, socioeconomic status, social deprivation, and employment, among others.

Short-term effects of the strengthening families Program (SFP 10-14) in Brazil: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: This study reports the evaluation of the short-term effects of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14), adapted as Famílias Fortes (Strong Families) in Brazil, on preventing adolescent drug use and improving parenting behaviors.

Methods: A two-arm, parallel cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 60 Social Assistance Reference Centers (SARC) from 12 Brazilian municipalities. In each city, the SARC were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group.

Developing an international consensus Reporting guideline for intervention Fidelity in Non-Drug, non-surgical trials: The ReFiND protocol.

Background: Inadequate reporting of fidelity to interventions in trials limits the transparency and interpretation of trial findings. Despite this, most trials of non-drug, non-surgical interventions lack comprehensive reporting of fidelity. If fidelity is poorly reported, it is unclear which intervention components were tested or implemented within the trial, which also hinders research reproducibility.

The role of monitoring skills in mediating the association between parent's hazardous alcohol consumption and adolescents' drinking.

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether parental monitoring skills mediate the effect of hazardous parental alcohol consumption on adolescents' lifetime alcohol use.

Methods: This three wave longitudinal study was conducted with 884 families (n = 1,768 participants) to evaluate the effectiveness of a family-based drug prevention program for adolescents and parents across 12 Brazilian cities. We used structural equation mediation modeling to analyze the effect of hazardous parental alcohol consumption at baseline on adolescents' lifetime alcohol use at 12-month follow-up, mediated by parental monitoring skills latent dimension at 6-month follow-up.

Even worse for Black girls: the longitudinal association of racial bullying with the initiation of alcohol and tobacco use.

We used Poisson's linear regression to examine the association between racial bullying (RB) and the initiation of alcohol and tobacco uses after 9 months. Two cluster-randomized controlled trials were conducted in 2019 with children in grades five (girls: 50.0%; 10 years old: 82.

Substance use and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: a longitudinal approach.

Objective: To describe the changes in alcohol and drug use by Brazilian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic (April-August 2021), and to analyze the relationship between alcohol use changes and psychiatric symptomatology.

Methods: A secondary analysis with a longitudinal approach was performed with data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial, conducted in 73 public middle schools in three Brazilian cities, to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug use prevention program. The sample included 535 students (61% girls; M = 15.

The Impact of Family Stress and Resilience on Child Development: a scope review.

Introduction: Children grow up spending most of their time within the family social environment, where they can experience stressful situations such as marital conflict, a non-cohesive environment, parental alcohol use disorder, parental depression, and other parental mental health issues. All these factors are associated with children's developmental delays.

Objective: We aimed to conduct a scoping review on family stress and family resilience associated with child development delays to examine familial conditions associated with child development.

Addressing the smoking-hypertension paradox in pregnancy: insight from a multiethnic US birth cohort.

Background: Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with reduced risk of a spectrum of hypertensive (HTN) disorders, known as the "smoking-hypertension paradox."

Objective: We sought to test potential epidemiologic explanations for the smoking-hypertension paradox.

Methods: We analyzed 8510 pregnant people in the Boston Birth Cohort, including 4027 non-Hispanic Black and 2428 Hispanic pregnancies.

Framing substance use as "recreational" is neither accurate nor helpful for prevention purposes.

This debate paper discusses six reasons why the term "recreational substance use" should be avoided. (1) Social norms and beliefs are drivers of behavior; therefore, the normalized use of the term conveys injunctive norms of a fully socially acceptable substance. Injunctive norms are the most important drivers of initiation into substance use.

Use of integrative and complementary health practices by Brazilian population: results from the 2019 National Health Survey.

Background: In 2006, Brazil implemented the National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices of the SUS. and in 2015, the Brazilian Ministry of Health issued a reinforcement to this policy to increase access to integrative and complementary health practices (ICHP). In this study, we described the prevalence of ICHP in Brazilian adults according to their sociodemographic characteristics, self-perceived health, and chronic diseases.

The Indirect Effect of #Tamojunto2.0 Program on Bullying Through Reduction of Alcohol Use Initiation.

Purpose: The Brazilian version of the prevention program Unplugged, #Tamojunto, has had a positive effect on bullying prevention. However, the curriculum has recently been revised, owing to its negative effects on alcohol outcomes. This study evaluated the effect of the new version, #Tamojunto2.

Risk Factors for Early Sexual Intercourse in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of Cohort Studies.

This systematic review provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factors related to early sexual intercourse (ESI) among adolescents. We used PRISMA guidelines to identify eligible cohort studies published between January 1999 and December 2020. We searched on three databases: PubMed, Embase and LILACS.

Panorama of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Brazil and its Association With Self-Perception of Health: Findings From a National Representative Survey.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a challenge in Brazil. The country holds one of the highest rates of femicide in the world, most of which are preceded by IPV. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 34,334 women, aged 18 to 59 years, from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey to analyze the prevalence of IPV and its subtypes among the Brazilian adult women in the last 12 months, encompassing their health consequences and the use of health services resulting from IPV.

The perceived impact that alcohol policy could have on Brazilian and British students' pre-drinking behaviour.

Background: Evidence on how pre-drinking (i.e., drinking in private or in unlicensed settings before going out) varies across cultures and its implications for defining policies and prevention strategies is needed.

Binge drinking in Brazilian adolescents: results of a national household survey.

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of binge drinking and other alcohol consumption patterns and analyze the sociodemographic characteristics associated with binge drinking among Brazilian adolescents aged 15 to 17 years. A cross-sectional household survey including 2,315 adolescents from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey who answered a questionnaire on alcohol consumption (weekly frequency, average amount consumed in a drinking day, and binge drinking). A descriptive analysis of alcohol consumption by sociodemographic characteristics and a multivariable logistic regression model were performed.

Factors associated with attending "open bar" parties amongst early adolescents.

Background: "Open bar" parties are events where a flat fee is paid for unlimited alcohol consumption. At these events, alcohol intoxication is frequent amongst attendees. This study explored the prevalence of "open bar" attendance amongst Brazilian youth and the factors associated with this practice.

Externalizing and internalizing problems as predictors of alcohol-related harm and binge drinking in early adolescence: The role of gender.

Background: Externalizing problems are commonly associated with alcohol outcomes in adolescence. Nevertheless, findings regarding internalizing problems are mixed, and fewer longitudinal studies have considered the both problems concomitantly and the role of gender. We examined the role of externalizing and internalizing problems in predicting adolescent alcohol-related harm and binge drinking, taking into account the gender differences.