Stages of Sexual Behavior Change to Reduce the Risk of HIV/AIDS

Sexual behavior change to reduce the risk of HIV infection is a dynamic multi-staged process. We present an empirical model for change, where we describe a stage of initiation of safer sexual practices, followed by a consolidation stage, and a long-term maintenance stage. The process of change can be interrupted by occasional or repeated lapses. We apply this multi-stage model to sexual behavior in a cohort of gay men from the Chicago area. The prevalence of various stages are reported between 1986 and 1991. Men infected with HIV tended to initiate change to safer sex later than those who were not, but maintained change or relapsed to unsafe practices in the same proportion. Implications regarding factors associated with relapse to unsafe sex, and interventions to prevent relapse, are discussed     

Risk Assessment Tools and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System

This paper addresses the possible consequences for racial and ethnic disparities of the growing reliance on risk assessment tools for sentencing in juvenile justice systems. These tools consider both legal factors (i.e. criminal history) and personal background factors (e.g. household composition, parents’ arrest history, the youth’s mental health, attitudes, school status, and current employment status) to predict the likelihood of recidivism, which then informs punishment decisions. Because they decontextualize race, the associations between race and risk factors linked to race could possibly create higher risk scores and harsher punishments for minority youth.     

域外未成年人司法之风险需求评估量表探究

作为贯穿未成年人司法程序始终的配套机制,风险需求评估量表于全球诸多法域予以适用,其根基于深厚的犯罪学理论,并历经循证研究与司法实践的反复验证,业已凸显了其对未成年人犯罪及再犯之可能性预测的行之有效性.反观我国目前未成年人社会调查制度陷入了调查内容非规范化的实务性发展瓶颈,亟待引入高效度的未成年人风险需求评估量表予以构建...     

Chapter 10: Issues in HIV/AIDS Service Delivery to High Risk Youth

Homeless and runaway youth engage in behavior that puts them at risk for infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Prevalence of HIV disease in homeless and runaway youth is higher than it is among other adolescents. In addition, homeless and runaway youth are often forced to engage in sex as a means of survival. Although they engage in high risk behavior, AIDS education programs have neglected them as a target group for education. To some extent, they have been included in other more general categories of persons with AIDS risk behaviors, such as men who have sex with men or intravenous drug users. However, the number of adolescents receiving age-specific HIV/AIDS information is far below the number infected (Hein et al., 1992). Often high risk youth are disenfranchised, having been forced from home by their families after disclosing their gay or lesbian identities. Lacking a political voice and having no spokesperson, they represent a group with complex unmet needs. These youth typically have immediate needs for food, shelter, and clothing. In addition, they often need medical management, mental health and drug counseling, crisis management, and HIV/AIDS information. These needs are often overwhelming to the agencies that serve youth. This article examines the barriers and issues that exist in providing services to high risk youth. Then, suggsetions for removing those barriers by empowering both service providers and youth are offered. Some of the suggestions are based upon the authors' own experience in providing HIV/AIDS in-service training to service providers to high risk youth. The article makes recommendations for policy on youth and HIV/AIDS.     

Frequency of Group Sex Participation and Risk for HIV/STI Among Young Adult Nightclub Scene Participants

Objectives: This study examines frequency of group sex participation and associated characteristics and behaviors among a sample of heterosexual young adult participants in Miami's nightclub scene (n = 498). Methods: Baseline survey assessments were analyzed using zero-inflated binomial regression. Results: Forty-one percent of the sample reported group sex participation history. Greater frequency of group sex is associated with buying sex, sex with an injection drug user, being high during sex, condomless vaginal sex, victimization history, and sexually transmitted infection incidence (p < .02). Conclusions: Sexually transmitted infection prevention and intervention efforts should address risks associated with group sex participation.     

Collaboration Between Community Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Systems: Barriers and Facilitators

Recent studies have confirmed a high prevalence of youth with diagnosable mental health disorders within the juvenile justice system, as well as the vulnerability of youth in the mental health system who enter the juvenile justice system. This high prevalence of dual system involvement has spawned challenges of collaboration between the mental health and juvenile justice systems to provide needed services to youth and their families. Seventy-two in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 youth and their parents/guardians, mental health professionals from five different community mental health centers, and juvenile justice professionals in urban and rural communities in a Midwest state in the United States. Professionals, youth and parents identified several important factors that facilitated collaboration, as well as a myriad of barriers that needed to be overcome. Findings suggest ways to improve partnerships between the two systems and the development of supportive policies and procedures.     

Juvenile Offender Recidivism: An Examination of Risk Factors

One hundred and seventy three male juvenile offenders were followed two years postrelease from a residential treatment facility to assess recidivism and factors related to recidivism. The overall recidivism rate was 23.9%. Logistic regression with stepwise and backward variable selection methods was used to examine the relationship between recidivism and nine specific variables: offense type, age at initial involvement in juvenile justice, child welfare system involvement, termination of parental rights, parental criminal history, family support, program completion status, length of treatment stay, and discharge placement. Offender type was the only factor found to have a significant impact on recidivism with general and substance-involved offenders more likely to recidivate than sex offenders. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Gender Differences in the Path From Sexual Victimization to HIV Risk Behavior Among Homeless Youth

ABSTRACT

Experiencing sexual victimization prior to becoming homeless is common among homeless youth and is associated with increased HIV risk behavior. This study examined mediating variables that underlie this association, adding to the understanding of gender differences in these paths. Participants were homeless youth in Los Angeles recruited through service access centers who completed a computerized self-administered interview in English or Spanish using an iPad. Findings indicate a high presence of sexual victimization across both genders. Female participants experienced posttraumatic stress disorder and subsequent engagement with exchange sex, whereas male participants were primarily involved in substance use risk pathways. Results indicate paths in the association between sexual victimization and HIV risk behavior differ between male and female homeless youth. Gender-specific, mental-health-informed interventions targeting sexual risk reduction are warranted.     

Condoms and Connection: Parents,Gay and Bisexual Youth,and HIV Risk

The family has long been considered a powerful influence on youth's high‐risk behaviors. However, little is known about preventive family influences for gay and bisexual youth, a group at high risk for HIV infection. For this study, qualitative interviews from a sample of 38 gay and bisexual youth and their parents/guardians underwent a thematic analysis. Youth described parent–child closeness, parental warnings, and urgings to use condoms as influences. Youth denying family influence came from families in which parent–child relationships were disrupted or HIV‐related discussion was lacking. Most families reported discomfort discussing HIV risk. These findings, along with a case example, suggest how family therapists can enhance parental influence by helping these families strengthen their relationships and discuss this important topic. Video Abstract     

Merging Family and Firm: An Integrated Systems Approach to Process and Change

The blurring of family and business in family businesses can create tremendous stress for all family members. Scholars have been unsuccessful in applying task-oriented, business-based models to a business in which the boundaries between task and family blur and overlap. This article integrates current research and theory related to family interaction, organizational dynamics, and family businesses to present a conceptual framework that details the complex inner workings of family businesses and helps guide those who study and work with them.     

An Exploration of Family Violence Among the Homeless

Abstract

This research found a high incidence of family violence among homeless people. The most common form of violence was physical; the least common was sexual abuse. The data also reported a high percentage of violence among homeless people confronted with mental illness. The policy and practice implications for these findings are discussed.     

Staying strong: gender ideologies among African-American adolescents and the implications for HIV/STI prevention

This paper explores adolescents' definitions of what it means to be a man and a woman, the psycho-social context surrounding the formation of gender ideologies and their relationship to HIV/STI prevention. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with fifty African-American adolescents living in Baltimore, Maryland. Female gender ideologies included economic independence, emotional strength and caretaking. Male gender ideologies emphasized financial responsibility, toughness and sexual prowess. Findings suggest that stronger adherence to male gender ideologies related to toughness and sexual prowess is influenced by male participants' perceived inability to fulfill their primary gender role as economic providers and the importance of gaining approval from male peers in the absence of adult male role models. Stronger adherence to female gender ideologies related to emotional strength and caretaking may be linked to a heightened desire for male intimacy and tolerance of male sexual risk behavior. Implications of the gender ideologies documented and their commonalities are discussed in terms of HIV/STI prevention.     

Staying Strong: Gender Ideologies among African-American Adolescents and the Implications for HIV/STI Prevention

This paper explores adolescents' definitions of what it means to be a man and a woman, the psycho-social context surrounding the formation of gender ideologies and their relationship to HIV/STI prevention. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 African-American adolescents living in Baltimore, Maryland. Female gender ideologies included economic independence, emotional strength and caretaking. Male gender ideologies emphasized financial responsibility, toughness and sexual prowess. Findings suggest that stronger adherence to male gender ideologies related to toughness and sexual prowess is influenced by male participants' perceived inability to fulfill their primary gender role as economic providers and the importance of gaining approval from male peers in the absence of adult male role models. Stronger adherence to female gender ideologies related to emotional strength and caretaking may be linked to a heightened desire for male intimacy and tolerance of male sexual risk behavior. Implications of the gender ideologies documented and their commonalities are discussed in terms of HIV/STI prevention.     

Self‐Regulatory Profiles and Conduct Problems in Youth Referred to Juvenile Diversion

The current study utilized a person‐centered approach to explore how self‐regulatory profiles relate to conduct problems in an ethnically diverse sample of 197 adolescents referred to juvenile diversion programming. Utilizing a multidomain, multimethod battery of self‐regulation indicators, three common profiles emerged in a latent profile analysis. The profiles represented an Adaptive group, a Cognitively Inflexible group, and an Emotionally Dysregulated group. Group membership was associated with severity and type of conduct problems as well as callous and unemotional traits. The Adaptive group demonstrated lower severity conduct problems when compared to the other groups. The Emotionally Dysregulated group was more likely to commit violent offenses and demonstrated higher levels of some callous and unemotional traits than youth characterized by cognitive inflexibility.     

Attachments to Family and Community and the Young Adult Transition of Rural Youth

Rural youth in economically troubled regions develop plans for their future in a context in which opportunities for educational and occupational success generally lie elsewhere, prompting the need to migrate. This study investigates the links between rural adolescents' residential preferences and their plans for the future, perceptions of local opportunity, and ties to family and community. We examine whether residential preferences shape the pathways to adulthood through decisions about where to live as well as educational and occupational attainments. Residential preferences are indeed related to adolescents' academic achievements and future educational plans, their relationships with parents, and perceptions of local job opportunities, but they are not associated with family socioeconomic background and social ties to the community. For the most part, residential preferences are linked to where young people live and pursue higher education in the years after high school, but generally not to their socioeconomic attainment.     

An Exploration of Family Environment,Adolescent Perceptions,and Home-Based Intervention

ABSTRACT

Home-based family intervention has become a successful approach to treatment in the field of social work and family therapy. Studies in this area have usually focused on the outcome of nonplacement as the measure of success; few studies have reported specifically on changes in family environment and adolescent perceptions following home-based intervention. Using the family life cycle as a theoretical framework, this study assessed changes in family environment and adolescent perceptions from pretest to post-test in families receiving home-based family intervention. Findings indicate that the family environment improved in cohesion, conflict, and independence; and adolescents improved in self-concept and peer security from pretest to posttest. Suggestions for aftercare are presented.     

家庭与同伴支持对青少年的影响——“假我”行为研究新进展

青少年在不同的情境下会表现出不同甚至互相矛盾的品质.这些看起来互相矛盾的行为中哪些是真实自我(真我)的表现,哪些又是掩饰性的自我(假我)的表现呢?历史上对假我行为有临床心理学取向、社会心理学取向和发展心理学取向三种不同的解释,背后相应隐含了青少年三种不同的动机.西方最新研究综合考察了这三种动机和报告假我行为程度之间的联系,提出并验证了知觉到的父母/同伴支持对真我/假我行为影响的模型.另外,有关女性青春期失语现象的研究也支持了上述模型.