Abstract:
Partner concurrency (i.e.. overlapping sexual partnerships) facilitates the spread of STDs. including HIV. The present study explored the context of and motivations for partner concurrency among patients recruited from an urban STD clinic. Eight focus groups were conducted with 59 patients (47% women: 77% African American). Qualitative analyses revealed five motivational themes related to the occurrence of concurrent partnerships for men and women. Participants reported these partnerships tend to occur: when people believe that sexual partners are unfaithful or cannot be trusted: when sexual satisfaction is low; when patients report the need for different partners to fulfill multiple needs: in retaliation for a partner's concurrency; and when people wish to maintain a sexual relationship with an ex-partner to is the parent of a shared child. Four additional themes unique to men were identified. Men reported that they had multiple partners because this practice supports their sense of masculinity and is consistent with familial modeling and community norms, and because having multiple partners is In a man's nature." Men also mentioned that the imbalance in the number of women-to- men in their sexual network facilitates partner concurrency. These findings can help prevention practitioners and researchers to develop interventions to reduce risk associated with partner concurrency.
Introduction
Partner concurrency, or having multiple sexual partnerships that overlap in time, is believed to be an important factor in the spread of STDs. including HIV (Mah & Halpenn. 2010). Having multiple partners increases an individual's risk of acquiring an STD. and concurrency increases the risk of infection among an individual partners and in the larger sexual network (Morris, 2001). The dynamics of HIV trans. mission further increase risk for individuals whose partners have concurrent partners. HIV transmission is more likely to occur in the first few months alter initial infection (Pilcheret al. 2004); partner concurrency increases the risk of HIV during this acute phase of HIV infection. An individual with serially monogamous sexual relationships may have only one sexual partner during the acute phase of HIV infection: how-ever, an individual with concurrent sexual partners would have multiple partners during the acute phase and. therefore, would be much more likely to transmit HIV to these partners (Epstein. 2010).
Objective:
This article reviews the literature concerning the impact exposure to domestic violence on the health and developmental well-being of children and young people. Impact is explored across four separate yet inter-related domains (domestic violence exposure and child abuse: impact on parental capacity: impact on child and adolescent development: and exposure to additional adversities), with potential outcomes and key messages concerning best practice responses to children's needs highlighted.
Method:
A comprehensive search of identified databases was conducted within an 11-year framework (1995-2006). This yielded a vast literature which was selectively organized and analyzed according to the four domains identified above.
Results: This review finds that children and adolescents living with domestic violence are at increased risk of experiencing emotional, physical and sexual abuse, of developing emotional and behavioral problems and of increased exposure to the presence of other adversities in their lives. It also highlights a range of protective factors that can mitigate against this impact, in particular a strong relationship with and attachment to a caring adult, usually the mother.
Conclusion:
Children and young people may be significantly affected by living with domestic violence, and impact can endure even after measures have been taken to secure their safety. It also concludes that there is rarely a direct causal pathway leading to a particular outcome and that children are active in constructing their own social world. Implications for interventions suggest that timely, appropriate and individually tailored responses need to build on the resilient blocks in the child's life.
Practice implications:
This study illustrate the links between exposure to domestic violence, various forms or child abuse and other related adversities, concluding that such exposure may have a differential yet potentially deleterious impact for children and young people. From a resilient perspective this review also highlights range of protective factors that influence the extent of the impact of exposure and the subsequent outcomes for the child. This review advocates for a holistic and child-centered approach to service delivery, derived from an informed assessment, designed to capture a picture of the individual child's experience, and responsive to their individual needs.
Abstract
Peer relationships are consistently linked to alcohol use in college students. However, this disparate literature often reveals contradictory findings regarding the precise, mechanisms of peer influence. In this review, we use n organizational framework based on social learning theory (SLT) to demonstrate how the quality of peer relationships may influence personal alcohol use.
We propose that the quality of peer relationships enhance the influence of social reinforcement, modeling and cognitive processes on personal alcohol use. Research indicates that the quality of peer relationships influences drinking via three pathways: the lack or breakdown of quality peer relationships, alcohol use being an integral part of peer interactions, and if peers disapprove of alcohol use or do not drink. This conceptualization of peer influence informs the consistent finding of gender differences ices in college student drinking. Limitations of the reviewed research include reliance on cross-sectional surveys, self-report and homogeneous populations. Future directions for research on quality peer relationships involve detailed longitudinal assessment and the application of advanced statistical methods.
Introduction
Around the world, alcohol USC by college students is consistently a source of concern (1-6). Although a variety of factors influences college student drinking, peer influence has emerged as one of the most powerful predictors of the initiation (7, 8) and maintenance (9, 10) of drinking in the college setting. Three aspects of the college environment enhance the influence of peers on alcohol use. First, surrounded by peers and often living away from home, college students experience freedom from parental control, which is often demonstrated by using alcohol in college (6,111. Secondly, adjustment to college life is a major developmental transition. In this new environment, students will establish, test and refine their new psychological identity (121. Peer friendships are vital in this process, as they provide first-year students with role models and socialization opportunities. As a result, the alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors of peers are consistently related to personal attitudes and behaviors, especially during the first year in the college environment (3,11,13). Thirdly, alcohol is part of the college culture, present at most social functions and part of many peer interactions [2, 5, 14, 15). Many students view college as a place to drink excessively before assuming the responsibilities of adulthood (6,161, a perception supported by the easy access to alcohol on campus (11). In addition, the majority of college peers drink more (17] and are more approving of alcohol use (18) than arc the student's parents, and heavy drinking peaks during the college years [12,19). Thus, the student's exposure to alcohol and peer influence in college has been called a 'window of vulnerability' (13).
Abstract
Background: Driving under the influence (DUI) is a major cause of death and disability. Although a broad array of programs designed to curb DUI incidents are currently offered to both first- time and recidivist DUI offenders, existing evaluations of the effectiveness of these programs have reported mixed results. Objective: To synthesize the results of DUI program evaluations and determine the strength of the available evidence for reducing recidivism for different types of programs. Methods: A systematic review of all EBSCO databases, EMBASE, PubMed, ProQuest, Sociological Abstracts and TRIS was conducted to identify evaluations of treatments? Interventions to prevent DUI offenses. Additional articles were identified from reference lists of relevant articles. Results: A total of 42 relevant studies were identified by the search strategy. Of these, 33 utilized non-experimental evaluation designs or reported insufficient data to allow effect sizes to be calculated, making meta-analysis unfeasible. Evaluations of several different program types reported evidence of some level of effectiveness. Conclusion: Because of the general tack of high quality evidence assessing the effectiveness of DUI prevention programs, it is not possible to make conclusive statements about the types of programs that are likely to be most effective. Nonetheless, there was some evidence to support the effectiveness of programs that utilize intensive supervision and education. There is a need for future evaluations to adopt more scientifically rigorous research designs to establish the effects of these programs.
Introduction
Driving under the influence (DUI) is a serious threat to public health and safety. Not only is there a personal risk to the driver, but driving while intoxicated also places others in danger. In 2002 alone, 242,900 people died worldwide from alcohol-related traffic accidents. Further, alcohol-related traffic accidents accounted for 7.447.200 disability adjusted life years (1). Statistics such as these highlight the need to identify interventions that can reduce DUI. One of the most effective means to do this is to target known offenders. Recidivist DLJI offenders arc responsible for a substantial proportion of all offenses, and some studies have reported that nearly one in three known offenders will be re-arrested (2). Further, it has been established that recidivist DUI offenders are more likely to persist in their DUI behavior than first-time offenders (3.4). particularly after any sanctions arc removed (5). Repeat offenders are also more deviant and have higher levels of substance abuse, psychiatric distress, and unemployment, than first time offenders, highlighting the range of factors that may need to be addressed in DUI Prevention programs (6). This paper aims to document the strength of evidence that is available to support the design and delivery of these programs.
In their meta-analysis of 215 remedial interventions for DUI offenses. Wells-Parker et al. (7) reported a 7-9% reduction in DUI recidivism and alcohol related crashes as a result of program completion. They discovered larger effect sizes for combined interventions (education and psychotherapy counseling) than for those that involved only one component. This analysis, however, was conducted almost two decades ago and since then many more evaluations of interventions have been undertaken and new approaches to prevention (such as ignition interlock technology) have been introduced. A 2001 review of DUI interventions evaluating the effects of community-based interventions on alcohol- related motor vehicle crash fatalities (8) found strong support for the 0.08 blood alcohol concentration laws, minimum legal drinking age laws, and sobriety checkpoints.