Cigarette dependence remains a pressing public health issue among Latine adults in the United States, who face disproportionate barriers to health equity and increased exposure to early-life adversity. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are well-established risk factors for cigarette use and dependence, yet the role of culturally relevant protective factors, such as compassion for self and others, remains underexplored. This cross-sectional study examined whether self-compassion and compassion for others moderated the association between ACEs and cigarette dependence in a national sample of Latine adults who smoked cigarettes (N = 174). Participants completed self-report measures of childhood ACEs, compassion, and cigarette use and dependence. Correlational analyses showed that ACEs were positively associated with cigarette dependence, whereas self-compassion was inversely associated with dependence. However, moderation analyses indicated that neither self-compassion nor compassion for others buffered the relationship between ACEs and cigarette dependence. Although self-compassion did not moderate the ACE-dependence association in this sample, its negative association with dependence highlights the potential value of further investigating self-compassion as a target in strength-based approaches to supporting Latine adults who smoke cigarettes.
Introduction:Females are the fastest growing demographic among United States (US) veterans and are increasingly seeking substance use- and gender-specific care through the Veterans Health Administration. Given high risks for adverse maternal and infant outcomes, the perinatal period (i.e., pregnancy and 1-year postpartum) is a critical time for substance use intervention, however, little is known about perinatal substance use among US veterans and servicemembers. Methods:We conducted a scoping review to summarize existing research on perinatal substance use among US veterans and servicemembers. A systematic search identified 3,534 records, which were screened and reviewed by the research team. Results:Of the 17 articles included, 14 reported prevalence, 10 reported correlates, and 6 reported maternal/obstetric outcomes of perinatal substance use in US veterans or servicemembers. Alcohol and tobacco/cigarette use were overrepresented compared to other substances, and many articles collapsed across substance use categories. Prevalence of alcohol use ranged between 1%-17% and tobacco use ranged between 2-18% during the perinatal period. Perinatal substance use was associated with veteran status, exposure to trauma, and increased likelihood of pre-term delivery and low infant birth weights. Conclusions:We emphasize the gaps in the literature on perinatal substance use among US veterans and servicemembers. Research was scarce about substances other than alcohol and tobacco, and methodologies varied greatly, making it difficult to infer prevalence and patterns. The absence of intervention or qualitative studies underscores the necessity for research exploring specific needs and treatment preferences of this unique population.
As the gap in alcohol consumption among men and women narrows and the population of women veterans increases, it becomes increasingly important to identify and reduce alcohol treatment barriers among women veterans. Research with civilian and predominantly male samples indicates an association between stigma and reduced alcohol treatment utilization. We explored associations between two measures of stigma (alcohol stigma and help-seeking stigma) and alcohol use, alcohol-related consequences, and likelihood of attending alcohol treatment and of utilizing self-help resources in a sample of women veterans with unhealthy alcohol use recruited from primary care. Eight multiple regression analyses evaluated the contributions of the stigma measures (independent variables) to alcohol use, alcohol-related consequences, likelihood of attending alcohol treatment, and likelihood of utilizing self-help resources (dependent variables), with race, age, and/or alcohol-related consequences covaried when correlated. Alcohol stigma was significantly associated with more alcohol use (R2= .04, β = .01 p =.042), more alcohol-related consequences (R2= .18, β = .05, p < .001), and lower likelihood of attending alcohol treatment (R2= .21, β = -.04, p=.005). Help-seeking self-stigma was significantly associated with lower likelihood of attending alcohol treatment (R2= .20, β = -.04, p=.017). However, neither stigma measure was associated with likelihood of utilizing self-help resources. These findings suggest stigma may be a barrier to alcohol treatment for women veterans and a priority to address to increase treatment initiation. Increasing availability of self-help resources may help circumvent treatment barriers.
Culturally grounded substance use prevention programs for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youth highlight ecological and historical contexts that traditional interventions overlook. Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), this study examined implementation facilitators of Ho'ouna Pono (HP), a culturally grounded school-based drug prevention program, for rural, Native Hawaiian middle school students on Hawai'i Island. A 27-item survey based on CFIR domains (Intervention Characteristics, Outer Setting, Inner Setting, Characteristics of Individuals, and Process) was developed by Okamoto et al. 2024 from 22 interviews with educational staff from the Hawai'i Department of Education. Two hundred and four respondents provided demographic information and ranked their top three HP program facilitators. Findings indicated that intervention characteristics, such as HP's place-based approach and developmental appropriateness, were the strongest facilitators across all roles and regions. Schools in geographically isolated areas were more likely to endorse intervention-driven facilitators, whereas those in more populated regions were concerned with administrative and district alignment. Teachers were particularly enthusiastic about a flexible curriculum that allowed for autonomy in delivery. These findings highlight the significant implications for guiding the development and implementation of culturally grounded prevention programs.
The United States under President Trump's current administration (2025) has instituted stricter immigration policy changes that have disproportionately affected the Latine population. These shifting and progressively more stringent changes serve to induce stress and fear in the Latine community, as well as other immigrants affected by these changes. This article will review historical changes to immigration policy from 1996 to 2024, followed by current policy changes in 2025 that impact the daily lives of Latine unauthorized immigrants, authorized noncitizen immigrants, and those close to them. We provide an overview of the potential impact these stressful circumstances have on the mental health of Latine adults and children. Recommendations are offered to mental health providers from a clinical, community-based, and advocacy perspective who work with the Latine population.
As Latinx immigrants spend more time in the US, their health erodes due to acculturative stress, contributing to health inequities. Recent interventions aim to buffer these effects and enhance resilience, preserving their relative health advantage. To understand these efforts, we created an evidence map detailing the scope and distribution of interventions addressing acculturative stress in Latinx immigrants, highlighting gaps in the literature and proposing a research agenda. We systematically reviewed the literature from 2000 through 2024. We screened empirical studies using pre-determined eligibility criteria. Articles meeting inclusion criteria were abstracted for relevant data elements to characterize the literature (e.g., quantity, distribution, sample, methodology, intervention characteristics). We screened 7,870 articles, of which 34 met our inclusion criteria. About a third of studies (39%) were one-arm designs, whereas another third (35%) included trials comparing an active condition to at least one other condition. About half of studies targeted parents or families (50%), another followed by adults (43%) and youth (3%). The interventions addressed a broad range of acculturative stressors, with the most common being family-related stress (85%), parental stress (78%), and pre-migration stress (56%). A primary focus of these interventions was incorporating cultural content, facilitating immigrants' narratives related to their migration process, and providing psychoeducation about acculturative stress. Most interventions utilized cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy components, were brief, implemented in diverse settings, and used professionals, paraprofessionals, and peer educators. An increased focus on rigor and dissemination of these interventions holds promise for reducing acculturative stress, which is a known driver of health inequities among Latinxs.
Low enrollment in social programs among immigrant families has been linked to persistent barriers encountered during the enrollment and retention processes. However, few studies have explored how families experience these barriers and how such experiences become stressors that influence program access. Utilizing a constructivist grounded theory approach, the present study explores how immigrant parents, primarily from Latin American countries, with young children access and utilize four social programs: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicaid. Thirty-five immigrant mothers with at least one child under age 5 and from two states with distinct social program policies participated in focus groups in 2023. Drawing from a larger mixed methods study, findings identified two themes related to immigrant families' access and utilization of social programs: (a) "That's what they don't see": Persistent Stress and Barriers in Navigating Social Programs and (b) "I don't know if it is true": How Stigma, Norms and Knowledge Shape Program Uptake. Theme 1 included three subthemes: (a) Recurring Stress: Monitoring Everyday Life Choices; (b) Misrepresentation of Income Criteria: Financial Realities of Immigrant Families; and (c) Barriers Arising From Insufficient Sensitivity to Immigrant Families' Experiences. Theme 2 consisted of two subthemes (a) Perceived Norms and (b) Myths and Misinformation. Findings revealed that although immigrant mothers recognize the benefits of social programs, persistent stressors and societal expectations shape their access to them. Policy, practice, and research implications are offered to promote equitable access to social programs for immigrant families.
Across two experiments, we investigated the effect of parent authoritarianism on 5- and 6-year-old's person judgments. In Experiment 1, measures of parent authoritarianism were collected to investigate whether parent attitudes predict children's person judgments as measured by Norris and Noles (2021). In this experiment, an adult authority labeled characters as "mean" or "nice" and then described them behaving in a contradictory manner. After each contradictory behavior, children made a judgment about whether the character was "mean" or "nice." Parent authoritarianism predicted children's tendency to maintain an authority's "mean" trait attribution but not the "nice" one. In Experiment 2, new data were collected focusing on "mean" trait attributions from a child informant. Regardless of their parent's authoritarianism, children rejected the child informant's mean label when behaviors contradicted it. Together, these results suggest that children's tendency to update their beliefs about people is influenced by informant authority, valence of the social information being presented, and parent authoritarianism.
Background:Female adolescents and young adults (AYA) in the U.S. now match, or surpass, their male peers in rates of alcohol, cannabis, and e-cigarette use. Given the heightened health risks associated with substance use for females across the lifespan, identifying areas for prevention is crucial. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study examined how observation frequency of parent alcohol use and cigarette smoking related to female AYAs' monthly alcohol, cannabis, and e-cigarette use. Methods:Participants (ages 15-24) reported sociodemographic information, observation frequency of parental drinking and cigarette smoking (never, sometimes, near daily/daily), and their own monthly substance use via timeline follow-back. Negative binomial regressions analyzed observation frequency of parent drinking and/or smoking, parent-child relationship quality, parental monitoring, and sociodemographic correlates on total use days per month. Results:The sample (N=149, M age =19.09 years, 61.7% non-Hispanic White). On average, participants reported using alcohol on 6.52 days, cannabis on 3.74 days, and e-cigarettes on 8.81 days in the past month. More frequent observation of parental smoking was significantly associated with a higher rate of alcohol, cannabis, e-cigarette use days. More frequent observation of parental alcohol use was linked to fewer drinking and cannabis use days, but increased e-cigarette use days, though none of these associations were significant (p<.05). Conclusion:Parents and caregivers play important roles in AYA substance use prevention, and reducing the frequency of visible parental smoking may serve as a useful harm reduction strategy.
Substance use disorders among youth are a significant public health problem. Implementation of evidence-based practices in community settings, such as evidence-based assessment, is needed for early identification of youth with substance use. Yet systemic barriers (e.g., poor resources and unsupportive organizational culture) impede these efforts. This study examined the psychometric properties of a newly developed quantitative measure, the Systems-Level Barriers Scale for Adolescent Substance Assessment (SBS-ASA), which assesses clinician perceptions of systemic barriers to adopting evidence-based screening and diagnostic assessment of adolescent substance, including opioid, use in organizational settings. Scale construction was based on prior qualitative work. Participants were 78 community-based behavioral health clinicians who attended a 7-hr training in evidence-based practices for addressing adolescent opioid use. Clinicians completed a survey before training and subsequently completed the SBS-ASA and additional measures used for validation during the 12-month survey. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using Principal Axis Factoring with Promax rotation. Results supported two factors accounting for 64% of total variance: (a) resource-related barriers (e.g., funding) and (b) perceptual barriers (e.g., staff attitudes). Internal consistency was excellent (alpha = .95). Support was found for divergent but not convergent validity. Psychometric analyses support the initial factor structure and reliability of the measure. The SBS-ASA is a tool that may aid in identifying systems-level barriers to implementing evidence-based assessment for adolescent substance use. Future research should examine psychometric properties of the SBS-ASA in larger samples using gold-standard measures for validity.
Adolescent e-cigarette use has dramatically increased and identifying factors contributing to initiation may help inform early intervention. Parenting-related factors, such as parental knowledge and child disclosure may represent protective factors buffering against adolescent e-cigarette use. However, divergent parent and child reports of internalizing and externalizing symptoms may serve as proxies of poor relationship quality. This study examined indirect associations between parental knowledge, and, in a separate model child disclosure, parent-child discrepancies on internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and adolescent e-cigarette use. Adolescents (n = 217, M age = 14.93; 53% female, 87.56% White, 85.25% Hispanic/Latinx) and their parents were assessed at multiple time points. Participant dyads completed the Parental Monitoring Inventory (Wave 1), the Youth-Self Report/Child Behavior Checklist, and a measure assessing e-cigarette use (Hartmann et al., 2024; Wave 2; ~15 months later). Among the internalizing and externalizing discrepancies examined, divergent reports of rule breaking were significantly associated with parental knowledge and e-cigarette use, as well as child disclosure and e-cigarette use. As parental knowledge and child disclosure decreased, the discrepancy size increased, and as the discrepancy increased, adolescent e-cigarette use increased. Differences in rule-breaking reports may occur with decreased parental knowledge and/or child disclosure, potentially indicative of poor communication. Relevant to our sample, Hispanic/Latin(a) youth are strongly influenced by their parent's involvement compared to other ethnicities. Thus, prevention programs could address parent-child relationship quality and communication about rule-breaking and long-term consequences.
While prior research has focused on general discrimination experiences of people with disabilities (PWDs), the present article focuses on the specific experience of interpersonal disability identity denial. Drawing on identity denial literature in other identity domains (Multiracial/multicultural and bisexual+) and literature outlining ableist microaggressions, this theory article conceptualizes experiences of interpersonal identity denial among PWDs1 (i.e., interpersonal interactions wherein a person is denied membership to a certain social group) for the first time. We detail a preliminary model of disability2 identity denial that describes five different types of disability identity denials and outlines potential factors that could facilitate each type of identity denial. This work proposes shared identity denial experiences (i.e., common to other stigmatized groups) and a unique denial experience (e.g., accommodation denial) specific to PWDs. Finally, this model describes potential outcomes of these denial experiences.
The present study examined how psychosocial and cultural factors were related to Latino adults' attitudes toward psychological services among 152 Latino immigrant adults (M-age = 40.42, SD = 14.15). Using hierarchical regression models, the present study examined social (gender, insurance status, and English proficiency), cultural (personalismo, fatalismo, familismo, religiosity), and psychological/mental health (anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, drug use, and trauma history) factors that are related to Latinos' positive and negative attitudes toward psychological services. Results revealed that the women, those with more trauma histories, those with more drug use, and those who endorsed more familismo reported more positive attitudes toward psychological services. On the other hand, those with health care insurance and those with more alcohol use reported more negative attitudes toward psychological services. No other significant relations were found. These findings suggest specific characteristics that influence Latino immigrants' attitudes toward psychological services.
