Spatial and Descriptive Analysis of Smoke and Vape Shop Locations Focusing on A Cancer Center Neighboring Catchment Area.

Tobacco products cause about 1 in 5 deaths premature deaths each year. With increased retailing of both tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products, cancer centers such as City of Hope are prioritizing tobacco and ENDS control. Therefore, we conducted formative geospatial analyses of dedicated smoke and vape shops linked to neighborhood demographic characteristics. The objective of the study was to analyze local data on smoke and vaping shop locations by age, socio-economic status, and racial/ethnic group. Our geospatial analysis used aggregate data from the U.S. Census, Google Maps, and Yelp. Geospatial maps were created using ArcGIS Pro with American Community Survey and U.S. Census 2010. The distributions of exclusive tobacco and vaping shop locations data were overlaid with data from the U.S. Census 2010 to generate maps of the relative geographic distributions of shops across varying area demographic characteristics. Results showed that a higher concentration of exclusive smoke and vaping shops were in areas with a higher concentration of ethnic minorities and lower income and lower status neighborhoods. These findings suggest that laws and licensing should be evaluated to regulate the placement of these shops to reduce and even prevent targeting of minorities and other vulnerable populations.

Parental-perceived neighborhood characteristics and adolescent depressive symptoms: A multilevel moderation analysis.

AIMS: This study examines the moderating role of parental neighborhood perceptions on the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms. METHODS: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) consisting of 12,105 adolescents and their parents were used. RESULTS: Mixed effects multilevel modeling revealed that parental-perceived neighborhood disorder was associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms (ß = .27, p ≤ .001). The interaction between neighborhood concentrated poverty and parental-perceived neighborhood disorder was also significant (ß = -.14, p ≤ .01). Low and high levels of parental-perceived neighborhood disorder were associated with lower (ß = -.41, p < .05) and higher (ß = .46, p ≤ .01) levels of adolescent depressive symptoms, respectively, with increasing concentrated poverty. Parental-perceived collective efficacy was not associated with adolescent depressive symptoms nor was it a moderator. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the neighborhood's social environment may mitigate adolescent depressive symptoms. Implications for structural interventions are discussed.

Perceived neighborhood social cohesion moderates the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms.

There is a dearth of research exploring the moderating role of the social environment on neighborhood structural disadvantage and depressive symptoms, particularly among adolescents. Therefore, we examined if adolescent perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion and safety moderated the association between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms. This cross-sectional study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The study sample consisted of 12,105 adolescents enrolled in 9th-12th grades during the 1994-1995 school year across the United States (U.S.). Mixed effects multilevel modeling was used to determine if adolescent perceptions of neighborhoods moderated the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms. Results showed that perceived neighborhood social cohesion moderated the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms (p ≤ 0.001). At higher levels of perceived neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood structural disadvantage was associated with decreased depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that improving perceived neighborhood social cohesion may decrease adolescent depressive symptoms, particularly in neighborhoods with high disadvantage. This aspect of the neighborhood social environment may serve as a target for structural and other interventions to address the growing burden of depression among adolescents.

Delayed Diagnosis of HIV among Non-Latino Black Caribbean Immigrants in Florida 2000-2014.

Prompt HIV diagnosis decreases the risk of HIV transmission and improves health outcomes. The study objective was to examine rates of delayed HIV diagnosis among non-Latino Black Caribbean immigrants in Florida. The sample included 39,008 Black HIV-positive individuals, aged 13 or older from the Caribbean and the mainland U.S. Delayed HIV diagnosis was defined as AIDS diagnosis within three months of HIV diagnosis. After adjusting for demographic factors, year of HIV diagnosis, transmission mode, neighborhood level socioeconomic status, and rural-urban residence, a disparity persisted for Caribbean-born Blacks in the Bahamas and Haiti compared with U.S.-born Blacks. Male Jamaican-Bahamian-Haitian-born Blacks were more likely to have delayed diagnosis (aOR 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.53-3.03; aOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.01-3.44; aOR 1.58, 95%CI 1.58). Findings suggest the need for targeted, culturally relevant interventions to reduce delayed diagnosis incidence among specific Caribbean-born Blacks.

Correlates of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Adult Latino Women: A 5-Year Follow-Up.

BACKGROUND: Latinas have the highest incidence rates of cervical cancer in the United States, and Latinas in the United States are less likely to utilize cervical cancer screening. METHOD: We used secondary data analysis of a non-clinical convenience sample (n=316 women at baseline; n=285 at five-year follow-up) to examine correlates of cervical cancer screening among adult Latina women. Univariate and multiple logistic regression models using Generalized Estimated Equations (GEE) algorithm were utilized to assess the influence of the independent variables. RESULTS: Women who reported their main healthcare source as community health clinics, women who were sexually active, and women who reported that a healthcare provider discussed HIV prevention with them were more likely to report having a cervical cancer screening (aOR=2.06; CI=1.20, 3.52). CONCLUSION: The results suggest a need for continued efforts to ensure that medically underserved women (e.g., Latina women) receive counseling and education about the importance of preventive cancer screening.

Disparity in Retention in Care and Viral Suppression for Black Caribbean-Born Immigrants Living with HIV in Florida.

(1) The study aim was to assess disparities in non-retention in HIV care and non-viral suppression among non-Hispanic Black Caribbean immigrants living with HIV in Florida. (2) We analyzed cases involving individuals, aged ≥13, who met CDC HIV case definition during 2000-2014. Chi square test was used to evaluate differences in non-retention and non-viral suppression by country of origin/race/ethnicity. Multilevel logistic regressions with three referent groups [US-born Blacks, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs)] were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR). (3) Caribbean-born Blacks were less likely to be retained in care or be virally suppressed than US-born Blacks, Hispanics, and NHWs. Bahamians, Haitians, and Trinidadians and Tobagonians had increased odds of non-retention (aOR 3.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.40 -4.10; aOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.40-1.66; aOR 2.30, 95% CI 1.38-3.83), and non-viral suppression (aOR 3.23, 95% CI 2.48-4.21; aOR 1.82, 95% CI 1.68-1.98; aOR 1.76, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) compared with NHWs. (4) Caribbean-born Blacks living with HIV infection are less likely than other racial/ethnic groups to be retained in care and/or achieve viral suppression. Further research is urgently needed to determine social, cultural, and biological factors that contribute to this disparity.

Drinking and Driving among Recent Latino Immigrants: The Impact of Neighborhoods and Social Support.

Latinos are disproportionately impacted by drinking and driving arrests and alcohol-related fatal crashes. Why, and how, these disparities occur remains unclear. The neighborhood environments that recent Latino immigrants encounter in their host communities can potentially influence health behaviors over time, including the propensity to engage in drinking and driving. This cross-sectional study utilizes a sample of 467 documented and undocumented adult recent Latino immigrants in the United States to answer the following research questions: (a) How do neighborhood-level factors, combined with social support, impact drinking and driving risk behaviors?; and (b) Does acculturative stress moderate the effects of those associations? Results indicate neighborhood-level factors (informal social control and social capital) have protective effects against drinking and driving risk behaviors via the mediating mechanism of social support. Acculturative stress moderated associations between neighborhood informal social control and social support, whereby the protective effects of informal social control on social support were not present for those immigrants with higher levels of acculturative stress. Our findings contribute to the limited knowledge of drinking and driving among Latino immigrants early in the immigration process and suggest that, in the process of developing prevention programs tailored to Latino immigrants, greater attention must be paid to neighborhood-level factors.

Sociocultural Determinants of Risky Sexual Behaviors among Adult Latinas: A Longitudinal Study of a Community-Based Sample.

Few studies have examined the sociocultural determinants of risky sexual behavior trajectories among adult Latinas. To longitudinally examine the link between sociocultural determinants of risky sexual behaviors, we followed a sample of adult Latina mother-daughter dyads (n = 267) across a 10-year span through four waves of data collection. The present study investigates how risky sexual behavior (operationalized as sex under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, sex without a condom, or multiple sex partners) is affected by: (a) socioeconomic conditions; (b) mental health; (c) medical health; (d) acculturation to U.S. culture; (e) interpersonal support; (f) relationship stress; (g) mother-daughter attachment; (h) intimate partner violence; (i) religious involvement; and (j) criminal justice involvement. Results indicate the following factors are negatively associated with risky sexual behavior: drug and alcohol use, treating a physical problem with prescription drugs, religious involvement, and mother-daughter attachment. The following factors are positively associated with risky sexual behavior: higher number of mental health symptoms, being U.S.-born, and criminal justice involvement. We discuss implications for the future development of culturally relevant interventions based on the study findings.