Urban American Indian Youth Spirituality and Religion: A Latent Class Analysis

This article explores the interconnected spiritual, religious, and cultural worlds of the majority of American Indian (AI) youth who live in urban areas: their patterns of involvement in religion and Native spirituality and associated well‐being. Latent class analysis of data from 205 AI middle school students identified five distinctive classes using survey measures of religious affiliation, attendance at services, adherence to Christian and traditional spiritual beliefs, Native spirituality, and Native cultural practices. Two classes were Christian groups: one attending Christian churches and following Christian beliefs but uninvolved with Native beliefs, spirituality, or cultural practices; and a nominal Christian group affiliated with but not attending church and unattached to belief systems. Two groups followed Native beliefs and spiritual practices, one affiliated with the Native American Church and another unaffiliated with any church. The fifth, nonreligious group, had no religious affiliation, followed neither Christian nor traditional beliefs, and was uninvolved in Native spirituality and cultural practices. The two groups embracing AI spirituality reported better academic performance, more reservation contact, higher AI enculturation, and stronger bicultural orientations.     

Interpersonal Violence and its Association with US Migration Desires and Plans among Youths in Guanajuato, Mexico

This study examined interpersonal physical and sexual violence and its association with desires and plans to migrate to the USA among 500 alternative high school students, aged 14?C17?years, from Guanajuato, Mexico. Two thirds of the youths had ever experienced interpersonal violence, the most common form being physical fights. More youths, and more boys relative to girls, reported wanting to migrate than planning to migrate. Although those who had experienced interpersonal violence were not more likely to want to migrate to the USA, their odds of planning to migrate were 44% greater. Gender did not moderate the effect of interpersonal violence.     

Social contexts of drug offers among American Indian youth and their relationship to substance use: an exploratory study

In this exploratory study the authors examined the social contexts of American Indian youths' encounters with drug offers and their relationship to substance use. Using an inventory of drug use-related problem situations developed specifically for American Indian youth, questionnaires were completed by 71 American Indian youth at public middle schools in a Southwest metropolitan area. Regression analyses highlight the importance of situational and relational contexts in understanding substance use among the youth in this sample. Exposure to drug offers through parents, other adults, cousins, friends and other peers was associated with different types of substance use. Exposure through parents was particularly salient in predicting the drug use of female respondents. The study underscores the need for development of culturally grounded prevention programs in schools, reservations, and nonreservation communities.     

Monozygotic twins with schizoform psychosis and hypothalamic-induced hypogonadotropic hypogonadism

It is reported about an uniovular male pair of twins which has been permanently hospitalized because of an intermittently progressing schizoform psychosis. A hypothalamically conditioned hypogonadotropic hypogonadism provable beyond that substantiates the possibility of the common causal genetic embodiment of both the clinical pictures which is disputed in literature.     

The Influence of Linguistic Acculturation and Gender on the Initiation of Substance Use Among Mexican Heritage Preadolescents in the Borderlands

This article examined the impact of linguistic acculturation and gender on the substance use initiation of a sample of 1,473 Mexican heritage preadolescents attending 30 public schools in Phoenix, Arizona. It was hypothesized that linguistic acculturation operates differently as a risk or protective factor for young children than for older youth. The study used discrete-time event history methods to model the rate at which nonusing children initiate substance use. Alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and inhalants were studied separately while inhalant use was examined more closely. Results suggested that while linguistic acculturation is a risk factor for Mexican heritage preadolescents, this association depended on gender, the linguistic acculturation context (family, friends, or media), and the type of substance. For inhalants, higher linguistic acculturation with friends was inversely associated with drug initiation both for boys and girls. Implications for preventive science and future intervention research are discussed.     

Ethnic Identity and Substance Use Among Mexican-Heritage Preadolescents: Moderator Effects of Gender and Time in the United States

This study examined interactive relationships among ethnic identity, gender, time in the US, and changes in substance use outcomes among a school-based sample of 1,731 Mexican-heritage preadolescents (ages 9-13). Residual change multilevel models adjusting for school clustering and using multiply imputed data assessed changes from beginning to end of fifth grade in use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and inhalants, and four substance use antecedents. Effects of ethnic identity were conditional on time in the US, and in opposite directions by gender. Among males living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted desirable changes in all but one outcome (substance offers). Among females living longer in the US, stronger ethnic identity predicted undesirable changes in alcohol use, pro-drug norms, and peer substance use. Interpretations focus on differential exposure to substance use opportunities and the erosion of traditional gender role socialization among Mexican-heritage youth having lived longer in the US.     

Who is Offering and How Often?: Gender Differences in Drug Offers Among American Indian Adolescents of the Southwest

This exploratory study examines gender differences in the patterns of drug offers among a sample of 71 American Indian middle school students. Participants respond to an inventory of drug-related problem situations specific to the cultural contexts of Southwestern American Indian youth. They are asked to consider the frequency of drug offers from specific groups in their social networks and the difficulty associated with refusing drugs from various offerers. The results indicate that female and male American Indian youth differ in the degree of exposure to drug offers and the degree of perceived difficulty in handling such offers. Even after controlling for differences in age, grade level, socioeconomic status, family structure, and residence on a reservation, girls report significantly more drug offers than boys from friends, cousins, and other peers. Compared to boys, girls also report a significantly higher sense of difficulty in dealing with drug offers from all sources.