Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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We examined whether neighborhood urban form, along with the social environment, was associated with depressive symptoms in a sample of Miami residents. Using a validated measure of depressive symptoms, we found that living in neighborhoods with higher housing density was associated with fewer symptoms. ⋯ Our results suggest that how residents use the environment matters. Living in neighborhoods with a higher density of auto commuters relative to land area, an indicator of chronic noise exposure, was associated with more symptoms.
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While teen pregnancy rates appear to be declining in the U. S. A. overall, the rate of decline among young Latinas has been less than other ethnic groups. ⋯ Exposures to interparental domestic violence, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and gang violence were prominent and closely associated with unhealthy and abusive intimate relationships. Adverse childhood experiences and exposure to partner, family, and community violence impact the reproductive lives and choices of young Latina women in gangs. These findings may guide targeted pregnancy prevention efforts among urban gang-affiliated Latinas as well as encourage the integration of sexual violence prevention and reproductive health promotion within gang violence intervention programs.
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Adolescent sexual activity involving three or more people is an emerging public health concern. The goal of this exploratory, cross-sectional study was to describe the prevalence, correlates, and context of multiple-person sex among a sample of adolescent females seeking health care from an urban clinic. Because sex involving multiple people may either be consensual (i.e., "three-ways" or "group sex") or forced (i.e., "gang rape"), we use the term "multi-person sex" (MPS) to encompass these experiences. ⋯ Condom nonuse by at least one male participant in the most recent MPS was reported by 45%. Controlling for potential demographic confounders, MPS was associated with cigarette smoking (adjusted prevalence ratio [APR], 3.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56-9.44), sexual initiation prior to age 15 (APR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.04-5.98), ever being diagnosed with an STI (APR, 2.55; 95% CI, 1.08-6.03), dating violence victimization (APR, 4.43; 95% CI, 1.68-11.69), childhood sexual abuse victimization (APR, 4.30; 95% CI, 1.83-10.07) and past-month pornography exposure (APR, 4.79; 95% CI, 1.91-11.98). Additional study of the perpetration and prevention of adolescent MPS is urgently needed.
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Pedestrians and cyclists are a vulnerable group of road users. Immigrants are disproportionally represented in pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We postulate that the mismatch in safety culture between countries of their origin and the U. ⋯ Our results also exhibit a pattern of the hypothesized safety assimilation process. The study suggests a higher level of vulnerability of immigrants to pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We propose that targeted policies and programs need to be developed for immigrants of different countries of origin.
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Young Mexican-American women are disproportionately affected by teen pregnancy and early childbearing. While many of the studies that have investigated this population's high risk for early childbearing have focused predominantly on micro-level factors, a growing body of research has demonstrated the importance of neighborhood-level factors in shaping risk for this outcome. ⋯ Major findings include: (1) participants view the blocks on which they live as their neighborhood, but their exposure to neighborhood context extends beyond these blocks and includes the transient spaces they move through daily; and (2) within their neighborhood contexts, participants are influenced by experiences of discrimination and the presence of gangs and violence. These findings point to the importance of neighborhood-level factors in the lives of adolescent Mexican-American women, and may be used to inform future studies looking at the role of neighborhood context in shaping risk for early childbearing among this population.