The current study compared traditional recovery homes for individuals with substance use disorders to ones that had been modified to feature culturally-congruent communication styles. Findings indicated significant increases in employment income, with the size of the change significantly greater in the culturally-modified houses. Significant decreases in alcohol use over time were also found, with larger decreases over time in the traditional recovery homes. Use of prescribed medications as well as days using drugs significantly decreased over time, but not differentially for those in the two types of recovery homes. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Suicide is an often-overlooked manifestation of violence among African American youth that has become more prevalent in the last two decades. This article reports on the process used to culturally adapt a cognitive-behavioral coping with stress prevention intervention for African American adolescents. We implemented this adapted school-based suicide prevention intervention with 758 African American 9th, 10th and 11th grade students at four high schools in a large Midwestern city. The findings presented are preliminary. The adolescents in this sample endorsed high levels of suicide risk, with females endorsing significantly more suicide risk than males. Those receiving the prevention intervention evidenced an 86% relative suicide risk reduction, compared to the standard care control participants. The presented model of adaptation and resulting culturally-grounded suicide prevention intervention significantly reduced suicide risk among African American adolescents. Clinical, research and policy implications are discussed.

African-American adolescents exposed to neighborhood disadvantage are at increased risk for eng aging in problem behavior and academic underachievement. It is critical to identify the mechanisms that reduce problem behavior and promote better academic outcomes in this population. Based on social disorganization and socioecological theories, the current prospective study examined pathways from parental monitoring to academic outcomes via externalizing behavior at different levels of neighborhood disadvantage. A moderated mediation model employing maximum likelihood was conducted on 339 African-American students from 9th to 11th grade (49.3% females) with a mean age of 14.8 years (SD ± 0.35). The results indicated that parental monitoring predicted low externalizing behavior, and low externalizing behavior predicted better academic outcomes after controlling for externalizing behavior in 9th grade, intervention status, and gender. Mediation was supported, as the index of mediation was significant. Conversely, neighborhood disadvantage did not moderate the path from parental monitoring to externalizing behavior. Implications for intervention at both community and individual levels and study limitations are discussed.

The significant research gap on Latino adults who completed substance abuse treatment (SAT) impacts the provision of substance use prevention and treatment for this population. Given the need for culturally-appropriate SAT for Latinos, research that examines the role of cultural constructs and acculturation in relation to substance use behavior is warranted. The purpose of the present study is to test, based on the social control theory, a multiple moderation model using the PROCESS macro1 to examine the moderating effect of Familismo on the association between history of family conflict and years of substance abuse on Latino males who completed SAT at different levels of acculturation (i.e., cultural orientation). Generational status (i.e., immigrant, U. S. born) and age are used as covariates. A total of 117 Latino male participants (Mage= 37, 54% non-U.S. born with a mean length of stay of 19 years in the U.S.) who completed SAT from facilities located in the metropolitan area of Chicago completed self-report measures. Results from the multiple moderation analysis showa significant three-way interaction (family conflict × Familismo × acculturation), indicating that participants with Latino and bicultural orientation who endorse average to high levels of Familismo have fewer years of substance abuse compared to those with U.S. mainstream culture orientation and low Familismo. Findings illustrate the need for SAT that assesses for family conflict and integrates cultural aspects to reduce substance use behavior on Latino males.

Latinos are exposed to adverse psychosocial factors that impact their health outcomes. Given the heterogeneity and rapid growth of this population, there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms through which psychosocial factors impact substance abuse and anxiety between immigrant and U.S. born Latino adults. The present study employs a multi-group path analysis using Mplus 7.2 to examine generational differences in the paths between affiliation culture, years of formal education, contact with important people, and length of full-time employment to substance abuse and anxiety in immigrant and U.S. born Latino adults who completed substance abuse treatment. A total of 131 participants (Mage= 36.3, SD ± 10.5, 86.3% males, 48.1% non-U.S. born with a mean length of stay of 19 years in the U.S. (SD ± 13.71) in recovery from substance abuse completed self-report measures. Results from the multi-group path analysis suggest that being more affiliated to the U.S. culture is associated with substance abuse, whereas years of formal education and longer full-time employment is associated with reduced anxiety in the immigrant group. Conversely, frequent contact with important people and affiliation to the U.S. culture are associated with fewer years of substance abuse, whereas longer full-time employment is associated with substance abuse in the U.S. born group. Anxiety and substance abuse was correlated only in the U.S. born group. The implications of these findings are discussed.