Search

We used data from a nationally representative sample of US adolescents in school grades 7 through 12 to explore the effects of public and private religiosity on initiation, escalation, and cessation of smoking. We found that adolescents' decisions to experiment with smoking are influenced by both their individual practice of their faith and by participation in a larger faith community. However, the effects of private and public religiosity are specific to different decision points on the smoking uptake process. Private religiosity was protective against initiation of regular smoking among nonsmokers. It also was protective against initiation of experimental smoking but only when the young person frequently attended religious services or a religious youth group. Although private religiosity appeared to discourage the uptake of smoking, it was unrelated to reduction or cessation once a young person has become addicted to cigarettes. In contrast public religiosity did predict reduction and cessation of cigarette use among regular smokers. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the domains in which religiosity are important extend beyond the individual and include religious institutions. Keywords: USA; Religiosity; Adolescents; Smoking uptake; Cessation; Transitions

Supportive and caring relations within families promote academic achievement and protect against involvement in health-risk behaviors by adolescents. (1-4) Similarly, supportive and caring relationships within schools (henceforth, school connectedness) promote [...]

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of public and private domains of religiosity and adolescent health-related outcomes using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of American adolescents in grades 7-12. The public religiosity variable combines two items measuring frequency of attendance at religious services and frequency of participation in religious youth group activities. The private religiosity variable combines two items measuring frequency of prayer and importance of religion. Our results support previous evidence that religiosity is protective for a number of adolescent health-related outcomes. In general, both public and private religiosity was protective against cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana use. On closer examination it appeared that private religiosity was more protective against experimental substance use, while public religiosity had a larger association with regular use, and in particular with regular cigarette use. Both public and private religiosity was associated with a lower probability of having ever had sexual intercourse. Only public religiosity had a significant effect on effective birth control at first sexual intercourse and, for females,for having ever been pregnant. However, neither dimension of religiosity was associated with birth control use at first or most recent sex. Public religiosity was associated with lower emotional distress while private religiosity was not. Only private religiosity was significantly associated with a lower probability of having had suicidal thoughts or having attempted suicide. Both public and private religiosity was associated with a lower probability of having engaged in violence in the last year. Our results suggest that further work is warranted to explore the causal mechanisms by which religiosity is protective for adolescents. Needed is both theoretical work that identifies mechanisms that could explain the different patterns of empirical results and surveys that collect data specific to the hypothesized mechanisms. Keywords: USA; Religiosity; Adolescents; Risk behaviors; Substance use; Sexual behavior

Increasing evidence shows that when adolescents feel cared for by people at their school and feel like a part of their school, they are less likely to use substances, engage in violence, or initiate sexual activity at an early age. However, specific strategies to increase students' connectedness to school have not been studied. This study examined the association between school connectedness and the school environment to identify ways to increase students' connectedness to school. Data from the in-school and school administrator surveys of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (75,515 students in 127 schools) and hierarchical linear models were used to estimate the association between school characteristics and the average level of school connectedness in each school. Positive classroom management climates, participation in extracurricular activities, tolerant disciplinary policies, and small school size were associated positively with higher school connectedness., When adolescents feel cared for by people at their school and feel like a part of their school, they are less likely to use substances, engage in violence, or initiate [...]

Objectives. To estimate the long-term association between Israeli-imposed restrictions on travel for medical care in the occupied Palestinian territory and health status in adulthood. Methods. Using event history calendar methods, we collected annual data from 1987 to 2011 from a representative sample of 1778 Palestinians aged 32 to 43 years and analyzed the subsample of whomever had a serious medical condition and needed to travel for medical care (n = 246; contributing 1163 person-years). We used ordered logistic regression with person-year data to test the association between movement restrictions from 1987 to 2011 and health status in 2011. Results. Two thirds (65%; n = 161) of participants reported travel restrictions, and 38% (n = 92) reported ever being barred from travel for medical care. Compared with study participants who experienced no travel restrictions in a year (n = 559 person-years), those who were barred from travel in that same year (n = 122 person-years) reported worse self-rated health (57% vs 22% reported bad or very bad self-rated health; P < .05) and greater limits on daily functioning caused by physical health (41% vs 16% reported regular limits; P < .05). Conclusions. Being barred from travel for medical care was associated with poor health as long as 25 years later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the health of Syrian refugees and the ways in which the public health systems in America can support the refugees as of 2016. According to the article, the U.S. plans to admit close to 10,000 Syrian refugees during the next fiscal year. Access to quality health services is examined, along with preventive screenings to manage chronic medical issues. Refugee resettlement, public health strategies, and the Philadelphia Refugee Health Collaborative entity are assessed.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to an article by writer Samy A. Azer in the same issue of the journal which critiques the authors' commentary on how the U.S. public health system can improve the health of refugees from Syria and other countries, and it mentions community action.