Mexican American Men Research Articles

A history of binge drinking during adolescence is associated with poorer sleep quality in young adult Mexican Americans and American Indians.

Binge drinking during adolescence is common, and adolescents and young adults with alcohol problems may also have sleep difficulties. However, few studies have documented the effects of a history of adolescent binge drinking on sleep in young adulthood in high-risk minority populations. To quantify sleep disturbance, as indexed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), in a sample of young adult Mexican American and American Indian men and women (18-30years, n = 800) with and without a history of alcohol binge drinking during adolescence, controlling for age, gender, and race. Gender was found to affect PSQI responses with females reporting waking up at night, having more bad dreams, and later habitual bedtimes than males, and males reporting more problems with breathing and snoring. Increasing age was associated with snoring or coughing, less hours spent in bed, and later evening bedtimes. Race also influenced the PSQI with American Indians reporting longer sleep latencies and sleep durations, more hours spent in bed, and more trouble with coughing and snoring than Mexican Americans, and Mexican Americans reporting later bedtimes. A history of adolescent regular binge drinking was associated with longer sleep latencies, more problems with breathing, bad dreams, and an overall higher PSQI total score, when controlling for age, race, and gender. This report suggests, like what has been found in young adults in general population samples, that binge drinking during adolescence is associated with deleterious consequences on sleep quality in young adulthood in these high-risk and understudied ethnic groups.

Glycemic Control and Bone Turnover in Older Mexican Americans with Type 2 Diabetes.

Altered bone quality, caused by underlying metabolic changes of type 2 diabetes (T2D), has been hypothesized to cause altered bone strength and turnover leading to increased fracture risk in T2D patients. Current understanding about changes in bone turnover markers in T2D patients is mainly based on studies focused on Caucasian men and women. However, Hispanic populations have the highest prevalence of both T2D and osteoporosis in the US. We investigated associations of glycemic control (in terms of glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c]) and bone turnover rate in 69 older (≥50 years) Mexican American Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC) participants with T2D. Multivariable analyses were conducted to assess the associations between HbA1c (%), serum osteocalcin (OC), and serum sclerostin. In agreement with published reports from other racial/ethnic populations, our study found that lower bone turnover (indicated by lower serum OC) occurred in Mexican American men with T2D who had poorer glycemic control. For the women in our study, we found no significant association between glycemic control and OC. In contrast, HbA1c was positively associated with sclerostin for women, with near significance (p = 0.07), while no association was found in men. We recommend screening Mexican American individuals with T2D, specifically those with poor glycemic control, for bone loss and fracture risk.

Age of Migration and the Incidence of Cognitive Impairment: A Cohort Study of Elder Mexican-Americans.

Background and ObjectivesTo explore nativity and age of migration differentials in the incidence of cognitive impairment among older Mexican-Americans.Research Design and MethodsWe employ maximum-likelihood discrete time hazard models to estimate risk ratios of cognitive impairment in a sample of 2,708 Mexican-Americans 65 and older who were cognitively healthy at baseline over a follow-up period of up to 20 years.ResultsLate-life immigrant women have a 46% higher risk of cognitive impairment compared to U.S.-born Mexican-American women. Conversely, midlife immigrant men have a 29% lower risk of cognitive impairment compared to U.S.-born Mexican-American men. The incidence of cognitive impairment did not differ for early-life and midlife immigrant women relative to U.S.-born women or for early- and late-life immigrant men compared to U.S.-born men.Discussion and ImplicationsDifferences in cognitive impairment risk between U.S.-born and foreign-born Mexican-American subgroups may be partly due to health selectivity. Cognitive impairment is more prevalent among immigrant groups which may result in a higher burden on family members and/or high dependency on public resources. Programs are needed that can detect decline at earlier stages and reduce the risk for cognitive impairment among older immigrants entering their last decades of life.

Prevalence of Osteoporosis and Low Bone Mass Among Puerto Rican Older Adults.

Historically, osteoporosis has not been considered a public health priority for the Hispanic population. However, recent data indicate that Mexican Americans are at increased risk for this chronic condition. Although it is well established that there is heterogeneity in social, lifestyle, and health-related factors among Hispanic subgroups, there are currently few studies on bone health among Hispanic subgroups other than Mexican Americans. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of osteoporosis and low bone mass (LBM) among 953 Puerto Rican adults, aged 47 to 79 years and living on the US mainland, using data from one of the largest cohorts on bone health in this population: The Boston Puerto Rican Osteoporosis Study (BPROS). Participants completed an interview to assess demographic and lifestyle characteristics and bone mineral density measures. To facilitate comparisons with national data, we calculated age-adjusted estimates for osteoporosis and LBM for Mexican American, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black adults, aged ≥50 years, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The overall prevalence of osteoporosis and LBM were 10.5% and 43.3% for participants in the BPROS, respectively. For men, the highest prevalence of osteoporosis was among those aged 50 to 59 years (11%) and lowest for men ≥70 years (3.7%). The age-adjusted prevalence of osteoporosis for Puerto Rican men was 8.6%, compared with 2.3% for non-Hispanic white, and 3.9% for Mexican American men. There were no statistically significant differences between age-adjusted estimates for Puerto Rican women (10.7%), non-Hispanic white women (10.1%), or Mexican American women (16%). There is a need to understand specific factors contributing to osteoporosis in Puerto Rican adults, particularly younger men. This will provide important information to guide the development of culturally and linguistically tailored interventions to improve bone health in this understudied and high-risk population. © 2017 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Stress, Depression, and Drug Use Among Aging Mexican American Men Living in the Barrio

Residing in Mexican American barrios might place individuals at heightened risk for chronic financial and acute stress, which are associated with adverse mental health outcomes. Stressors could be exacerbated for substance users. This research explores relations between chronic financial stress, acute stress, and depressive symptomatology among aging Mexican American heroin and other drug-using men. A prospective cohort study and field-intensive outreach methodology were used to recruit 227 men for in-depth interviews. Participants were categorized into depressed and nondepressed groups based on symptomatology measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Chronic financial stress (i.e., poverty) and acute stress (i.e., Life Events Questionnaire) associated with depressive symptomatology were tested using logistic regression. Findings suggest scores of depressive symptoms among substance users are highly related to chronic financial stress. Community-level interventions targeting chronic stressors present in the barrio could be especially salient in improving the mental health of Latino drug users.

Ethnic heterogeneity and prostate cancer mortality in Hispanic/Latino men: a population-based study.

BackgroundFew studies focus on prostate cancer (PCa) outcomes in Hispanic/Latino men. Our study explores whether Hispanic/Latino subgroups demonstrate significantly different prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) relative to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) and Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) men.MethodsWe extracted a population-based cohort of men diagnosed with local-regional PCa from 2000-2013 (n= 486,865). PCSM was measured in racial/ethnic groups: NHW (n=352,886), NHB (n= 70,983), Hispanic/Latino (n= 40,462), and Asian American/Pacific Islander (n= 22,534). PCSM was also measured in Hispanic/Latino subgroups: Mexican (n= 8,077), Puerto Rican (n= 1,284), South or Central American (n= 3,021), Cuban (n= 788), and Dominican (n= 300). We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses (MVA) to compare risk for PCSM.ResultsCompared to NHW men, results showed worse outcomes for NHB men with similar outcomes for Hispanic/Latino men. In MVA with NHW men as a reference, NHB (HR= 1.15, p <0.001) men had significantly worse PCSM and Hispanic/Latino (HR= 1.02, p= 0.534) men did not show a significant difference. In a second MVA, Puerto Rican (HR= 1.71, p <0.001) and Mexican (HR= 1.21, p= 0.008) men had significantly higher PCSM. With NHB men as a reference, the MVA showed Puerto Rican (HR= 1.50, p= 0.006) men with higher PCSM and Mexican (HR= 1.08, p= 0.307) men with no significant difference.ConclusionsOur findings indicate previously unknown disparities in PCSM for Puerto Rican and Mexican American men.

Depression in the barrio: An analysis of the risk and protective nature of cultural values among Mexican American substance users

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the effect of cultural values on depression and how social networks influence these relationships may be important in the treatment of substance-using, Mexican American populations. Latino cultural values, familismo, personalismo, fatalismo, and machismo, may be associated with depression among Latinos. The current study identified the association of traditional Latino values on depressive symptomatology among a sample of Mexican American heroin injectors. A cross-sectional research design and field-intensive outreach methodology were utilized to recruit 227 Mexican American men. Participants were categorized into depressed and nondepressed groups. Relations among cultural values and depression were examined using logistic regression. Findings indicate that drug-using men with higher familismo and fatalismo scores are protected against depressive symptomatology. Relations between familismo and depression seem to be moderated by having a drug use network. In addition, findings reveal that age is inversely related to depressive symptomatology. Young Mexican American heroin users who do not ascribe to traditional Latino values may be highly associated with depression and therefore more vulnerable to riskier drug use behaviors. Moreover, drug-using social networks may affect the protective nature of certain cultural values. Further research is needed to identify whether culturally tailored treatments can cultivate these values while simultaneously undermining the effect of substance-using social networks in order to reduce depression symptoms among this group of high-risk substance users.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Associations of Overall and Central Body Fatness with Circulating Hormones and Metabolic Factors in US Men.

BackgroundRacial/ethnic disparities in the associations of body fatness with hormones and metabolic factors remain poorly understood. Therefore, we evaluated whether the associations of overall and central body fatness with circulating sex steroid hormones and metabolic factors differ by race/ethnicity.MethodsData from 1,243 non-Hispanic white (NHW), non-Hispanic black (NHB) and Mexican-American (MA) adult men in the third national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES III) were analyzed. Waist circumference (central body fatness) was measured during the physical examination. Percent body fat (overall body fatness) was calculated from bioelectrical impedance. Associations were estimated by using weighted linear regression models to adjust the two measures of body fatness for each other.ResultsWaist circumference, but not percent body fat was inversely associated with total testosterone and SHBG in all three racial/ethnic groups after their mutual adjustment (all P < 0.0001). Percent body fat (P = 0.02), but not waist circumference was positively associated with total estradiol in NHB men; no association was present in NHW and MA men (P-interaction = 0.04). Waist circumference, but not body fat was strongly positively associated with fasting insulin (all P < 0.0001) and inversely associated with HDL cholesterol (all P ≤ 0.003) in all three racial/ethnic groups. Both percent body fat and waist circumference were positively associated with leptin (all P < 0.0001) in all three racial/ethnic groups.ConclusionsThere was no strong evidence in the associations of sex hormones and metabolic factors with body fatness in different racial/ethnic groups. These findings should be further explored in prospective studies to determine their relevance in racial/ethnic disparities of chronic diseases.

Prediction of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease mortality in a nationally representative cohort using a set of risk factors from pooled cohort risk equations.

The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association developed Pooled Cohort equations to estimate atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. It is unclear how well the equations predict ASCVD mortality in a nationally representative cohort. We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1988–1994 and Linked Mortality through 2006 (n = 6,644). Among participants aged 40–79 years without ASCVD at baseline, we used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the 10-year probability of ASCVD death by sex and race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic white (NHW), non-Hispanic black (NHB) and Mexican American (MA)). We estimated the discrimination and calibration for each sex-race-ethnicity model. We documented 288 ASCVD deaths during 62,335 person years. The Pooled Cohort equations demonstrated moderate to good discrimination for ASCVD mortality, with modified C-statistics of 0.716 (95% CI 0.663–0.770), 0.794 (0.734–0.854), and 0.733 (0.654–0.811) for NHW, NHB and MA men, respectively. The corresponding C-statistics for women were 0.781 (0.718–0.844), 0.702 (0.633–0.771), and 0.789 (CI 0.721–0.857). Modified Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2 suggested adequate calibration for NHW, NHB and MA men, and MA women (p-values: 0.128, 0.295, 0.104 and 0.163 respectively). The calibration was inadequate for NHW and NHB women (p<0.05). In this nationally representative cohort, the Pooled Cohort equations performed adequately to predict 10-year ASCVD mortality for NHW and NHB men, and MA population, but not for NHW and NHB women.

Inverse Association Between Stature and Coronary Artery Disease and Stroke Risk: Height‐ Blood Pressure Relations as a Contributing Mechanism

Although recognized for half a century or more, the mechanisms linking stature and coronary artery disease and stroke (hemorrhagic/ischemic) risk remain elusive. Several theories have been proposed, although a definitive mechanism is lacking. Small‐scale, largely experimental, studies support the hypothesis that blood pressure (BP) components (systolic, diastolic, pulse, and mean; SBP, DBP, PP, MBP) are physiologically linked with dynamic vascular system features and height. The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that adult stature is associated with a distinct BP pattern consistent with epidemiological cardiovascular and cerebrovascular outcomes by extending experimental observations to a representative sample of the US population. The evaluated sample included 11,602 non‐Hispanic (NH) white, NH black, and Mexican American participants (6,089 male; 5,513 female) in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) who had complete measurements of height, weight, % fat, SBP, and DBP; PP and MBP were calculated as SBP‐DBP and DBP+1/3(SBP‐DBP), respectively. Subjects taking BP medications and a history of high BP were excluded from the analyses. The analysis aim was to establish if height remains a significant BP predictor variable after controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), and % fat in multiple regression models. With 4 BP measures and 6 sex and race/ethnic groups, 24 initial regression models were created. Height was a significant (p&lt;0.05) predictor variable in 14 of these 24 models. Combined sex‐specific models were developed for each BP measure with race/ethnicity as a covariate. Height was a significant (p&lt;0.01) predictor in all 8 of these BP regression models; NH black subjects had higher SBP, DBP, PP, and MBP in the 8 models (p&lt;0.05). The findings were consistent across men and women: greater height was associated with lower SBP and PP and higher DBP and MBP. Greater height in US adults is thus accompanied by a distinct BP pattern across US NH white, NH black, and Mexican American men and women. The observed height‐BP pattern is consistent with earlier small‐scale human experimental studies that provide a mechanistic basis for these effects. These findings suggest height‐associated BP effects may contribute to the greater coronary artery disease and stroke risk in people who are short relative to their tall counterparts.

Shorter Leukocyte Telomere Length in Relation to Presumed Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Mexican-American Men in NHANES 1999-2002.

Leukocyte telomere length is shorter in response to chronic disease processes associated with inflammation such as diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2002 was used to explore the relationship between leukocyte telomere length and presumed NAFLD, as indicated by elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, obesity, or abdominal obesity. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between telomere length and presumed markers of NAFLD adjusting for possible confounders. There was no relationship between elevated ALT levels, abdominal obesity, or obesity and telomere length in adjusted models in NHANES (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.48–2.65; OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.52–2.62, resp.). Mexican-American men had shorter telomere length in relation to presumed NAFLD (OR 0.07, 95% CI 0.006–0.79) and using different indicators of NAFLD (OR 0.012, 95% CI 0.0006–0.24). Mexican origin with presumed NAFLD had shorter telomere length than men in other population groups. Longitudinal studies are necessary to evaluate the role of telomere length as a potential predictor to assess pathogenesis of NALFD in Mexicans.

The Danger of a Singular Fashion: Studies of Race, Fashion, and Beauty in American Studies

The Danger of a Singular Fashion:Studies of Race, Fashion, and Beauty in American Studies Anita Mannur (bio) Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet: Race, Gender, and the Work of Personal Style Blogging. By Minh-Ha T. Pham. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. 272 pages. $89.95 (cloth). $24.95 (paper). Chinese Looks: Fashion, Performance, Race. By Sean Metzger. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014. 300 pages. $85.00 (cloth). $32.00 (paper). Fashioning Diaspora: Beauty, Femininity, and South Asian American Culture. By Vanita Reddy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2016. 261 pages. $84.50 (cloth). $32.95 (paper). Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul. By Tanisha C. Ford. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. 256 pages. $29.95 (cloth). In a 2014 article for Elle magazine, "Why Can't Smart Women Love Fashion?," the celebrated Nigerian feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes how her relationship with fashion and dress changed upon moving to the United States. Prior to her move, clothing and hair occupied less-overdetermined positions for Adichie, and it was only on entering the world of the West that she began to notice an uneasy correlation between "dressing up" and presumed intelligence. Simply put, smart women placed less of a premium on dressing well and chose more austere and even unfashionable clothing to legitimize their positions. She writes, "I had learned a lesson about Western culture: Women who wanted to be taken seriously were supposed to substantiate their seriousness with a studied indifference to appearance. For serious women writers in particular, it was better not to dress well at all, and if you did, then it was best to pretend that you had not put much thought [End Page 411] into it. If you spoke of fashion, it had to be either with apology or with the slightest of sneers."1 Adichie has spoken and written extensively about race, fashion, and beauty, both in her fiction and in the popular press. Central to her thinking about these seemingly inconsequential issues is the notion that discourse around fashion, style, and beauty not only is gendered but has deep implications for how we understand social justice, racial formation, and class structuring. Moreover, the meanings of clothing are radically malleable and context specific. Place, embodiment, race, gender, and the sociopolitical environment can alter the meaning of clothing and fashion such that everyday sartorial choices for people of color are inherently political. In seeming contradistinction to this point is one that the fashion historian Kathy Peiss makes in Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style. The zoot suit became politicized in the 1940s. Worn by Mexican and Filipino American men, the luxuriously large-cut suits became a source of racialized hate among white servicemen who viewed the donning of purportedly excessive amounts of cloth during a time of wartime ration as unpatriotic, fueling the Zoot Suit Riots. Referring to Robin Kelley's reading of Malcolm X donning the zoot suit as highly political, Peiss asks what makes his use of the zoot suit a direct political statement. For Kelley, "while the suit itself was not meant as a direct political statement. … the social context in which it was created and worn renders it so." Peiss continues, "the context may in fact be our contemporary politics and culture, particularly on the left—a romantic view of rebellion and pushback 'from below' not through formal politics or organization but through quotidian culture."2 For Peiss, it is often critics' own contemporary theorizations that ascribe meanings to fashion as resistance. Yet it is also evident that the meaning of "resistance" itself is somewhat vague. Is it necessarily the case that fashion as resistance emerges through formal channels of organization? Probably not. Certainly this is what these new books on race, fashion, and beauty suggests. Beauty and fashion are embodied practices that are produced within particular networks of sociocultural power. At the same time, the aesthetic practices of fashion cannot be separated from the material conditions through which fashion, clothing, and beauty are produced and through which agential narratives of resistance might emerge. With an impressive temporal span ranging from the nineteenth century into the contemporary moment...

Diet quality and its relationship with central obesity among Mexican Americans: findings from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2012.

Using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010), the present study aimed to examine diet quality and the impact of overall diet quality and its components on central obesity among Mexican-American men and women. Cross-sectional data from NHANES 1999-2012 were used. The HEI-2010 data, including twelve components for a total score of 100, were collected with a 24 h recall interview. Central obesity was defined as a waist circumference of ≥88 cm for women and ≥102 cm for men. Weighted logistic regressions were performed to assess associations between HEI-2010 scores and central obesity. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2012. A total of 6847 Mexican Americans aged ≥20 years with reliable dietary recall status and non-pregnancy status. Higher HEI-2010 total score was associated with lower odds of central obesity in Mexican-American men (OR; 95 % CI=0·98; 0·98, 1·00). Among all Mexican Americans, one-unit higher score of total fruit and sodium (i.e. lower level of intake) was associated with 4 % (0·96; 0·93, 0·99) and 2 % (0·98; 0·96, 0·99) lower odds of central obesity, respectively. However, a higher total proteins score was associated with higher odds of central obesity (1·08; 1·00, 1·16). In gender-specific analyses, a higher whole fruit or sodium score was inversely associated with central obesity in men but not in women. HEI-2010 scores of total fruit and sodium were inversely associated with central obesity among all Mexican Americans. However, total proteins score and central obesity was positively associated. In Mexican-American men, HEI-2010 total and whole fruit scores were inversely associated with central obesity.

Relationships among fat mass, fat-free mass and height in adults: A new method of statistical analysis applied to NHANES data.

The positive influence of fat mass (FM) on fat-free mass (FFM) has been quantified previously by various methods involving regression analysis of population data, but some are fundamentally flawed through neglect of the tendency of taller individuals to carry more fat. Differences in FFM due to differences in FM-and not directly related to differences in height-are expressed as ΔFFM/ΔFM, denoted KF . The main aims were to find a sounder regression-based method of quantifying KF and simultaneously of estimating mean BMI0 , the BMI of hypothetical fat-free individuals. Other, related, objectives were to check the linearity of FFM-FM relationships and to quantify the correlation between FM and height. New statistical methods, explored and verified by Monte Carlo simulation, were applied to NHANES data. Regression of height2 on FFM and FM produced estimates of mean KF and indirectly of BMI0 . Both were then adjusted to allow for variability in KF around its mean. Its standard deviation was estimated by a novel method. Relationships between FFM and FM were linear, not semilogarithmic as is sometimes assumed. Mean KF is similar in Mexican American men and women, but higher in men than women in non-Hispanic European Americans and African Americans. Mean BMI0 is higher in men than in women. FM correlates more strongly with height than has been found previously. A more accurate way of quantifying mean BMI0 and the dependence of FFM on FM is established that may be easily applied to new and existing population data.

The Precarious Health of Young Mexican American Men in South Texas, Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, 2004-2015.

IntroductionHispanic men have higher rates of illness and death from various chronic conditions than do non-Hispanic men. We aimed to characterize the health of Mexican American men living on the US–Mexico border in South Texas and elucidate indications of chronic disease in young men.MethodsWe sampled all male participants from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, an ongoing population-based cohort of Mexican Americans in Brownsville, Texas. We calculated descriptive statistics and stratified the sample into 3 age groups to estimate the prevalence of sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical factors by age group and evaluated differences between age groups.ResultsObesity prevalence was approximately 50% across all age groups (P = .83). Diabetes prevalence was high overall (26.8%), and 16.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.1%–23.8%) of men younger than 35 had diabetes. More than 70% of these young men had elevated liver enzymes, and mean values of aspartate aminotransferase were significantly higher in younger men (45.0 u/L; 95% CI, 39.5–50.6 u/L) than in both older age groups. Less than 20% of young men had any form of health insurance. Current smoking was higher in young men than in men in the other groups, and the rate was higher than the national prevalence of current smoking among Hispanic men.ConclusionsWe suggest a need for obesity and diabetes prevention programs and smoking cessation programs for men in this region. Opportunities exist to expand current intervention programs and tailor them to better reach this vulnerable population of young Hispanic men. Elevated liver enzymes in men younger than 35 suggest a substantial burden of liver abnormalities, a finding that warrants further study.

Nontraditional career choices of Mexican American men: Influence of acculturation, enculturation, gender role traits, self-efficacy, and interests.

Nontraditional career choices of Mexican American men: Influence of acculturation, enculturation, gender role traits, self-efficacy, and interests.

The Perceived Role of Family in Heroin Use Behaviors of Mexican–American Men

The influence of the family is not well understood as it relates to drug use behaviors of Hispanic male adults. We examined the family's influence on drug use behavior, as perceived by Hispanic men who use heroin. One-time qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 current and former heroin users who participated in a larger study on long-term heroin use in Mexican-American men. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Three main themes emerged: family as a supportive environment for heroin use; heroin as a family legacy; and, the family's strategies for helping to stop using heroin. A sub-theme emerged on the paradox of family involvement, which spanned the three main themes. This research lays a foundation for future work to disentangle the risks and benefits of family involvement to inform culturally-centered therapies and cultural adaptations to traditional therapeutic approaches with Mexican-American men who abuse drugs.

Family capital: Examining social capital, family commitment, and acculturation among college-enrolled Mexican-American men and women in the Southwestern United States

ABSTRACTSocial capital is integral to an individual’s ability to access various resources embedded in social and familial networks that are important in academic access and future success. The types and dynamics of social relationships created by men and women are thought to generate different forms of social capital with factors such as acculturation resulting in differences in intercultural networks and potential resource access. However, the factors that contribute to the development of social capital require further investigation. The current study examines the relationship between acculturation, family role commitment, and various social network characteristics associated with social capital among Mexican-American college-enrolled men (n = 119) and women (n = 196). Several multiple regressions were conducted. Findings indicate that acculturation and family role commitment relate differently to social-capital-network characteristics among Mexican-American men and women. For women, marital commitment was consistently related to social-capital-network characteristics whereas acculturation factors seemed to be more salient among men. Overall, study variables accounted for a larger portion of the variance for social-capital-network characteristics across analyses for men than women indicating that other factors may be at play in generating social capital for women.

Perceived Social Support Trajectories and the All-Cause Mortality Risk of Older Mexican American Women and Men.

Although numerous studies of non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks show that social integration and social support tend to favor longevity, it is unclear whether this general pattern extends to the Mexican American population. Building on previous research, we employed seven waves of data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine the association between perceived social support trajectories and the all-cause mortality risk of older Mexican Americans. Growth mixture estimates revealed three latent classes of support trajectories: high, moderate, and low. Cox regression estimates indicated that older Mexican American men in the low support trajectory tend to exhibit a higher mortality risk than their counterparts in the high support trajectory. Social support trajectories were unrelated to the mortality risk of older Mexican American women. A statistically significant interaction term confirmed that social support was more strongly associated with the mortality risk of men.

Sex and Race-Ethnicity Secular Trends in Mean and Elevated Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Among Adults in the United States, 1999-2012.

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) has been shown to associate with increased risk of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular death. To our knowledge, no study has examined secular trends in RDW over the last decade. Serial cross-sectional design. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2012, were used. 34,171 adults. RDW was assessed from a blood sample derived from the coefficient of variation of the red cell volume distribution histogram and reported as a percent. Elevated RDW was defined as an RDW > 14.6%. The overall age-adjusted mean RDW increased progressively and significantly (P<.05) from 12.59% in 1999-2000 to 12.89% in 2011-2012. The overall age-adjusted prevalence of elevated RDW increased progressively and significantly (P<.05) from 4.01% in 1999-2000 to 6.25% in 2011-2012. Statistically significant increases over this time period also occurred among non-Hispanic White women, non-Hispanic Black men and women, and Mexican American men and women. Across all sex and race-ethnicity combinations, women, compared with men, had higher RDW and larger increases over time in mean and elevated RDW. Mean and elevated RDW has progressively increased from 1999-2012 among adults in the United States, with increases observed among non-Hispanic Whites, Blacks, and Mexican Americans. Future research is needed to describe the determinants and implications of this RDW rise, as well as explanations for why a greater RDW change has occurred among women.