California Students Research Articles

Towards a Geography of trauma: From El plan spiritual de Aztlán to the Birth of Chicana Spìritual Feminism

The paper explores the unbreakable link between Chicana literature and its political/ ideological/militant/subversive component, based on a new interpretation of “cultural nationalism.” Explaining the sociopolitical motivations that led to the California student revolts of the 1960s and the Chicana Movement’s Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, I also discuss the ensuing falling-out between the feminine/feminist faction of the Movement and its androcentric majority. I draw on the formal/conceptual/linguistic hybridity of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera as a metaphor for the radical character of the entire Chicana literary phenomenon.

Hookah and Electronic Inhalant Device Use and Perceptions Among African American Youth and Young Adults: Are We Asking the Right Questions?

Objectives. Survey items used in surveillance systems to assess the use of emerging products like hookah and electronic inhalant devices (EIDs) may not match definitions used by high-risk populations. This qualitative study explored how African American youth and young adults (YYAs) (1) use hookah and EIDs and (2) identify patterns in the ways they describe and organize these products. Design. Individual in-person interviews were conducted among a sample of continuation high school and vocational school students in southern California. Participation was limited to those who had ever tried at least one tobacco product, self-identified as African American, and were between the ages of 14 and 26 years (n = 28). We conducted a content analysis to identify patterns in perceptions and use of these products. Results. African American YYAs recognized and described traditional hookah based on physical attributes, but for EIDs, including e-cigarettes, e-hookah, and vape pens, YYAs focused on reasons for using the product. Three primary categories emerged for reasons YYA used specific products: nicotine content and quitting, social facilitation, and use with marijuana. E-cigarettes were identified as quitting aids and as having nicotine but were not considered addictive. The term hookah recalled both the traditional and electronic pen-type products for YYAs. The terms vapes, hookah, wax pens, and others are used in the context of describing product use with marijuana. Conclusions. A better understanding of why African American YYAs use these products is needed to develop better measures for accurate rates of use, uncover differences in use between product types, and to develop effective prevention messaging.

Community Cultural Wealth Pedagogies: Cultivating Autoethnographic Counternarratives and Migration Capital

Pedagogies employing critical traditions have increasingly been used to ameliorate achievement disparities and centralize issues of power in the education of Students of Color. In this study, I trace a teacher’s journey—new to critical pedagogies—as she learned about community cultural wealth and incorporated family histories as counterstorytelling curricula with her sixth-grade class of immigrant students in California’s Central Valley. I examine the pedagogical implementation with examples of students’ meaning making. The teacher and students demonstrated what I am advancing as migration capital—or knowledges, sensibilities, and skills cultivated through the array of migration/immigration experiences to the United States or its borderlands. This study highlights the potential of community cultural wealth pedagogies and as pedagogical tools to counter deficit narratives with Latina/o immigrant youth.

Retail outlets prompt associative memories linked to the repeated use of nicotine and tobacco products among alternative high school students in California

Numerous studies have examined how youth are influenced by the presence of tobacco retail outlets that use point-of-sale marketing tactics to promote nicotine and tobacco products. The current investigation extends this research by assessing whether tobacco retail outlets function as environmental cues that prompt associative memories linked to the repeated use of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, and cigars. Students (N = 1060) from 29 alternative high schools in California were recruited into a three-year cohort study. A repeated measures latent profile analysis was conducted to identify latent subgroups of students. Analyses suggested the presence of one subgroup of students that did not use nicotine and tobacco products and five subgroups of students that used multiple products. A multinomial logistic regression revealed that images of gas stations, convenience stores, and liquor stores presented in the first year of the study prompted spontaneous associations in memory that increased the odds a student would belong to one of the five subgroups that repeatedly used nicotine and tobacco products over a three-year period. These findings suggest that tobacco retail outlets may act as environmental cues that prompt the use of addictive products among at-risk youth. Policymakers should consider implementing strategies that reduce the potency and prevalence of these cues.

Nested, Place and Relational Multiple Social Identities among Latinx and White College Students in California, USA

Nested, Place and Relational Multiple Social Identities among Latinx and White College Students in California, USA

Offers of Cigarettes and E-Cigarettes Among High School Students: A Population Study from California.

Receiving offers of cigarettes or e-cigarettes can contribute to the progression from intention to actual use. However, there is a lack of data about the prevalence or characteristics of youth being offered cigarettes or e-cigarettes. A random sample of 91 high schools in the state of California (with 40,137 students) participated in the 2015–16 California Student Tobacco Survey. Offers of cigarettes and e-cigarettes in the last 30 days were assessed. Separate multilevel logistical regression models identified student characteristics associated with being offered cigarettes and e-cigarettes. On average, 11.1% and 16.1% of all students reported being offered cigarettes and e-cigarettes in the last 30 days, respectively. Among those who received offers of cigarettes, 45.5% were never smokers. Among those who received offers of e-cigarettes, 29.6% were never vapers. Male students were more likely to report being offered an e-cigarette than female students (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.13), as were students with friends that used e-cigarettes (AOR 5.14–23.31) and those with high sensation seeking tendencies (AOR 1.33). Similar characteristics were associated with offers of cigarettes. Including measures of offers of cigarettes and e-cigarettes in surveillance systems could help identify those at risk of future cigarette and e-cigarette use.

Youth tobacco use in Latin America: What is the real extent of the problem?

IntroductionCigarette consumption among teenagers is one of the most critical health-related risk behaviors. MethodProspective study carried out in seven sites of five Latin American countries (Argentina [Cordoba, N=958, Corrientes, N=1013], Brazil [Curitiba, N=650; Uruguaiana, N=997], Cuba [Havana, N=1004], Mexico [Veracruz, N=991] and Paraguay [Ciudad del Este, N=868]) with public-school adolescents (aged 12–19 years). Respondents were asked to answer the California Student Tobacco Survey. Results6550 adolescents took part in the survey (average age: 14 years). 38.5% (N=2517) “tried smoking” and 37.5% started smoking before the age of 12. Sixty-one percent of adolescents think that cigarettes are easily accessible; 41.7% considered that smokers have more friends; 88% indicated knowledge of the harms of smoking one to five cigarettes per day; 58.9% would smoke new cigarette types with less harmful substances; 27.8% have already used e-cigarettes; 28% have smoked hookah. Fifty-seven point five percent have been, in the past seven days, in the same room with someone who was smoking a cigarette; and 30.5% indicated that there were not any no-smoking rules inside their homes. Identifiable risk factors were (logistic regression analysis): smoking cigarettes offered by friends, smoking cigarettes with less harmful substances, knowing what a hookah is, being in the same room with a smoker in the past week. Identifiable protective factors against tobacco use were: knowing the health risks caused by smoking hookah and to have their own room. ConclusionYouth tobacco use in Latin America is a major public health concern, and tobacco control measures are highly needed.

College Readiness for English Language Learners (ELLs) in California: Assessing Equity for ELLs under the Local Control Funding Formula

ABSTRACTEnglish Learners (ELs) represent critical mass of K-12 students in public schools across the nation. However, states have failed to improve EL student academic outcomes, including college readiness. In 2013, California altered its school funding policy, providing additional support for English learners. Drawing on Vertical Equity and a Critical Community Strength Framework, this study examines the impact of local funding on college readiness among EL students by analyzing accountability plans and secondary data of 13 districts and assessing reforms using markers of college readiness. Document analysis shows: 1) school districts’ prioritization, 2) resource allocation based on those priorities, and 3) different approaches to operationalizing the construct of equity. Secondary data analysis reveals EL students lagged behind peers in performance on state assessments and enrollment in college preparatory and Advanced Placement varied across districts. These data confirm the critical need for intervention and targeted investment to raise overall college readiness rates among EL students in California and have national implications for states with growing Latino and EL student populations.

Service-Learning as a Catalyst for Community Change: An Empirical Examination Measuring the Benefits of a Life Skills Curriculum in Local At-Risk High Schools

This research attempts to measure the impact of service-learning on community recipients – at-risk high school students in urban Southern California. The service-learning project, an integrative, six-week assignment, involves upper-division business majors delivering the Options: Business Education and Life Skills curriculum to at-risk students in two local alternative education high schools. In addition to delivering business education and life skills, a critical design component of the curriculum is the opportunity for college students to be role models and provide mentoring guidance to at-risk high school students. This study used surveys to gather data on student perceptions of four constructs: (1) strengths and values, (2) school and work-related skills, (3) business etiquette and resume building, and (4) future life and career planning. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to gauge differences in perception during the six-week service-learning project. Results indicated positive effects of the service-learning curriculum overall. Further, the data revealed statistically significant results with particularly noteworthy outcomes in the planning for the future and preparing for the world of work responses.

Stress, stressors, and academic performance among Asian students in Central California

Stressors such as balancing school, work, and family life are common among college students.Asian and Asian American students may experience additional stressors including communication andlanguage, high expectations for academic excellence, and mental health concerns such as depression, alien-ation and discrimination. Therefore, Asian students may be susceptible to risky behaviors such as substanceabuse and suicide ideation. This investigation was conducted to assess stress among Asian and AsianAmerican students in relation to factors such as test anxiety, academic performance, financial difficul-ties, social support, family pressures, culture shock, and language barriers. The East Asian Student StressInventory (EASSI) instrument was administered to university students who identified themselves as Asianvia email at a mid-sized university in central California. Findings from a sample of 292 undergraduateand graduate students indicated that students experience stress from test anxiety, academic performance,financial difficulties, and social support.

Interrupting the Cycle of Worrying: Financial Implications of the California DREAM Act in the Lives of Undocumented College Students

Undocumented students are barred from accessing financial aid and face enormous obstacles in completing college (Gonzales, 2009). However, in 2011, California passed the California DREAM Act that granted undocumented students access to state financial aid (California Student Aid Commission, 2016). The purpose of this study was to examine the financial implications of accessing state financial aid on undocumented students' lives through the analysis of 18 in-depth interviews with undocumented undergraduates attending a California four-year public institution. Results revealed that the CA DREAM Act significantly relieved the financial burdens associated with tuition and promoted undocumented students' ability to continue their postsecondary education.

Evaluation of the Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program in California.

Background and aimsThe California Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program promotes the use of evidence-based tobacco-specific prevention and cessation programs for adolescents within the school setting. Through a competitive grant process, schools are funded to provide programs for grades 6–12. This research evaluates the association between TUPE funding and tobacco prevention activities and tobacco use prevalence.MethodsThis study utilized two data sources: (1) 2016 California Educator Tobacco Survey (CETS), and (2) 2015–2016 California Student Tobacco Survey (CSTS). The CETS collected data from educators about school prevention efforts, priority of tobacco prevention, and confidence in addressing tobacco issues with students. A total of 3,564 educators from 590 schools participated in CETS. The CSTS collected data from 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in California on their exposure to, attitudes about, and utilization of tobacco products. A total of 47,981 students from 117 schools participated in CSTS.ResultsThis study found that TUPE-funded schools were more likely to provide tobacco-specific health education programs, to place a priority on tobacco-prevention efforts, and to prepare educators to address tobacco use than non-TUPE schools. Educators at both types of schools felt better prepared to talk with students about traditional tobacco products than about emerging products such as e-cigarettes. Overall, students at TUPE-funded schools were more likely to report receiving anti-tobacco messages from school-based programs than those at non-TUPE schools. The former were also less likely to use tobacco products, even when the analysis controlled for demographics and school-level characteristics (OR = 0.82 [95% CI = 0.70–0.96]).ConclusionsTUPE funding was associated with an increase in schools’ tobacco-specific prevention activities and these enhanced activities were associated with lower tobacco use among students. This study also found that education and prevention efforts regarding emerging tobacco products need to be strengthened across all schools.

African American students’ college choice processes in a post 209 era

High-achieving African American students in California are not attending University of California (UC) campuses. Due to hyper-implementations of Proposition 209, which limited UC campuses’ ability to use race as a significant admission criteria, the UC system and individual UC campus policies have scaled back their efforts to recruit high-achieving African American students from California. This article presents findings from the qualitative portion (n = 74) of a convergent mixed-method study of over 700 African American college-going students. Findings convey the critical role that access, outreach, diversity, and climate plays in the college choice process of African American high achievers. Drawing upon higher education and critical race literature, the findings further reveal the challenges and opportunities for states and elite universities in retaining its brightest students from diverse backgrounds. This research also conveys the potential of research to inform state, systemic, and institutional policies to increase access to selective public universities.

Impact of a Shared Tobacco Cessation Curriculum in California Schools of Pharmacy

Purpose: To characterize the long-term impact of a shared, evidence-based tobacco cessation curriculum (Rx for Change) on tobacco-related education in California schools of pharmacy (n=8). Methods: Faculty members responsible for teaching tobacco-related content completed a survey assessing implementation of tobacco education, curricular time devoted to tobacco, and teaching and assessment methods utilized. Using historical data, the total number of students trained since 2000 was estimated. Results: All schools utilized the shared curriculum, and in 2012–2013, a median of 435 minutes (range: 240–600 minutes) was devoted to tobacco-related content within required curricula. Between 2000 and 2013, an estimated 10,616 pharmacy students in California received Rx for Change training. Conclusion: After more than a decade, a shared tobacco cessation curriculum continues to be widely utilized and provides a strong foundation for legislative efforts to enhance pharmacists' scope of practice related to prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation.

Medical Marijuana Availability, Price, and Product Variety, and Adolescents' Marijuana Use

PurposeWe aimed to examine the availability of medical marijuana dispensaries, price of medical marijuana products, and variety of medical marijuana products in school neighborhoods and their associations with adolescents' use of marijuana and susceptibility to use marijuana in the future. MethodsA representative sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders (N = 46,646) from 117 randomly selected schools in California participated in the cross-sectional 2015–2016 California Student Tobacco Survey (CSTS). Characteristics of medical marijuana dispensaries in California were collected and combined with school locations to compute availability, price, and product variety of medical marijuana in school neighborhoods. Multilevel logistic regressions with random intercepts at school level were conducted to test the associations, accounting for individual and school socioeconomic characteristics. ResultsThe distance from school to the nearest medical marijuana dispensary (within 0- to 1-mi and 1- to 3-mi bands) was not associated with adolescents' use of marijuana in the past month or susceptibility to use marijuana in the future, nor was the weighted count of medical marijuana dispensaries within the 3-mi band of school. Neither the product price nor the product variety in the dispensary nearest to school was associated with marijuana use or susceptibility to use. The results were robust to different specifications of medical marijuana measures. ConclusionsThere was no evidence supporting the associations of medical marijuana availability, price, or product variety around school with adolescents' marijuana use and susceptibility to use.

No food for thought: Food insecurity is related to poor mental health and lower academic performance among students in California's public university system.

This study examined the relationships between food insecurity, mental health, and academic performance among college students in a California public university system (N = 8705). Structural equation modeling was performed to examine a direct path from food insecurity to student grade point average and an indirect path through mental health, controlling for demographic characteristics. Food insecurity was related to lower student grade point average directly and indirectly through poor mental health. These findings support the need for future interventions and policy on the importance of providing students with the basic needs to succeed both academically and in the future.

Safe Schools? Transgender Youth's School Experiences and Perceptions of School Climate.

The magnitude of gender identity-related disparities in school-based outcomes is unknown because of a lack of representative studies that include measures of gender identity. By utilizing a representative sample generalizable to a broader population, this study elucidates the size of gender identity-related disparities, independent of sexual orientation, in school experiences associated with school connectedness and perceptions of school climate. Additionally, the inclusion of and comparison to results of a large non-representative sample allows for more direct comparisons to previous studies of the school experiences of transgender youth. The analyses in this study primarily draw on a sample of 31,896 youth representative of the middle and high school population in California who participated in the 2013-2015 California Student Survey (a subsample of the California Healthy Kids Survey, which includes the largest known sample of transgender youth). Over half the sample identified their sex as female (51.3%), and 398 identified as transgender (1.0%). The sample was racially and ethnically diverse: 30.7% identified as multiracial, 33.0% as White, 11.1% as Asian, 7.4% as Black, and 52.9% as Hispanic. Findings from multilevel analyses show that relative to non-transgender youth, transgender youth were more likely to be truant from school, to experience victimization and bias-based bullying, and to report more negative perceptions of school climate, though did not differ in self-reported grades. The findings have implications for improving school policies and practices to create safer and more supportive school climates for all youth.

Evaluating the capacity of California's publicly funded universities to provide medication abortion

ObjectiveTo explore capacity of University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) student health centers (SHCs) to provide medication abortion (MA) and SHC staff perspectives on providing MA. Study designSHC staff completed an online survey; we conducted site visits and conference calls with a subset of SHCs. The survey focused on barriers to abortion, resources needed for MA, and potential benefits and challenges. Results11 UCs (100%) and 20 CSUs (87%) completed surveys. All facilities provided basic primary care, including sexual and reproductive health services and some contraceptive services, but not abortion. All sites had adequate staffing and physical plant, but most would require training, access to ultrasound when needed, 24-hour hotlines (CSUs), and back-up care to provide MA. ConclusionIt would be feasible to provide MA at SHCs, but investment is needed to support staff training, equipment, 24-hour hotlines, back-up care, and minimal security upgrades, in order to implement MA services. ImplicationsIf SB320 is passed, provision of MA services at student health centers could improve access to early abortion for students in California. This model may be scaled up at other universities around the country.

Racial Disparities in Autism Identification in the United States During 2014

The underidentification of students with autism is a well-documented phenomenon that implies minority children are less likely to receive autism-specific interventions and services vital for better outcomes. Previous research has found that minority children are less likely to be identified as having autism, but recent changes in federal reporting from five to seven racial categories warrant further investigation of minority underidentification in the autism category. This logistic regression analysis of autism count data was conducted to examine differences in identification according to seven racial reporting categories. We calculated the probability of autism identification for each racial group and tested odds ratios for significant differences within each state and Washington, DC. We also compared odds of autism identification for each racial group in each state to the odds of identification for White students in California. Within-state analyses indicated minority students in most states continue to be identified at rates significantly lower than their White counterparts. Between-state analyses revealed White students and minority students in most states were underidentified compared to White students with autism in California. The change to seven racial reporting categories appears to have clarified the extent to which minority students are underidentified in the autism category, which may mean minority students experience restricted access to evidence-based interventions and services for students with autism.

A School-Based Multilevel Study of Adolescent Suicide Ideation in California High Schools

To assess the between-school variation in suicide ideation and to estimate the contribution of school-level attributes, student-level characteristics, and 2 cross-level interactions (school by student) to student suicide ideation. A secondary analysis of the California Healthy Kids Survey in 2 large and representative samples of California high schools and students: 2009-2011 and 2011-2013. This is a population sample of all public high school students (grades 9 and 11) in California. Analyses were first conducted on surveys administered in the 2011-2013 academic years to 790 schools with 345 203 students and replicated on surveys administered in 2009-2011 to 860 schools with 406 313 students. School-level suicide ideation rates ranged between 4% and 67%, with a median of 19.3% and mean of 20.0% (SD, 5.7%). Student suicide ideation was explained by student-level characteristics (R2 = .20) and to a larger extent by school-level attributes (R2 = .55). Student-level characteristics predictive of suicide ideation included, sex, ethnic and racial affiliation, victimization, and perceptions of school climate. In both samples, school size and average level of academic achievement were not associated with rates of school suicide ideation. Schools with a larger number of girls and higher levels of victimization had higher rates of suicide ideation in both samples. The hypotheses regarding cross-level interactions were not confirmed. Differences among schools in student suicide ideation are meaningful. The findings suggest an emphasis on the role of schools in prevention programs, public health campaigns to reduce suicide, multilevel research, and theory development.