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Biomedical subjects

Kevin M Fitzpatrick

Publications and source records attributed to Kevin M Fitzpatrick.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Not just pushing and shoving: school bullying among African American adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of bullying among a sample of African American adolescents and the risk factors associated with odds that a student engages in bullying behavior. METHODS: Using a self-report school-based survey, 1542 African American adolescents from a single school district (grades 5-12) living in a midsized, Southern metropolitan region, were asked questions regarding bullying behavior and risk behaviors. A response rate of nearly 80% was obtained. RESULTS: Our results indicate that bullying behavior was higher among this group of African American adolescents than reported for other general student populations (8-12%). In addition, age, family violence, negative peer relationships, and behavioral risks all contributed to increased odds of students reporting bullying behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the importance of intervention at an early age. Whether the intervention is in a formal or nonformal setting, specialists along with teachers, parents, and siblings need to begin a multipronged approach (data collection, training/education of school personnel, curriculum development, etc) to address the causes and consequences of bullying among adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Socioeconomic status, psychosocial health and health behaviours among Hungarian adolescents.

BACKGROUND: While socioeconomic differences in health, morbidity, and disability are highest among middle-aged persons, there is a certain level of 'equalization' during adolescence and young adulthood. Despite this equalization, however, there still are differences in psychosocial variables or health-related behaviours, often very subtle and sometimes difficult to measure. METHODS: Using data (n = 1114) on high school students (aged between 14 and 21 years) from the Southern Plain Region, Hungary, the present study looks at the role of multiple SES indicators (objective and subjective; occupation and education; family structure) in adolescents' psychosocial health (self-perceived health, psychosomatic, and depressive symptomatology) and health behaviour (substance use and sports activity). RESULTS: Based on the results of multivariate logistic regression analyses, findings suggest the following: (i) SES self-assessment proved to be a significant predictor of adolescents' psychosocial health and health behaviours; (ii) family structure (that is, living in a non-intact family) also significantly influenced adolescents' psychosocial health and health behaviours; (iii) parents' employment status and schooling had a limited influence on their children's health outcomes; (iv) in a word, SES gradients in adolescents' psychosocial health and health behaviour were inconsistent and sometimes irregular (that is, inverse). The subjective SES measurement plays an important role (positive association), whereas certain types of parents' inactive status (in terms of labour market, that is, unemployment or retirement) seem to act in a predictable way (negative association). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that despite certain level of equalization during adolescence, some important relationships between SES variables and health outcomes may occur.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Violence and minority youth: the effects of risk and asset factors on fighting among African American children and adolescents.

This cross-sectional study examined risk and asset factors thought to be associated with fighting among a sample of 1,642 African American children and adolescents in a central Alabama school district. Results show that poor grades, parental abuse, and gang affiliation were significant risk factors associated with higher frequency of fighting. Results also show that parental monitoring and being happy at school were associated with lower frequency of fighting, suggesting the importance of continued support for outreach to parents and further efforts to reduce or eliminate the community factors that promote proliferation of gangs. Programs, either for an entire community or a school system within a community, must be sensitive to the specific risks, assets, and outcomes of that environment so that prevention and intervention are sensitive to cultural, environmental, and demographic distinctions in target populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

A risk and protective factors framework for understanding youth's externalizing problem behavior in two different cultural settings.

OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the study was to analyze youth's externalizing problem behaviors based on a risk and protective factors framework in two different cultural settings. METHOD: Data were collected among secondary school students in Szeged, Hungary (N=1240) and in Birmingham, AL, USA (N=1538). The self-administered questionnaires contained items on youth's externalizing problem behaviors as well as risk and protective factors. RESULTS: In both samples, first year students in secondary (high) schools and boys reported greater levels of problem behaviors. Multiple regression analyses revealed that substance use, gang membership and low academic achievement were consistent risk factors and associated with higher reporting levels of problem behaviors in both cultures. Parental monitoring served as an important protective factor in both samples, while school protective factors were only significant for American students. CONCLUSION: Findings draw attention to similar structures of certain risk and protective factors of youth's externalizing problem behaviors in different cultural settings. While there are universal risk factors (e. g., substance use, gang membership and low academic achievement), parental monitoring seems to be a universal protective factor against youth's externalizing problem behavior. An important difference is that the school domain seems to act as more important protection for American youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Depressive symptomatology, exposure to violence, and the role of social capital among African American adolescents.

Focusing on the role of capital as both personal and social resources for adolescents, the authors examined depressive symptomatology among a sample of 10- to 18-year-old African American youths (N=1,538). In addition to gender and age differences, adolescents exposed to threatening environments (school, neighborhood, home) reported more depressive symptoms. Social capital had a significant inverse relationship with adolescent depression; self-esteem and a social capital index were negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, the interaction effects of gender with social capital, age with self-esteem, and age with grades were significant, indicating the presence of a buffering effect. These findings suggest the importance of interrelationships among violence exposure, capital, and well-being for adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Substance use, religiosity, and other protective factors among Hungarian adolescents.

A number of risk factors have emerged as important correlates of adolescent substance use. In addition, research continues to focus on which factors act as mediators protecting adolescents from negative outcomes. One of these protective factors is religiosity, and the focus of this paper is to examine its role in the life of adolescents in postsocialist Hungary, where active religious participation was highly discouraged until a decade ago. The sample of adolescents (N=1240) consists of middle and high school students living in Szeged, Hungary. The calculated odds ratios for the relationship between religiosity, and other protective factors, and substance use revealed that smoking, drinking, and marijuana use among boys and marijuana use only among girls were related to religiosity. Group membership, for example, participation in school clubs, sports clubs, or religious groups, seems to be more important for boys compared with girls. A more careful examination of the protective role of religion in postsocialist Hungary could be extremely important in a country where both adult and adolescent smoking and alcohol use is among the highest in Europe.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Psychosocial correlates of substance use behaviors among African American youth.

Cross-sectional data were collected on substance use behaviors and potential correlates in 1,494 African American students enrolled in grades 5-12 in eight schools in a central Alabama school district. Using a risk and asset framework, self-reported recent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were analyzed by identifying and measuring levels of influence, including individual, family, and school. For alcohol and marijuana use, recurrent risk factors were age, being hit by a parent, affiliation with gangs, and a tolerant attitude of peers toward drug use. For cigarette use, risk factors were peer-oriented: associations with gangs or cohorts holding lenient attitudes about substance use. For all substances, salient asset factors were academic achievement and parental monitoring. Findings suggest that efforts to reduce substance use behaviors should be directed at adolescents in terms of academic achievement and grade level as well as their social environments. For the latter, peer/family risks and family/school assets should be the foci for programs to minimize the short- and long-term consequences of these behaviors. Hence, the emphasis should be placed on modeling attitudes, preventing gang and family violence, encouraging parental supervision, and building positive teacher-student interactions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Depressive symptomatology among Hungarian youth: a risk and protective factors approach.

Psychosocial risk and protective factors were examined to assess their influence on depressive symptomatology in a sample of Hungarian youth. Self-esteem and being happy with school were significant protective factors; older girls (ages 16-20) reported the highest depression scores, and these scores varied significantly by self-reported problem behavior. These findings are discussed in the context of their clinical and practical implications for understanding depressive symptomatology in this understudied population of Eastern European youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Factors associated with health-compromising behavior among the homeless.

This exploratory study examined a set of sociodemographic, risk, and protective factors associated with health-compromising behavior among the homeless. One hundred and sixty-one homeless adults living in a midsize, southern metropolitan area were surveyed. Information was collected using structured in-depth interviews that assessed residential and event histories, life circumstances, mental and physical health symptoms, and health-related risk behaviors (drug and alcohol use, risky sexual practices, sleeping outdoors, aggressive behavior, and weapon possession). Descriptive results showed differences in health-compromising behavior for ascribed characteristics such as age, race, and gender. Younger people, nonwhites, and men took more risks. Multivariate results indicated that while sociodemographic risk factors were important predictors of health-compromising behavior for people who are homeless, other variables, including childhood memories, victimization, and local nativism, were also significant. The implications of these findings are explored in the larger context of a social policy framework.

Adult↗