UA cloudflare authentication

Browsing by Author "Byck, Gayle R."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Genes involved in stress response and alcohol use among high-risk African American youth
    (Routledge, 2016) Goyal, Neeru; Aliev, Fazil; Latendresse, Shawn J.; Kertes, Darlene A.; Bolland, John M.; Byck, Gayle R.; Mustanski, Brian; Salvatore, Jessica E.; Dick, Danielle M.; Virginia Commonwealth University; Baylor University; University of Florida; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine
    Background: Genetic and environmental factors influence substance use behaviors in youth. One of the known environmental risk factors is exposure to life stressors. The aim of this project is to study the interaction between NR3C1 and CRHBP, genes thought to be involved in stress pathways, exposure to stressful life events, and adolescent alcohol use/misuse. Methods: The sample included 541 African American individuals (ages 13-18) from the Genes, Environment, and Neighborhood Initiative, a subset of the Mobile Youth Survey sample from whom DNA and more extensive phenotypic data were collected. Participants were selected from high-poverty neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama, with potential exposure to a variety of extreme life stressors. Results: A measure of stressful life events was significantly predictive of alcohol use/misuse. In addition, this association was significantly dependent upon the number of putative risk variants at rs1715749, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in CRHBP (P .006). There was no significant interaction between NR3C1 and stressful life events with respect to alcohol use/misuse, after taking into account multiple testing. Conclusions: These findings suggest that CRHBP variants are potentially relevant for adolescent alcohol use/misuse among African American youth populations being reared within the context of stressful life events and warrant replication.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    HIV Information and Behavioral Skills Moderate the Effects of Relationship Type and Substance Use on HIV Risk Behaviors Among African American Youth
    (Mary Ann Liebert, 2013) Mustanski, Brian; Byck, Gayle R.; Newcomb, Michael E.; Henry, David; Bolland, John; Dick, Danielle; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Virginia Commonwealth University
    The HIV/AIDS epidemic is disproportionately impacting young African Americans. Efforts to understand and address risk factors for unprotected sex in this population are critical in improving prevention efforts. Situational risk factors, such as relationship type and substance use before sex, are in need of further study. This study explored how established cognitive predictors of risky sexual behavior moderated the association between situational factors and unprotected sex among low-income, African American adolescents. The largest main effect on the number of unprotected sex acts was classifying the relationship as serious (event rate ratio = 10.18); other significant main effects were alcohol use before sex, participant age, behavioral skills, and level of motivation. HIV information moderated the effect of partner age difference, motivation moderated the effects of partner age difference and drug use before sex, and behavioral skills moderated the effects of alcohol and drug use before sex. This novel, partnership-level approach provides insight into the complex interactions of situational and cognitive factors in sexual risk taking.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Prevalence of mental health disorders among low-income African American adolescents
    (Springer, 2013) Byck, Gayle R.; Bolland, John; Dick, Danielle; Ashbeck, Alan W.; Mustanski, Brian S.; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Virginia Commonwealth University
    Data on the prevalence of mental health disorders for low-income, urban African American adolescents are scarce. This study presents data about the burden of mental disorders for this understudied population. Mental disorders were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (C-DISC), Youth Self-Report (YSR), and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) among a sample of adolescents and their caregivers from very impoverished neighborhoods in a Southern city. Based on the C-DISC, 3.8, 5.1 and 7.7 % of adolescents met diagnostic criteria for major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and conduct disorder, respectively. There were significant differences among some of the mental health disorders based on adolescent and caregiver characteristics such as sex, school status, caregiver work status, and income level. We found a low prevalence of alcohol, marijuana, and substance abuse and dependence disorders. Information about the prevalence of mental health disorders in specific communities and populations can assist in addressing unmet needs, planning for services and treatment, and reducing health disparities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Sensation Seeking Predicting Growth in Adolescent Problem Behaviors
    (Springer, 2015) Byck, Gayle R.; Swann, Gregory; Schalet, Benjamin; Bolland, John; Mustanski, Brian; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    There is limited literature on the relationship between sensation seeking and adolescent risk behaviors, particularly among African Americans. We tested the association between psychometrically-derived subscales of the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale and the intercepts and slopes of individual growth curves of conduct problems, sexual risk taking, and substance use from ages 13 to 18 years by sex. Boys and girls had different associations between sensation seeking and baseline levels and growth of risk behaviors. The Pleasure Seeking scale was associated with baseline levels of conduct problems in boys and girls, baseline substance use in boys, and growth in sexual risk taking and substance use by girls. Girls had the same pattern of associations with the Danger/Novelty scale as the Pleasure Seeking scale. Knowledge about the relationships between adolescent risk taking and sensation seeking can help in the targeted design of prevention and intervention programs for the understudied population of very low-income, African American adolescents.