American journal of preventive medicine
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Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults report higher rates of smoking and alcohol use than heterosexual peers. Prior studies have not examined whether potential disparities in early initiation among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth may contribute to adult disparities. ⋯ A significant proportion of alcohol and smoking disparities among lesbian/gay and bisexual women in adulthood appear attributable to early initiation, indicating the need for enhanced early prevention efforts for these groups. Making routine adolescent screening for substance use, brief intervention, and referral to treatment more culturally sensitive to lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth may also be an important step in reducing adult disparities for lesbian, gay, and bisexual women.
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Obesity affects 15.7% of U.S. preschoolers, with higher rates among low-income and Spanish-speaking populations. Food, physical activity, and sleep parenting practices, referred to collectively as obesity-related parenting practices, are linked with children's risk of obesity and are a common target in family-based obesity interventions. Yet, there is no brief, validated measure of obesity-related parenting practices that is appropriate for use in intervention studies and for diverse audiences. This study tests the factorial validity of a brief measure of obesity-related parenting and measurement invariance of the English and Spanish versions of the scale, as well as among mothers and fathers. ⋯ This brief obesity-parenting scale demonstrates adequate factorial validity in English and Spanish and among mothers and fathers. This measure has been integrated into an intervention, and future work will test sensitivity to change.
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Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed in the U.S. but entail safety concerns, including dependency. In pediatrics, many indications lack trial data. Authors aimed to describe youth initiating prescription benzodiazepine treatment, identify potential indications and prescribing concerns, estimate the duration of treatment by potential indication, and identify factors that predict long-term use. ⋯ U.S. children and adolescents are prescribed benzodiazepines for various mental health and other medical conditions, many lacking evidence of pediatric efficacy. Long-term benzodiazepine treatment, concurrent opioid prescriptions, psychotropic use, and prior substance use disorder diagnoses suggest safety risks among some youth prescribed benzodiazepines.
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The purpose of the study is to investigate how community-based organizations perceive Medicaid policy changes to address the social determinants of health. ⋯ This article is part of a supplement entitled Identifying and Intervening on Social Needs in Clinical Settings: Evidence and Evidence Gaps, which is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kaiser Permanente, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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The body of research on social determinants of health is rapidly accumulating. The U. S. ⋯ SUPPLEMENT INFORMATION: This article is part of a supplement entitled Identifying and Intervening on Social Needs in Clinical Settings: Evidence and Evidence Gaps, which is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kaiser Permanente, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.