Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html

January 15, 2010

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Special Notice: The National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA), a collaborative of representatives from community, faith-based, and non-profit organizations; academic institutions; foundations; and federal, state, and local agencies initiated by the U.S. Office of Minority Health, has announced a public comment period on the National Plan for Action, which captures the status of health disparities in the United States and proposes strategies for their elimination. The plan will be available for public comment until February 12, 2010. The Web site provides visitors with an opportunity to comment on individual chapters or on the report overall. Comments will be used for development of the final plan. More information is available from the Office of Minority Health's Web site at http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/npa/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=1&lvlID=31

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1. FIRST NATIONAL SURVEY OF YOUTH IN CUSTODY PROVIDES ESTIMATES OF SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION IN JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-2009 provides national and facility-based estimates of sexual victimization in juvenile correctional facilities. The special report presents findings from the first National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, by Westat, under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The NSYC represents approximately 26,550 adjudicated youth (91 percent male, 9 percent female) held nationwide in 166 state-owned or state-operated facilities and 29 large locally or privately operated facilities. Topics include juvenile facilities' rates of sexual victimization, the prevalence of sexual victimization, the experiences of victims of sexual victimization, and the circumstances surrounding sexual victimization. Information about the survey methodology, including survey items, is provided. Tables in the appendices contain data on the characteristics of participating juvenile facilities, youth reporting sexual victimization by another youth, and youth reporting staff sexual misconduct. The report is available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svjfry09.pdf

• Life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, and late-onset delinquency, in comparison to the referent group, was not associated with STIs.
• For males and females, life-course-persistent delinquency was associated with increased instances of paying or being paid for sex, increased chance of having sex with someone taking drugs, and increased number of sex partners.
• For females, adolescence-limited delinquency was also associated with increased number of sexual partners, and for males, late-onset delinquency was also associated with increased number of sexual partners.
• For both males and females, life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, and late-onset delinquency was not associated with condom use.

• During the 3 years of program implementation, women in the intervention group reported lower incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of maternal IPV victimization and significantly lower rates of maternal IPV perpetration compared with women in the control group. Women in the intervention group showed significantly lower IRRs of physical assault victimization and perpetration.
• Over long-term follow-up, there were small decreases in the overall IRRs of maternal IPV victimization and perpetration. The IRRs were lower for the intervention vs. the control group for physical abuse, sexual abuse, and injury but were higher for verbal victimization and perpetration.

• Twenty-nine caregivers (27.9 percent) indicated that their child had asthma.
• Nearly half (48.3 percent) of all children in the asthma group had visited an ED in the past year, and 27.6 percent of children in the asthma group had used the ED because of asthma. Asthma was the most common reason for all ED visits among these children (64.7 percent).
• Asthma status was not related to current cognitive function.
• Children with asthma had higher attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, according to parent reports.
• The multivariate model suggested that children with asthma were higher in externalizing symptoms (inattention/hyperactivity and behavior problems). Univariate models revealed that children with asthma were marginally higher in externalizing symptom for both parent-report and teacher-report measures.
• Children with asthma had lower levels in teacher-rated academic functioning, controlling for gender and age.

• Externalizing behavior problems (aggressive and destructive behavior) at age 5 were not predicted by children's cognitive or adaptive skills or by family poverty; however, unmarried mothers and families experiencing greater numbers of stressful events reported more child-externalizing behavior problems.
• Children of mothers who reported a more positive family climate at the termination of early intervention exhibited fewer externalizing behavior problems at age 5.
• Internalizing behavior problems at age 5 were predicted by the children's cognitive and adaptive scores, with higher scores predicting fewer internalizing problems.
• Family poverty and marital status did not add significantly to predicting internalizing behavior problems in children.
• Stressful life events in the family added significant variance, as greater numbers of life events predicted more internalizing problems in children.
• The family climate added significantly over and above the other predictors. Mothers who reported a more positive family climate at the end of early intervention had children who exhibited fewer internalizing behavior problems at age 5.