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Beyond the question of access to abortion lie the mental health impacts in cases of restricted access

Equivalent risk before and after abortion

The developmental origins of disparities in common mental disorders

The Long-Arm of Conflict: How Timing Shapes the Long-term Impacts of Childhood Exposure to War

Rising mid-life mortality in the US: When did it start, and who is it affecting?

Journal article by Typhanye Dyer, Hongjie Liu, and others finds that stigma is associated with lower utilization of PrEP

Caryn Bell, African American Studies, examines the effects of macro-level structural racism on population health

Purpose:  We examined how substance use differed as a function of sex assigned at birth and gender identity (cisgender, transgender, or nonbinary/genderqueer) by type of substance. We sought to test whether current gender identity and sex assigned at birth were key factors in substance use among a large contemporary sample that included transgender and nonbinary/genderqueer adolescents. Methods:  We analyzed data from a large national U.S. sample of sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents (n = 11,129) collected between April and December 2017. Chi-square tests of independence were used to test whether substance use behaviors varied by sex assigned at birth and gender identity. A series of multivariate logistic regression models tested the odds of substance use by sex assigned at birth and gender identity, as well as the interaction between sex assigned at birth and gender identity. Results:  More than half of our sample reported lifetime alcohol use, and one-fourth of the sample reported lifetime marijuana use. Adolescents assigned male at birth had higher prevalence of substance use compared with adolescents assigned female at birth (AFAB). Multivariate models elucidated greater risk for most substance use outcomes for transgender adolescents compared with cisgender adolescents. We found significant interaction effects between gender identity and sex assigned at birth for recent alcohol use and lifetime and recent cigarette use among adolescents AFAB. Conclusions:  These findings have implications for stakeholders who develop nationally representative surveys, researchers who examine substance use disparities among SGM adolescents, and mental health professionals who treat underage substance use among vulnerable populations.

BACKGROUND: Substance use is prevalent and is associated with academic performance among adolescents. Few studies have examined the association between abstinence from all substances and academic achievement. METHODS: Data from a nationally representative sample of 9578 12th graders from the 2015 Monitoring the Future survey were analyzed to examine relationships between abstinence from substance use and 4 academic variables: skipping school, grades, academic self-efficacy, and emotional academic engagement. Participants were categorized as lifetime non-users, former users, and past-year users based on the use of 14 substances. RESULTS: Approximately one-fourth of participants had never used cigarettes, alcohol, or other drugs during their lifetime, and 8% wt  used at least one substance during their lifetime but not during the past year. Adjusting for demographic variables, past-year substance users had 2.71 greater odds of skipping school during the past month than lifetime non-users and 1.74 greater odds of having low grades. Lifetime non-users reported greater academic self-efficacy and emotional academic engagement than past-year users. CONCLUSIONS: Many 12th graders have abstained from all substance use during their lifetime, and these adolescents experience better academic outcomes than their substance-using peers. Substance use prevention programs should be evaluated as a way to promote academic achievement.

Guiteras, et al.