Publications (3)4.64 Total impact
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Article: Family and neighborhood fit or misfit and the adaptation of Mexican Americans.
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ABSTRACT: In this study, a person-environment fit model was used to understand the independent and combined roles of family and neighborhood characteristics on the adjustment of adults and children in a sample of 750 Mexican American families. Latent class analysis was used to identify six qualitatively distinct family types and three quantitatively distinct neighborhood types using socioeconomic and cultural indicators at each level. The results showed that members of single-parent Mexican American families may be particularly at-risk, members of the lowest-income immigrant families reported fewer adaptation problems if they lived in low-income neighborhoods dominated by immigrants, members of economically successful immigrant families may be more at-risk in integrated middle class neighborhoods than in low-income neighborhoods dominated by immigrants, and members of two-parent immigrant families appear to be rather resilient in most settings despite their low socioeconomic status.American Journal of Community Psychology 07/2009; 44(1-2):15-27. · 1.74 Impact Factor -
Article: Substance use treatment outcomes in a sample of male serious juvenile offenders.
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ABSTRACT: This study examined drug-treatment-related reductions in alcohol and marijuana use, cigarette smoking, and nondrug offending among male adolescents who had been adjudicated of a serious (almost exclusively felony) offense. Results indicated that the "real-world" drug treatments that these adolescents experienced had significant effects on substance use, which could not be explained solely by incarceration in controlled environments. However, effects on cigarette smoking and criminal offending were found only for treatments that included family involvement. Results suggest that involving families in adolescents' treatment may be useful for promoting desistence from criminal offending in this population.Journal of substance abuse treatment 03/2009; 36(2):183-94. · 2.90 Impact Factor -
Article: Does adolescent alcohol and marijuana use predict suppressed growth in psychosocial maturity among male juvenile offenders?
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ABSTRACT: Multiple theories suggest mechanisms by which the use of alcohol and drugs during adolescence could dampen growth in psychosocial maturity. However, scant empirical evidence exists to support this proposition. The current study tested whether alcohol and marijuana use predicted suppressed growth in psychosocial maturity among a sample of male serious juvenile offenders (n = 1,170) who were followed from ages 15 to 21 years. Alcohol and marijuana use prospectively predicted lower maturity 6 months later. Moreover, boys with the greatest increases in marijuana use showed the smallest increases in psychosocial maturity. Finally, heterogeneity in the form of age-related alcohol and marijuana trajectories was related to growth in maturity, such that only boys who decreased their alcohol and marijuana use significantly increased in psychosocial maturity. Taken together, these findings suggest that patterns of elevated alcohol and marijuana use in adolescence may suppress age-typical growth in psychosocial maturity from adolescence to young adulthood, but that effects are not necessarily permanent, because decreasing use is associated with increases in maturity. Yes Yes
