Jacob C Warren

• PhD, MBA
• Chair at Mercer University

Achieving a high quality of life is dependent upon how individuals face adversity. Positive psychological interventions are well-suited to support coping efforts; however, experimental research is limited. The purpose of the current research was to examine whether different savoring interventions could increase important coping resources (i.e., pos...

Given their critical gatekeeper function regarding naloxone access in rural areas, the purpose of the current study was to examine rural pharmacists’ knowledge and attitudes regarding naloxone use and access (Georgia, 2019), all 364 rural community pharmacies in Georgia were contacted using “secret shopper” methodology and asked about the availabil...

The Disparities Elimination Summer Re­search Experience (DESRE) was created to provide hands-on health equity research training opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students, particularly those from backgrounds underrepresented in bio­medical research. Funded by NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Dis­parities, a total of...

The developmental transition from adolescence to adulthood, a period of time known as emerging adulthood, is marked by great personal growth and interpersonal maturation (Arnett, Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004). Risk-taking behaviors are seen as a significant im...

This study, using scenarios, examined the impact of two kinds of cause-related marketing (CRM) efforts (a traditional donation of a portion of sales to a related cause and a more strategic one-for-one donation of donating a product to a related cause when that product was purchased) on millennials' (those born between 1982 and 2000) attitudes and p...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of rural location in the likelihood of adolescent drunk driving and riding in a vehicle with a driver under the influence while controlling for a variety of student‐, school‐, and county‐level factors. Methods Data from the 2013 Georgia Student Health Survey (GSHS) II (a statewide ass...

The goal of the current study was to explore the impact of CRM on Millennials’ overall perceptions of companies and likelihood of purchasing from a company and if this is impacted by the type of product and the donation style used in the campaign. The average number of CRM campaigns accurately identified was low (H1), with 76.2% of the sample ident...

Objectives: We explored the extent to which discrepancy between motivation for weight loss and exercise is related to obesity among rural patients with chronic disease, and identified the psychosocial correlates of this discrepancy. Methods: 497 patients with diabetes and/or hypertension were recruited from a network of Federally Qualified Healt...

The goal of the current study was to investigate the association of experiences of bullying with 17 individual risk behaviors in a large, non-clinical sample of middle and high school students. Data were analyzed from the 2013 Georgia Student Health Survey II, administered to 6th–12th grade students in all public schools in Georgia (n = 513,909). B...

Introduction: Previous research has consistently demonstrated that, in comparison to their cisgender heterosexual counterparts, lesbians face a multitude of women’s healthcare-related disparities. However, very little research has been conducted that takes an intersectionality approach to examining the potential influences of rural–urban location o...

The study’s goal was to determine if differences in weight misperception by race and/or gender occur within a sample of economically disadvantaged rural patients with diabetes and/or hypertension. Diabetic and hypertensive patients were enrolled in the study from a network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in the rural South. Multivaria...

Rural and minority women are disproportionately impacted by the obesity epidemic; however, little research has studied the intersection of these disparity groups. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of racial identity on motivation for weight loss and exercise among rural, African-American women with an obesity-linked chronic dis...

The purpose of this study was to compare psychological well-being among transgender women, transgender men, genderqueer/nonbinary individuals, and their cisgender sexual minority counterparts. A total of 2,932 gender and sexual minority individuals participated in the online study. While controlling for age, race/ethnicity, employment status, educa...

The use of addictive substances by adolescents is a major public health concern; however, rural versus urban variations are poorly understood. The purpose of the current study was to examine rural-urban differences in the prevalence of recent use of 11 substances in grades 6 through 12 in a statewide sample of students from the Georgia Student Heal...

Concealment of sexual orientation from health-care providers and/or delay of care due to fears of discrimination or maltreatment in the health-care setting can be major risk factors for the health and well-being of lesbians. Given the added vulnerabilities that rural lesbians may face as they interact with the traditional health-care system, the pu...

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine the overall presence of and differences in rates of overweight/obesity among a large, nationally diverse sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT)-identified individuals (i.e., cisgender lesbians, cisgender gay males, cisgender bisexual females, cisgender bisexual males, transgend...

The purpose of this article was to (a) examine the rates of elevated depression symptoms among a sample of rural Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients with chronic disease, and (b) determine if an inability to afford general prescription medications within the past 12 months is a significant predictor of depression symptoms among these...

The purpose of this study was to compare rates of elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress between six different LGBT subgroups (cisgender lesbians, cisgender gay males, cisgender bisexual females, cisgender bisexual males, transgender females, and transgender males). A total of 2,702 LGBT-identified individuals participated in the online...

p> Objectives: To examine the relationship between race/ethnicity and motivation for weight loss and motivation for exercise among patients with chronic disease. Design: Cross-sectional Setting : The current study took place within a network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in the rural southern United States Patients or Participant...

Objectives: We examined rural-urban differences in health risk behaviors among gender and sexual minorities (GSMs). Methods: A sample of 3279 self-identified gender and sexual minorities was recruited online, with participation from all 50 US states. Participants completed a demographics assessment and an inventory of 28 separate health risk behavi...

Rural women represent approximately 20% of women living in the United States, yet research on the specific mental health needs of rural women is limited. Given the well-recognized gender-linked disparity in depression, its correlated symptoms in women still need much investigation. While emerging notions of depression in men embrace potential sympt...

Introduction: Ease of access to substances has been shown to have a direct and significant relationship with substance use for school-aged children. Previous research involving rural samples of middle and high school students reveals that perceived ease of access to substances is a significant predictor of recent use among rural adolescents; howeve...

Children and adolescents residing in rural environments with higher prevalence of an overweight population may develop inaccurate perceptions of a healthy weight. This study examines rural-urban differences in perceptions of child overweight among overweight (85 ≤ BMI percentile < 95) and obese children (BMI percentile ≥ 95), their guardians and he...

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to conduct a large-scale, geographically diverse comparison of health risk behaviors between a broad range of sexual orientation and gender identity groups to more fully understand the health risks of subgroups within the LGBT community. Method: A total of 3,279 individuals self-identifying as LGBT...

The purpose of the current study was to examine rural lesbians’ experiences of psychological distress and barriers to mental healthcare compared with their nonrural counterparts. A geographically diverse sample of 716 lesbians from across the United States participated in an online study. Results revealed that compared with their nonrural counterpa...

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to separately examine past (i.e., rural or non-rural background) and present (i.e., current rural or urban location) influences of rurality on the weight status and diet/exercise behaviors of lesbians. Methods: A total of 895 lesbians participated in the online study. Participants were surveyed regarding the...

Current recruitment strategies to reach lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups typically yield highly localized, mostly urban samples. Online recruitment strategies hold much promise for engaging rural and other underrepresented LGBT individuals in health research, but little research has been conducted examining the relative strengt...

The bisexual community may face unique barriers to health care that affect mental health outcomes; however, previous research has not specifically compared bisexual and gay men and women on these factors. This study explored differences between bisexual and gay men and women in barriers to care and psychological distress among a sample of 2,500 bis...

While the presence and impact of health disparities among rural populations is well known, comparatively little university-based research is conducted into this highly vulnerable and underserved population. Creating programs that allow students the opportunity to engage in rural health related research directly within rural communities offers uniqu...

Although the majority of lesbians reside in urban areas, lesbian couples significantly outnumber partnered gay men in rural communities and are an important part of the rural demographic landscape. However, being present does not mean lesbians are fully embraced within rural culture. Rural culture is often associated with traditional gender roles,...

Only a handful of empirical investigations have identified culturally salient markers of suicide risk within samples of African American young adults. To address this gap, our study examined the intercorrelations among cultural congruity, defectiveness schemas, and multiple indices of suicide risk for African American (n = 207) and European America...

This study examined the relations among perfectionism dimensions, resilience, and distress. Participants were 413 undergraduate students. All 3 of Hewitt and Flett's (2004) dimensions of perfectionism were associated with greater reports of depression and anxiety; however, only socially prescribed perfectionism was significantly associated with res...

Rural residents face distinct health challenges due to economic conditions, cultural/behavioral factors, and health provider shortages that combine to impose striking disparities in health outcomes among rural populations. This comprehensive text about the issues of rural public health is the only book to focus on rural health from the perspectives...

INTRODUCTION Sexual minority women are at greater risk for many reproductive cancers, but disproportionately lack adequate and ongoing health care. Furthermore, issues unique to rural individuals (e.g., more conservative climate, lower SES) may exacerbate these barriers to routine gynecological care. There is currently no quantitative data availabl...

Concealment of one's sexual orientation to health care providers and/or delay of care due to fears of discrimination and rejection in the health care setting can be a major risk factor for the health and wellbeing of sexual minorities. There are currently no quantitative studies examining the disclosure experiences and practices of rural sexual min...

There are currently no quantitative studies examining the screening behaviors, the receipt of appropriate safe-sex preventive education by healthcare providers, and HIV status of rural LGBT individuals. Rural LGBT individuals are not only more likely to experience unique health risks due to barriers to care and other vulnerabilities of rural living...

Childhood obesity in the United States has tripled in a generation. But while debates continue over the content of school lunches and the dangers of fast food, we are just beginning to recognize the full extent of the long-term physical, psychological, and social problems that overweight children will endure throughout their lives. Most dramaticall...

Introduction: The impact of health behaviors on the leading causes of death across the USA has been well demonstrated. However, limited focus has been placed on the leading health risk behaviors of rural Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients, a particularly underserved group. The current study was undertaken to examine the most common...

Addressing the needs of America's most under-served areas for mental health services, Rural Mental Health offers the most up-to-date, research-based information on policies and practice in rural and frontier populations. Eminent clinicians and researchers examine the complexities of improving mental health in rural practice and offer clear recomme...

The importance of telehealth strategies in addressing the health needs of rural residents has been well documented. A core problem in enacting telehealth strategies for patient education in rural settings, however, is a lasting perception that rural residents do not have access to, comfort with, or willingness to use varying emerging technologies....

Optimal management of HIV disease requires high levels of lifelong adherence once a patient initiates highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Because suboptimal adherence to HAART is associated with adverse consequences, many providers are hesitant to prescribe HAART for patients whom they perceive as not being ready to initiate treatment. Ac...

The impact that gender role socialization can have upon psychological functioning is wide-reaching but poorly investigated. The current study examined the impact that traditional gender role ideology and gender role stress have on anxiety, depression, alcohol use, and substance use among college men and women. Four hundred and ninety one participan...

The current study was undertaken to examine demographic and mental health-related predictors of alcohol and drug use among rural African-American and Caucasian college students. Data collection is ongoing - analyses below represent the first 491 participants of 1500. Participants were recruited from a mid-size University in the rural South with a h...

Practitioners in rural areas face particular challenges in providing psychological services, ranging from disparate rates of mental disorders to unique circumstances in treating special populations. In this article, we discuss the burden of mental disorders in rural areas, current trends in integration of mental health care and primary care, and un...

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of behaviorally-linked causes of death upon life expectancy in the United States to underscore the importance of developing behavioral modification interventions and health education messages. A Markov chain model of 2002 NCHS Mortality data was created. The change in life expectancy that would occur...

Despite continued high HIV risk among Hispanic men who have sex with men (HMSM), culturally tailored, theoretically based interventions have yet to be developed and tested. As a first step toward intervention development, we collected quantitative and qualitative data on sociocultural and psychological factors associated with drug use and risky sex...

AgroFooD industry hi-tech obesity ABSTRACT: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the evidence and summarize the hypotheses developed to explain the association between excess body weight status and impaired cognitive functioning among children. Consistent with observations from adults, well designed epidemiological investigations and clinical...

The goal of this study is to describe the sexual practices, drug use behaviors, psychosocial factors, and predictors of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in a sample of Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM) born in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries who currently reside in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Hispanic MSM (N = 566) recruited f...

Despite the recognized need for culturally tailored HIV prevention interventions for gay, bisexual, and questioning youth, few studies have examined if predictors of unprotected sex vary for youth from different ethnic groups. This study reports on a sample of 189 gay, bisexual, and questioning youth (age 15-22) from three racial/ethnic backgrounds...

Difficulties with recruitment of hidden populations, such as Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM), have hampered HIV prevention research, leading researchers to explore alternative recruitment modalities such as the Internet. In this paper, we compare the efficiency and cost of recruiting HMSM from Internet chat rooms versus community venues an...

To determine whether use of crystal methamphetamine increases HIV risk behaviors beyond the risk associated with use of other recreational drugs among Hispanic men who have sex with men (HMSM). We compared the sexual behaviors and psychosocial characteristics of non-recreational drug users (non-users), recreational drug users who did not use crysta...

The lack of a single, cohesive examination of cause-specific mortality in the United States has been recognized. Creating such a comprehensive, nation-wide picture of the mortality experience within the United States is crucial for identifying targets for public health interventions, including mortality disparities between sexes and races. To that...