Despite widespread availability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and recommendations for routine use, awareness and uptake of HPV vaccination are not universal. We assessed self-reported history of HPV vaccination in a sample of low-income men and women recruited from the community using respondent-driven sampling as part of the National HIV…

This study theorizes and tests moderators (perceived availability of marijuana and age-group) of the association between adolescents' frequency of marijuana ad exposure and past-year marijuana use. To test this model, I analyzed national survey data from 9,024 American adolescents with hierarchical regression techniques. Results showed that being…

Factors that affect physical activity (PA) behavior change are well established. Behavioral intention is a strong psychological predictor of behavior; however, there is less research on the factors that affect the "intention" to increase PA participation specifically, especially among adults in mid and later life who are inactive. Using…

Deaths of despair (DOD) is a new term appearing in public health literature to describe deaths attributable to suicide, liver disease, and drug overdose. In Florida, suicide and liver disease are the 8th and 10th leading causes of death, respectively. Additional mortality data show that the rate of drug overdose deaths in Florida is 12.5% higher…

Researchers have documented the negative associations between racial discrimination and alcohol use for young Black people, yet fewer researchers have examined these associations longitudinally and with racial identity as a protective factor. We use data from the Flint Adolescent Study (465 Black/African Americans) to investigate the relationship…

Background: Socioeconomic disparities in secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure exist among nonsmokers. The present study examined the prevalence and socioeconomic disparities of both objective and self-reported measures of SHS exposure in various indoor environments among U.S. nonsmokers. Method: Data were drawn from the 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 National…

Introduction: Physical activity (PA), particularly low-impact activities like bicycling, can improve health in older adults. However, bicycling rates are lower in the Midwest than other regions in the United States. Therefore, it is important to identify unique social, personal, and environmental factors that inhibit or promote bicycling, and how…

Background: John Henryism is defined as a measure of active coping in response to stressful experiences. John Henryism has been linked with health conditions such as diabetes, prostate cancer, and hypertension, but rarely with health behaviors. Aims: We hypothesized that reporting higher scores on the John Henryism Scale may be associated with…

Most studies addressing social media use as a normal social behavior with positive or negative effects on health-related outcomes have conceptualized and measured social media use and its effects in terms of dose--effect relations. These studies focus on measuring frequency and duration of use, and have seldom considered users' emotional…

On March 8, 2020, there was a 650% increase in Twitter retweets using the term "Chinese virus" and related terms. On March 9, there was an 800% increase in the use of these terms in conservative news media articles. Using data from non-Asian respondents of the Project Implicit "Asian Implicit Association Test" from 2007-2020 (n…

Low health literacy is closely related to a higher rate of hospitalization and of emergency services usage, leading to billions of dollars in avoidable health care costs and contributing to individuals' poor physical and mental health. While Korean Americans (KAs) have a high prevalence of general health and mental health problems, relatively…

Background: This study examined how risk perceptions and social norms around e-cigarettes are associated with susceptibility (i.e., openness to using the product in the next 12 months) of e-cigarettes and smoking among adolescents. Methods: We analyzed data from a 2016 representative survey of 8,718 middle school students in Mexico. The study…

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the protective influence of individual, family, and community assets from the initiation of sexual intercourse (ISI) for adolescents living in one-parent households compared with adolescents living in two-parent households. Methods: Five waves of data were collected annually over a 4-year period…

This study investigated sociodemographic, health-related, technological, and motivational factors associated with having health-related apps. Focusing on motivational factors, this study chose five general healthy intentions (about fruit, vegetable, and soda intake, weight control, and amount of exercise) and examined whether those with intention…

Background: Parent-aimed guidance on the topic of processed foods may help limit highly processed foods in children's diets, but little is known about parent understanding and perceptions of these products. Aims: To determine how parent perceptions of processing align with processing classification systems used in research, and to identify…