Objective: To examine the utility of a novel sexual risk index (SRI) to better use National College Health Assessment (NCHA) sexual health-related questions. Methods: The first phase included discussions, testing, and recoding of the initial set of items. In the second phase, a correlation analysis was run; items were systematically removed to…

Suicide, which is defined as an individual's intentionally attempting to end his or her life, is considered an important public health problem. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between cognitive distortions and suicide probability in university students who are in age groups at risk for suicide, and to examine the mediating…

Suicide has been identified as a leading cause of premature death in autistic populations. Elevated autistic traits have also been associated with higher rates of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicidal self-harm in the general population, but this has yet to be examined in older age. Using baseline cross-sectional data from the PROTECT study,…

Objective: This study describes beliefs held by college students about cannabis use and examines the association between three specific cannabis beliefs and likelihood of use. Participants: 3,720 undergraduate students ages 18 to 25 attending ten colleges in one state. Methods: Data were gathered via online survey. Results: The majority (80%) of…

Youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and who identify with other sexual orientations (LGB +) are at higher risk for illicit drug use and have higher rates of mental illness. The current study examined the prevalence of illicit drug use among LGB+ persons and assessed the moderating effect of mental illness. Cross-sectional data from the 2015,…

Males are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than females, and at earlier ages, yet few studies examine sex differences in screening. This study explored sex differences in psychometric properties, recommended cutoff scores, and overall scores of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised, with Follow-Up. Participants were 28,088…

Preventive efforts are necessary to reduce the risk for problem gambling among adolescents, especially among more at-risk youth. However, only a small proportion of the preventive initiatives implemented in the field of adolescent problem gambling are based on robust theoretical models and have been evaluated in their efficacy. By referring to the…

This study used latent class analysis (LCA) with binary observed indicators to identify latent classes of victimization, based on the extent to which adolescents in the U.S. experienced traditional victimization and cyber-victimization. Data were collected by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics using…

Children are at risk of short- and long-term morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. We examine whether autistic children and children with mental health conditions have higher odds of underlying health conditions at high risk of severe disease from COVID-19. We use claims data from a national sample of Medicaid-enrolled children for the years…

We explored the appropriateness and measurement properties of a suicidality assessment tool (SBQ-R) developed for the general population, in autistic adults--a high risk group for suicide. 188 autistic adults and 183 general population adults completed the tool online, and a sub-sample (n = 15) were interviewed while completing the tool.…

Psychiatric disorders are common in youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is a vulnerable group of children whose behavioural problems often have more complicated care needs than other children, which can place a great deal of stress on their families. However, the association of family mental health issues, level of…

Purpose: Bayesian-based models for diagnosis are common in medicine but have not been incorporated into identification models for dyslexia. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate Bayesian identification models that included a broader set of predictors and that capitalized on recent developments in modeling the prevalence of dyslexia.…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to document disfluency behaviors expressed by 4- and 5-year-old children who stutter and to identify whether stuttering characteristics at this age are predictive of later stuttering recovery or persistence. Method: We analyzed spontaneous speech samples from 47 children diagnosed with developmental stuttering…

Exposure to violence can lead to a dramatic increase in the likelihood of the development of a substance use disorder (SUD). Given the overlap between the two, substance use for survivors of violence, then, can be a coping mechanism to manage the traumatic effects of abuse and persistent use can evolve into a diagnosable SUD. This study was…

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a financial inclusion project on youth's sexual risk behaviors and victimization. The project occurred in Ghana, where 100 schools were assigned to either a school-based savings program (SBSP), a marketing campaign, or a control group. Pretest and posttest data were collected in 2011 and…