This article reviews the conceptualization of, and empirical literature on, lesbians' and bisexual women's sexual minority stress. In much of the early research, the experiences of sexual minority women and men were considered together (or women's experiences were inferred from men's), obscuring important differences. There is empirical and theoretical justification to consider the experiences of women and men separately and to develop and evaluate comprehensive models of sexual minority stress for women. Existing conceptualizations of sexual minority stress that include assessment of discrimination, victimization, harassment, concealment, internalized homonegativity may be applied, and perhaps adapted, to facilitate understanding of the unique stressors associated with women's sexual minority status. Future research must include mediators of the relationship between stressors and outcomes such as individual (e.g., coping and resilience) and group (e.g., social support, identification with a sexual minority community) resources. It is also essential to understand what factors may buffer the deleterious effects of these stressors.

The current study examined pathways to early coital debut among early to middle adolescent girls in the United States. In a two-year longitudinal study of 104 adolescent girls, we conducted Recursive Partitioning (RP) analyses to examine the specific factors that were related to engaging in first intercourse by the 10 th grade among adolescent girls who had not yet engaged in sexual intercourse by the 8 th grade. RP analyses identified subsamples of girls who had low, medium, and high likelihoods of engaging in early coital debut based on six variables (i.e., school aspirations, early physical intimacy experiences, depression, body objectification, body image, and relationship inauthenticity). For example, girls in the lowest likelihood group (3% had engaged in sex by the 10 th grade) reported no prior experiences with being touched under their clothes, low body objectification, high aspirations to complete graduate education, and low depressive symptoms; girls in the highest likelihood group (75% had engaged in sex by the 10 th grade) also reported no prior experiences with being touched under their clothes but had high levels of body objectification. The implications of these analyses for the development of female adolescent sexuality as well as for advances in quantitative methods are discussed. Keywords adolescent sexuality; adolescent girls; coital debut; quantitative methodsIn spite of continued efforts to educate the public, troubling trends are emerging in the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies among young people in the United States. In 2006, it was estimated that about one million adolescents and young adults in the United States were living with Chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis (CDC, 2009). Adolescent girls and young adult women are particularly vulnerable to contracting certain types of STIs. An estimated 24.5% of adolescent girls 15-19 years old and 44.8% of those in the 20-24 age-group are believed to be infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV; CDC, 2009). Further, Chlamydia rates are almost three times as high among women than men, and women are more likely than men to contract gonorrhea (CDC, 2007 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript girls and women bear the primary burden of unwanted pregnancies stemming from unprotected sex. Early coital debut has been shown to be a risk factor for having multiple sexual partners (World Health Organization, 2006) and HIV infection (Drain, Smith, Hughes, Halperin, & Holmes, 2004). In addition, early onset of sexual intercourse in girls is associated with more problematic behavior, such as minor deviance (Bingham & Crockett, 1996), failure to attain a high school diploma and post-secondary education (Frisco, 2008), and may also be associated with complications in sexual health in adulthood (Magnusson & Trost, 2006). Thus, it is important to identify pathways of adolescent girls' transition to first intercourse. Predictors of Early Coital DebutResearchers have demonstrated a...

ABSTRACT. Objective: Internalization of college substance use culture refers to the degree to which an individual perceives the use of that substance to be an integral part of the college experience. Although there is a growing literature characterizing this construct for alcohol, the present study describes the development and validation of a new measure to assess the internalization of the college marijuana use culture, the Perceived Importance of Marijuana to the College Experience Scale (PIMCES). Method: We recruited a large, diverse sample (N = 8,141) of college students from 11 participating universities. We examined the psychometric properties of the PIMCES and evaluated its concurrent validity by examining its associations with marijuana-related outcomes. Results: A single-factor, eight-item PIMCES demonstrated good model fit and high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .89) and was correlated with marijuana user status, frequency of marijuana use, marijuana consequences, and injunctive norms. Conclusions: Overall, the PIMCES exhibits sound psychometric properties. The PIMCES can serve as a possible mediator of the effects of personality and other factors on marijuana-related outcomes and may be a promising target for marijuana interventions. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 78, 319-324, 2017)

No abstract

The present study aimed to identify predictors of treatment retention in a sample of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were referred for PTSD-focused treatment through completion of a Veterans Affairs (VA) specialty clinic introductory information session. A total of 124 returning veterans (89% male, 53% Caucasian, 40% African American, 2% Latino; average age = 37 years) participated in an introductory session intended to facilitate informed decision making about treatment selection for PTSD. To evaluate patient, therapist, and system characteristics that were associated with risk of prematurely dropping out of psychotherapy for PTSD, we used recursive partitioning or "classification tree" methods commonly used to derive actuarial models of risk for high or low scores on a particular outcome when the set of independent or predictor variables is large. Findings revealed interactions among predictors involving access to care, readiness for change, histories of traumatic brain injury, and previous PTSD treatment. Results from the exploratory recursive model indicated that participation in therapy was highest when veterans entered psychotherapy within 68 days of the information session, believed that they needed help, and had a history of traumatic brain injury, while participation was lowest when entry into treatment exceeded 68 days and belief in needing help was low. Effects associated with partitions in the recursive model were substantial, with Cohen's d statistics ranging from .60 to 1.75. Results of the present effectiveness study implicate the importance of access to care as well as motivation for treatment in the returning cohort of OEF/OIF/OND veterans seeking help for PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record