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AJPH NEWS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL April 26, 2005, 4 PM (ET)
CONTACT: For copies of articles, call Natalie Raynor, (202) 777-2511 or natalie.raynor@apha.org.

The May 2005 issue is devoted to American Indian and Alaskan Native Health Policy. All articles are online at www.ajph.org.

American Journal of Public Health May 2005 Highlights

· Trauma a frequent experience on American Indian reservations
· Pathological gambling accompanies myriad of psychological disorders for some American Indian and Hispanic veterans
· On the job murders more likely if employers allow guns
· Early drinking leads to alcohol problems and risky sex
· Binge drinking among middle schoolers tied to parental involvement

The articles highlighted below appear in the May 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of the American Public Health Association.

Trauma a frequent experience on American Indian reservations
American Indians living on reservations are at high risk for being exposed to such trauma as witnessing a loved one's death or being the victim of a physical attack, according to a comparing trauma on two American Indian reservations to that in the general U.S. population.
Researchers interviewed about 3,100 tribal members age 15-54 about exposure to trauma and compared their answers to those collected from the general population. The results: almost 70 percent of American Indian men and women living on or within 20 miles of a reservation reported exposure to at least one trauma in their lifetime, compared to a national average of 50 percent for women and 60 percent for men.
"Much more remains to be discovered with respect to trauma and its potential
contribution to well-documented disparities in health status and care among [American Indians]," the study's authors wrote. "Clearly, trauma…must figure
more importantly than it has in our efforts to understand and ameliorate the health
disparities that plague this special population."
[From: "The Social Epidemiology of Trauma in Two American Indian Reservation Populations." Contact: Spero M. Manson, PhD, University of Colorado, Department of Psychiatry, Denver, spero.manson@uchsc.edu.]

Pathological gambling accompanies myriad of psychological disorders for some veterans
American Indian and Hispanic veterans are much more likely than the general population to be pathological gamblers, and their addiction is likely accompanied by several psychological disorders, according to a study of 1,221 such veterans in the southwest and north central United States.
American Indian veterans in the study had a pathological gambling rate of 10 percent, and Hispanic veterans had a rate of 4.9 percent. Previous studies have estimated pathological gambling is prevalent in .9 percent to 3.4 percent of the U.S. population. One key to treatment and early intervention, the study's authors say, is recognizing that pathological gamblers are often suffering from substance abuse, an anxiety disorder or an affective disorder such as major depression or bipolar disorder.
"Early interventions for Pathological Gambling should consider common psychiatric conditions rather than focusing on Pathological Gambling alone," the study's authors wrote.
[From: "Lifetime Prevalence of Pathological Gambling Among American Indian and Hispanic Veterans." Contact: Joseph J. Westermeyer, MD, MPH, PhD, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., weste065@umn.edu.]

On the job murders more likely if employers allow guns
Homicide is about five times more likely at a workplace where guns are permitted than at those where all weapons are banned.
Researchers conducted a population-based case control study of North Carolina workplaces between January 1994 and March 1998. They found even after adjusting for such other risk factors as an office being located in a high-crime area, those workplaces that allowed gun were five times as likely to be the scene of a murder as those that prohibited weapons.
"Our data suggest that, much as residents of households with guns are more likely to become victims of homicide, workers in places where the employer's policy allows guns may have a higher chance of being killed on the job," the study's authors wrote. "These findings bear directly on policy for workplace safety. In light of the evidence, it is reasonable to question the costs and benefits of polices permitting firearms in the workplace."
[From: "Employer Policy Toward Guns and the Risk of Homicide on the Job." Contact: Dana Loomis, PhD, University of North Carolina, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Science, Chapel Hill, N.C., dana.loomis@unc.edu.]

Early drinking leads to alcohol problems and risky sex
Urban adolescents who start drinking by 7th grade are more likely to report alcohol problems in mid-adolescence. They are also more likely to engage in risky sexual practices, according to a study of more than 1,000 black and Hispanic youth who reside in economic distressed neighborhoods.
Researchers surveyed the youth in 7th and 10th grade and asked about drinking and risky sexual behaviors such as being high or drunk during sex and having sex with multiple partners. About 25 percent of the youth had tried alcohol by the time they entered 7th grade. Among 10th graders, almost 63 percent had used alcohol.
Risky sexual behaviors were more likely among the students who had already used alcohol by 7th grade, and early drinking was related to sexual initiation and recent sexual intercourse among females.
[From: "Early Alcohol Initiation and Subsequent Sexual and Alcohol Risk Behaviors among Urban Youth." Contact: Ann Stueve, PhD, Education Development Center, Inc., astueve@edc.org.]

Binge drinking among middle schoolers tied to parental involvement
Binge drinking in middle school sets the stage for binge drinking in high school, yet parents can have a profound impact in stopping the destructive behavior.
A study of 5,300 7th and 8th graders, 9 percent of the 7th graders and 19 percent of the 8th graders said they had "engaged in binge drinking" in the past 12 months. Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row on any given day.
Students who said their parents communicated well with each other and seemed to care about their children were far less likely to report binge drinking, researchers found. Binge drinking among the middle schoolers studied was more common among boys than girls. Black and Asian students reported less binge drinking than white and Latino students.
Believed to be the first large-scale study of binge drinking among middle schoolers, the results also showed those who reported binge drinking in middle school were 11 times as likely to repeat that behavior in high school.
[From: "Parental and School Correlates of Binge Drinking in Middle School." Contact: Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, PhD, Columbia University School of Social Work and Department of Population and Family Health, New York, rg650@columbia.edu.]

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation, partially sponsored the publication of the May 2005 American Journal of Public Health.

The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association, the oldest organization of public health professionals in the world. APHA is a leading publisher of public health-related books and periodicals promoting high scientific standards, action programs and policy for good health. More information is available at www.apha.org.

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