Supports for Maternal Communication About Peer Pressure to Have Sex Among Puerto Rican Families

This research tests the independent contribution of social capital and the use of the internet to obtain health information to support maternal-child communication about peer pressure to have sex among Puerto Rican families. A sample of 413 Puerto Rican households in Springfield, MA provides the data to independently test these hypotheses. The results of a logistic regression model suggest that Puerto Rican mothers with increased social capital and who accessed the internet for health information are more likely to communicate with their adolescent children about peer pressure to have sex. The combination of these two mechanisms provide opportunities to convey culturally generated resources to Puerto Rican mothers to assist them in helping their children develop healthy sexual behaviors.

Puerto Rican Families’ Experiences of Displacement in the Aftermath of Hurricane Maria and Their Receiving District's Enactment of Care

Background/Context In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Florida's Mockingbird Public Schools (MPS) received approximately 3,500 students from Puerto Rico. The response to the displacement of Puerto Rican families involved quick decision-making by several stakeholders about how to receive students experiencing trauma and housing insecurity, and whose parents were under- or unemployed. How students experiencing displacement are integrated into their receiving districts is critical to their subsequent educational success and, given increases in extreme natural disasters, we need a better understanding of what care looks like in post-displacement contexts. Purpose Using a care framework, and drawing from interviews with district administrators, school personnel, high school students, and their caregivers, we examine the ways in which MPS enacted care toward Puerto Rican families as well as the ways in which families received such care. Research Design We conducted semi-structured interviews with a variety of MPS stakeholders. These included district personnel (10 interviewees), school personnel (38 interviewees), and families (40 interviewees among students and their caregivers). Analyses were conducted by four research team members by applying a constant comparative approach using NVivo software. Findings/Results Findings show that care was most successfully enacted and received when addressing families’ immediate needs, in contrast to supports for mental health needs, which were seen as insufficient by most stakeholders. Furthermore, we found supports for academic success were inconsistently deployed and unevenly received by students and their families, thus shaping students’ access to educational opportunities. Conclusion As educational disruptions and climate-related displacement becomes more common, it is important for receiving districts to develop policies and practices that facilitate displaced families’ access to quality education. MPS enactment of care was shaped by the local communities’ perceptions of themselves as caring individuals and organizations that felt compelled to aid people fleeing devastation in Puerto Rico. Yet, as Gay indicated, benevolence is not enough; displaced children need educational spaces willing to interrogate and disrupt socio-political and economic injustice in service of students’ personal, academic, and professional well-being. In MPS, we saw the limits of such benevolence reflected in deficit-oriented narratives about Puerto Rican students’ language proficiency and academic preparation, some personnel's unwillingness to support Spanish-dominant Puerto Rican children, and on the pushback against relief efforts experienced by district and school personnel. As a result, these truncated views on caring led to divergent experiences of caring across families, and inconsistent access to rigorous curricula and high academic expectations.

The Evolving Family Mealtime: Findings From Focus Group Interviews With Hispanic Mothers

Background Given the protective effects of shared family mealtimes and the importance of family in the Hispanic culture, this context should be explored further to determine how it can be leveraged and optimized for interventions. Objective This study aimed to explore contextual factors associated with family mealtimes in Mexican and Puerto Rican families. Methods A total of 63 mothers participated in 13 focus group interviews across 4 states. Thematic analysis was used to analyze transcripts. Results Seven overarching themes were identified through the thematic analysis. Themes reflected who was present at the mealtime, what occurs during mealtime, the presence of television, the influence of technology during mealtime, and how mealtimes have changed since the mothers were children. Conclusions Hispanic mothers may be adapting family mealtimes to fit their current situations and needs, keeping the television and other devices on during mealtimes, and making additional meals for multiple family members to appease everyone’s tastes. All of these are areas that can be incorporated into existing culturally tailored obesity prevention programs to help families lead healthier lives.

Emerging Bicultural Views of Fatherhood

Puerto Rican fathers remain an understudied population despite the growing Latino community in the U.S. Understanding how Puerto Rican fathers perceive their roles as fathers can inform our conceptualization of their engagement with children as well as the development of culturally-specific parenting interventions. In this qualitative study, focus groups were conducted with Puerto Rican men to identify their perceptions of their role as a father and how individual, child, and cultural influences may relate to these roles. Parenting roles identified by fathers in the study were: being there, maintaining open communication, building confidence, preparing for adulthood, teaching culture/values, and providing a role model for their children. The study also explored father and child characteristics, history with their own father, and a hybrid cultural perspective as influences on Puerto Rican fathers’ perceptions of their parenting roles. Due to the increasing population of Puerto Rican and other Latino sub-groups, providers and social workers working with Puerto Rican families should understanding the perceived parenting roles within families to better engage and support fathers and families within this growing population.

The Evolving Family Mealtime: Findings From Focus Group Interviews With Hispanic Mothers (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Given the protective effects of shared family mealtimes and the importance of family in the Hispanic culture, this context should be explored further to determine how it can be leveraged and optimized for interventions. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore contextual factors associated with family mealtimes in Mexican and Puerto Rican families. METHODS A total of 63 mothers participated in 13 focus group interviews across 4 states. Thematic analysis was used to analyze transcripts. RESULTS Seven overarching themes were identified through the thematic analysis. Themes reflected who was present at the mealtime, what occurs during mealtime, the presence of television, the influence of technology during mealtime, and how mealtimes have changed since the mothers were children. CONCLUSIONS Hispanic mothers may be adapting family mealtimes to fit their current situations and needs, keeping the television and other devices on during mealtimes, and making additional meals for multiple family members to appease everyone’s tastes. All of these are areas that can be incorporated into existing culturally tailored obesity prevention programs to help families lead healthier lives.

Linkage Analysis in Caribbean Hispanic Families with Puerto Rican Ancestry Idenitfies an Alzheimer Disease Locus on chromosome 9

BackgroundThe ancestral genetic heterogeneity (admixture) of Caribbean Hispanics makes studies of this population critical to the discovery of ancestry-specific genetic factors in Alzheimer disease. In this study, we performed whole genome sequencing in multiplex Caribbean Hispanic Puerto Rican families to identify rare causal variants influencing Alzheimer disease through linkage and segregation-based approaches.MethodsAs part of the Puerto Rican Alzheimer Disease Initiative, whole genome sequencing data were generated for 100 individuals (61 affected) from 23 Puerto Rican families. To identify the genetic loci likely to carry risk variants, we performed a parametric multipoint affected individuals-only linkage analysis using MERLIN software. Following the linkage analysis, we identified the consensus region (heterogeneity logarithm of the odds score (HLOD) > 5.1), annotated variants using Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor, and combined annotation dependent depletion score (CADD). Finally, we prioritized variants according to allele frequency (< 0.01), function (CADD > 10), and complete segregation among affected individuals.ResultsA locus at 9p21 produced a linkage HLOD score of 5.1 in the parametric affecteds-only multipoint affected individuals-only model supported by 9 families. Through the prioritization step, we selected 36 variants (22 genic variants). Candidate genes in the regions include C9orf72, UNC13B, and ELAVL2.ConclusionsLinkage analysis of Caribbean Hispanics Puerto Rican families confirmed previously reported linkage to 9p21 in non-Hispanic White and Israeli-Arap families. Our results suggest several candidates in the region as conferring AD risk. Identified putative damaging rare variants in multiplex families indicates the critical role of rare variation in Alzheimer disease etiology.