Browsing by Author "Hunt, Abby"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Factors associated with early sexual onset and delaying sex in rural middle school youth
    (Wiley, 2025) Imburgia, Teresa M.; Hensel, Devon J.; Hunt, Abby; James, Rebecca; Zhang, Jianjun; Cote, Michele L.; Ott, Mary A.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Purpose: Early sexual onset contributes to poor health outcomes through the life course. We use the social behavioral model to examine the behaviors and attitudes associated with early sexual onset and the intention to delay sex in middle school youth. Methods: Youth in rural communities with high rates of hepatitis C and HIV filled out a survey prior to implementation of an evidence-based sex education program. Participants were asked if they had ever had sex and whether they planned to abstain from sex until the end of high school. We collected demographics, attitudes about abstinence, agency for sexual refusal, parent communication, sexual health knowledge, and history of system involvement. Logistic regression was utilized to examine factors associated with each outcome. Findings: Our sample included 6,799 students, 12.7 years old ± 0.9 and 50.3% female. 5.1% had ever had sex and 73.9% planned to abstain until the end of high school. Early sexual onset was associated with older age, negative attitudes toward abstinence, lower agency for sexual refusal, more frequent parent communication about sex, history of child welfare, and history of juvenile involvement. Planning to abstain until the end of high school was associated with being younger, female, positive attitudes toward abstinence, higher agency for sexual refusal, less communication with parents about sex, more communication with parents about relationships, not having a history of foster involvement, and not having a history of juvenile involvement. Conclusions: Age, agency, and parent communication were all associated with both outcomes. Our findings highlight the importance of early comprehensive, trauma-informed sex education.
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    Parent-Child Sexual Communication Among Middle School Youth
    (Elsevier, 2018-08) Edwards, Laura L.; Hunt, Abby; Cope-Barnes, Doug; Hensel, Devon J.; Ott, Mary A.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Middle school youth (N=1472) in Central Indiana completed a survey about parent-adolescent sexual communi-cation. Being older, female, mixed race, ever had sex, ever arrested, and higher HIV knowledge were associatedwith more frequent sexual communication.
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    Risk and Protective Factors for Bullying Victimization and Perpetration among System-Involved Youth
    (American Public Health Association, 2019) Katz, Amy; Hunt, Abby; Zaban, Leigh; Hensel, Devon; Ott, Mary A.
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    The role of trauma and positive youth development in polysubstance use among rural middle school students: a latent class analysis
    (BMC, 2022-12-14) Zervos, Andrew P.; Hensel, Devon J.; James, Rebecca; Hunt, Abby; Ott, Mary A.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Rural youth often begin developing polysubstance use and other risk behaviors during middle school. However, little polysubstance use research focuses on rural middle school youth. Our research uses Latent Class Analysis to understand existing patterns of rural middle school polysubstance use and risk and protective factors associated with polysubstance use. Methods: We used survey data from a rural middle school pregnancy prevention program (N = 2,708). The survey included measures of demographics, lifetime substance use, trauma (adverse childhood experiences and bullying victimization) and aspects of youth development (parent communication on drugs and alcohol, parent connectedness and school connectedness). We used latent class analysis to produce participant polysubstance use profiles and multinomial regression to examine associations between polysubstance use, demographics, trauma and aspects of youth development. Results: We categorized our participants into four latent classes. Our analysis classified 2.2% of participants as Regular Polysubstance users, 6.9% as Polysubstance experimenters, 19% as Vape + Alcohol experimenters and 71.9% as Non-Users. More adverse childhood experiences were associated with greater risk of polysubstance use and experimentation. Bullying was positively associated with greater risk of vape and alcohol experimentation. Higher reported parental and school connectedness were associated with lower risk of high frequency polysubstance use. Higher reported school connection was also associated with lower risk of polysubstance experimentation. Conclusion: Rural substance use prevention programs should begin during middle school, as polysubstance use development is common among rural middle schoolers. These programs should be trauma informed and focus on connectedness as a modifiable factor to reduce risk of polysubstance use development.
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    Youth Connectedness Mitigates the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on Adolescent Substance Use in a Rural Midwest County
    (APHA's 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo (Nov. 2-Nov. 6), 2019) Cope-Barnes, Doug; Hensel, Devon; Katz, Amy; Zaban, Leigh; Hunt, Abby; Ott, Mary A.
    Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of adolescent substance abuse. Positive youth connections may mitigate these negative effects. We test whether and how home and school connectedness influences adolescent substance use. Methods: Youth (N=1651 6 th to 8 th graders, N=565, 10 th graders) from a rural, Midwestern low to middle income school district completed a baseline questionnaire prior to a health education program. The outcome, substance use, was a mean index of eight reported substance use behaviors (tobacco, electronic vapor, alcohol, any marijuana [organic or synthetic], prescription pills, inhalants, IV injection; all 6 categories: never to 40+ times). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate both the direct and indirect relationships between ACEs (middle school (MS), α =.700; high school (HS), α=.740), school- (MS α =.805; HS α=.833) and parent- connectedness (MS α =.923; HS α=.942) and substance use (Stata, 15.1). Results: Higher ACEs was directly associated with lower school connectedness (MS: B=-0.29, p<.000; HS: B=- 0.27, p<.000) and lower parent connectedness (MS: B=-0.16, p<.000; HS: B=-0.23, p<.000). Higher school connectedness (MS: B=-0.19; p<.000; HS: B=-0.14, p<.000), higher parent connectedness (MS: B=-0.09; p<.000; HS: B=-0.209, p<.000) and lower ACEs (MS: B=0.27; p<.000; HS: B=-.17, p<000) all directly associated with lower substance use. The impact of ACEs on substance use was mitigated indirectly through higher school connectedness (MS: B=0.01, p<.000; HS: B=0.03, p<.000) and parent connectedness (MS: B=0.03, p<.000; HS: B=-=0.01, p<.000). Conclusion: Prevention programs should be trauma-informed and incorporate parent-youth and teacher-student components.