Read my latest publications in refereed Scientific journals:

1. Is there an association between bullying behaviors and consumption of alcohol? 

Some of you sometimes say, “Why are you making such a big deal with bullying behaviors and with drinking alcohol? When we were young, we had both but no one called it by these names.. ”

In order to answer your questions,  I posted a paper that I published with my colleagues from the University of Miami and Columbia University – The data from 44,532 students in middle schools showed that a higher proportion of students who were involved in any type of bullying behavior used alcohol more than students who were not involved in bullying behaviors !!!

To read more details, please open the PDF file: bullying behaviors and alcohol use

2. Interpersonal violence experiences and alcohol use among adolescents

I posted a paper that I published with my colleagues from the University of Miami and Columbia University.

30% of high school students reported experiencing a lifetime interpersonal violence ( Physical fight, physically forced to have sexual intercourse)through physical fights, and 8% reported being physically forced to have sexual intercourse !!!!! Think about those NUMBERS: almost 1370 adolescents and  365 adolescents respectively.

Adolescents who have faced interpersonal violence experiences may be at a high risk for alcohol use. Findings suggest that early evaluation of interpersonal violence experiences may be important as part of alcohol use prevention programs among adolescents.

To read more details, please open the PDF file: exploratory study on the association

3. Is there an effect of paternal alcohol problems on adolescent use of alcohol and other illicit drugs as a function of maternal communication, as well as adolescent social and coping skills?

In order to answer this question, I posted a paper that I published with my colleagues from the Florida International University (FIU).

Adolescents with a paternal history of alcohol problems reported higher levels of problematic communication with their mothers than did adolescents with fathers who were light drinkers or who were non-drinkers. Moreover, adolescents who reported using coping skills of self-blame tended to use alcohol more frequently.

Findings suggest that these high-risk adolescents might need more intensive and targeted social and psychological services in their schools and communities.

To read more details, please open the PDF file: mechanism paper