Weekly Roundup
Jul 8 – 14, 2024
The Weekly Roundup is an opportunity to recap a week in news and share recently discovered materials that might be of interest.
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Contraceptive Methods Women Have Ever Used: United States, 2015–2019
National Health Statistics Report, 2023
Abstract: Objective-This report describes methods of contraception ever used by U.S. women ages 15-49 who had ever had sexual intercourse with a male partner. Estimates are shown overall and by Hispanic origin and race, education, religious affiliation and importance, and urban-rural residence. Discontinuation of selected contraceptive methods is also described. Methods-This report focuses on information collected from the 11,695 women ages 15-49 interviewed in the 2015-2019 National Survey of Family Growth, a nationally representative survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Most estimates shown are based on data on contraceptive methods ever used by the 10,122 interviewed women who had ever had sexual intercourse with a male partner. Results-Based on 2015-2019 data, virtually all women of reproductive age who had ever had sexual intercourse with a male partner used at least one contraceptive method at some point in their life up to the time of interview (99.2%, or 63.2 million women ages 15-49), including 87.8% who had ever used a "most or moderately effective reversible method": the pill, an injectable, contraceptive patch, contraceptive ring, contraceptive implant, or intrauterine device. Most women had used the male condom with a partner (94.5%), the pill (79.8%), or withdrawal (65.7%). About one in four women reported ever using long-acting reversible contraception (intrauterine device or contraceptive implant) (24.9%) or emergency contraception (23.5%). The type of methods ever used varied by Hispanic origin and race, nativity among Hispanic women, education, religious affiliation and importance, and urban-rural residence. Among women who had ever discontinued use of the pill or intrauterine devices due to dissatisfaction (and not for seeking a pregnancy), side effects were the most common reason.
Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2015-2019
National Health Statistics Report, 2023
Abstract: Objective-This report presents national estimates of sexual activity and contraceptive use among males and females ages 15-19 in the United States, based on data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Methods-NSFG data were collected through in-person interviews with nationally representative samples of males and females ages 15-49 in the household population of the United States. NSFG 2015-2019 interviews were conducted between September 2015 and September 2019 with 21,441 males and females, including 3,812 teenagers (1,894 females and 1,918 males ages 15-19). Estimates include measures of sexual experience and contraceptive use as well as circumstances of first sexual intercourse (sex), attitudes, and probability of a birth during the teen years. Estimates are shown overall and by Hispanic origin and race, age group, parental living arrangements, and maternal characteristics. The report focuses on the period 2015-2019, with trends shown for selected measures for time points 2002, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, and 2015-2019. Results-In 2015-2019, 40.5% of never-married female teenagers (3.8 million), and 38.7% of never-married male teenagers (3.8 million) had ever had vaginal intercourse with an opposite-sex partner. For females this percentage was stable across the four time points, but for males this percentage decreased from the 2002 (45.7%) and 2011-2015 (44.2%) time points. For teen males, use of any contraception at first sex increased across the four time points, from 82.0% in 2002 to 92.1% in 2015-2019, while no consistent trend was seen for teen females. Nearly four out of five female teenagers (77.3%) in 2015-2019 used a method of contraception at first sex. Among female teenagers, ever-use of long-acting reversible contraception, which includes intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants, increased from 5.8% to 19.2% from 2011-2015 to 2015-2019.
HISTORICAL ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Older adults’ own reasoning for their alcohol consumption
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011
Abstract: Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate what the older adults themselves consider to be the reasons for their alcohol consumption. Methods: The data were collected with a postal questionnaire from a random sample of 2100 elderly people (≥65 years) living in the medium-sized city of Espoo, Finland. The response rate was 71.6% from the community-dwelling sample. Altogether 868 persons responded that they use alcohol. Of them, 831 gave reasons for their drinking. We defined "at-risk users" as consuming >7 drinks per week, or ≥5 drinks on a typical drinking day, or using ≥3 drinks several times per week. Results: Main reasons given for alcohol consumption were "having fun or celebration" (58.7%), "for social reasons" (54.2%), "using alcohol for medicinal purposes" (20.1%), and "with meals" (13.8%). Younger age groups reported more often than the older age groups that they use alcohol for "having fun or celebration" and "for social reasons." The older age groups used more often "alcohol for medicinal purposes". Men used alcohol more often than women "as pastime" or "as sauna drink". Those defined as "at-risk users" reported using alcohol because of "meaningless life," for "relieving depression," "relieving anxiety," and "relieving loneliness." Conclusions: Older adults have diverse alcohol consumption habits like people in other age groups. The oldest olds reported that they use alcohol for medicinal purposes. The "at-risk users" admit they use alcohol because of meaningless life, and relieving depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
RUBBISH BIN
Gender Bias: Another Rising Curve to Flatten?
Academic Medicine, 2021
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and the upheaval it is causing may be leading to novel manifestations of the well-established mechanisms by which women have been marginalized in professional roles, robbing the field of the increased collective intelligence that exists when diverse perspectives are embraced. Unconscious bias, gendered expectations, and overt hostility minimize the contributions of women in academic medicine to the detriment of all. The current environment of heightened stress and new socially distant forms of communication may be exacerbating these well-recognized obstacles to women contributing to the field. Of note, none of these actions requires ill intent; all they require is the activation of unconscious biases and almost instinctive preferences and behaviors that favor the comfortable and familiar leadership of men in a time of extreme stress. The authors argue that it is time to investigate the frequency of behaviors that limit both the recognition and the very exercise of women's leadership during this pandemic, which is unprecedented but nevertheless may recur in the future. Leaders in health care must pay attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion given increases in undermining and harassing behaviors toward women during this crisis. The longer-term consequences of marginalizing women may hamper efforts to combat the next pandemic, so the time to flatten the rising gender bias curve in academic medicine is now.
American Journal of Men’s Health, 2023
Abstract: In contexts marked by neoliberal ideology and a claimed “crisis” in men’s health, men are responsibilized to be/come healthy. Eating has long been a gendered practice in Western cultures, and recent cultural shifts have produced ways of eating that are both masculinized and (claimed) healthy. Online healthy eating advice, which encourages and supports men to eat healthily, is an important information source. However, such information draws on, reproduces, and/or disrupts existing meanings about men and eating. To understand contemporary representations of men and healthy eating, we examined 30 online media articles oriented specifically to this topic. Using reflexive thematic analysis from a social constructionist position, we developed two themes: A lad’s looks and lifestyle and Mind over matter: The masculine mindset. These themes together told an overarching story that healthy eating is effectively sold to men by drawing on traditional or hegemonic ideals of masculinity and effectively evoking access to an enhanced masculinity through healthy eating. While these representational practices may sell healthy eating to men, with likely positive health benefits, they also reinforce hegemonic ideals of masculinity which can be problematic from a health perspective.
White privilege in neuropsychology: An ‘invisible knapsack’ in need of unpacking?
Clinical Neuropsychologist, 2021
Abstract: Objective: A persistent and growing challenge to the field of neuropsychology is the disconnect between: (a) the increasingly culturally/linguistically diverse populations in need of clinical and research evaluations and (b) a neuropsychology workforce and 'toolkit' of validated instruments and norms that remain generally ill-prepared to address these needs. This disconnect threatens the future clinical utility and professional viability of the field, and may at least in part be related to white privilege. This commentary describes a qualitative examination of white privilege in neuropsychology, its implications for the field, and recommendations to move forward. Method: Utilizing McIntosh's paradigm of "unpacking the invisible knapsack of white privilege," this author (a non-Hispanic White, Spanish-English bilingual man) conducted an idiographic, qualitative examination of ways in which non-Hispanic White neuropsychologists may experience unearned and largely invisible (unexamined) privilege. Conclusions: The present examination suggests that white privilege within the field of neuropsychology may perpetuate health care disparities relevant to practice and research and the field's insufficient systemic response to its longstanding challenges related to workforce demographics and psychometric instrumentation. To ensure future clinical utility and professional viability, it is imperative that neuropsychology as a field, and particularly the non-Hispanic White majority of its membership and organizational leaders, unpack its invisible knapsack of privilege and acknowledge the ways in which such privilege can insidiously compromise individual and systemic responses to the ongoing crisis of insufficient workforce characteristics, psychometric tools, and empirical research basis to address increasing patient diversity and neuropsychological health care disparities.
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