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Presenter: Iván C. Balán, Ph.D., New York State Psychiatric Institute
Discussant / Mentor: Guillermo Bernal, Ph.D., University of Puerto Rico

Latino Barebackers: What Are They Thinking?

Authors:  Iván C. Balán, Alex Carballo-Diéguez, Ana Ventuneac, Robert Remien, Curtis Dolezal

Background: 
"Barebacking," (intentional condomless sex in situations in which there is risk of HIV transmission) has become increasingly popular among men who have sex with men (MSM).  However, little is known about the cognitive and emotional factors that lead to barebacking.         

Methods: 
Thirty-one Latino MSM (22 HIV-negative and 9 HIV-positive men) who use the Internet to seek other men for barebacking were recruited through Internet websites.  They underwent an in-depth interview and a brief quantitative assessment.      

Results:
Contrary to commonly held assumptions, the majority of participants was not depressed and did not have low self-esteem, but was anxious.  Participants were not fatalistic about HIV infection and most believed that one could avoid it. The great majority of participants still considered HIV/AIDS to be a worrisome issue and believed in the importance of prevention.  Many did not believe that recent treatment innovations lessen the seriousness of HIV/AIDS.  However, the great majority of these men found barebacking to provide a sense of intimacy, bonding, and physical pleasure that was unachievable with condoms.  HIV-negative participants were aware of the risk of their behavior, were not seeking to become infected with HIV, and used a variety of approaches to reduce their risk of infection.  Many HIV-positive participants reported starting to practice barebacking after becoming infected with HIV.  

Conclusions:   
Barebacking is important to these Latino men and there is little motivation to use condoms.  However, both HIV-negative and HIV-positive men are interested in reducing the possibility of HIV transmission.  Alternative HIV prevention approaches may focus around biomedical advances such as microbicides or an HIV vaccine, or assisting these men in consistently employing other risk reduction approaches such as asking and telling about HIV status, serosorting, and strategic positioning.

Presenter: Claudio O. Toppelberg, M.D., Harvard Medical School
Discussant / Mentor: Alex Kopelowicz, M.D. – UCLA

Linguistic Functioning and Psychopathology in a Boston Public Schools’ Longitudinal Cohort (n=228) of Young Latino Bilingual Children of Immigrants*

Authors: Claudio O. Toppelberg, Brian Collins, Ying Xiong, Alfonso Nieto-Castañon

Background:
With the steady growth in numbers of immigrant children, most of them Latino, in the United States (from 6 % of the child population in 1970, to 19% in 2000, to a projected 25% in 2010; Capps et al., 2005), the need to better understand population-specific risk factors for psychopathology becomes more urgent, as very little research has been conducted. One crucial area that needs to be addressed is linguistic functioning, due to its neurocognitive, regulatory and socioemotional role in the successful adaptation of the immigrant child. 

Method:
We present preliminary data 1.) on the full cohort during the kindergarten year at age 6 (n=228, girls=113), and 2.) in a subgroup at age 8 (n=100) from the original cohort currently being re-assessed. We first present descriptive analyses (immigration, demographics), followed by cross-sectional correlations between measures of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary (Peabody PVT/TVIP) and other expressive and receptive language domains (Woodcock LPB-R); and parent- and teacher-reported psychopathology measured with the CBCL and TRF.  

Results:
Most of the children: lived in poverty (86%) with their mothers (99%), and were born in the U.S (90%) of Dominican decent (52%).  At age 6: Significant cross-sectional correlations between language and psychopathology measures were found within the full cohort. Two receptive language domains (Memory for Sentences and Verbal Analogies) are related, especially in Spanish, to multiple domains of parent-and teacher- reported psychopathology. Parent-reported psychopathology is associated with Spanish (more than with English) competence, while teacher-reported psychopathology with competences in both languages
At age 8:  Correlations are more evenly distributed between languages (Spanish/English)

Conclusion:
Results are consistent with previous findings from bilingual clinical samples and population-based studies of English monolingual children.

*Funded by an NIMH Mentored Minority Scientist Development (K01) award (PI: C.Toppelberg)