I am currently participating on two research projects of Dr. Felix-Ortiz. The first project is in the early stages of development and will focus on the comorbidity of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and drug use among minority adolescents. The goal of this research is to obtain data regarding risk and protective factors affecting the mental health of adolescents living in violent urban communities. We will investigate how urban stressors converge to create a multiplicative effect, which result in psychopathology. Violence exposure will be examined as a predictive factor for PTSD and drug use. Minority youth are extremely vulnerable to violence and appear to manifest their idioms of distress uniquely dependent upon the age of exposure. The issue of """"""""cumulative trauma"""""""" resulting from persistent violence exposure will be addressed within the thesis. The next project is a secondary analysis of several national and international Latino drug use databases. These databases will be utilized to identify common and distinct drug use patterns among Latinos. We will examine several theoretical models of Latino drug use with a specific aim of developing a uniform theory applicable to many Latino subgroups, but also flexible and address within group differences. Risk and protective factors which appear to differ across various Latino subgroups (i.e., Puerto Rican, Mexican-American, Central American, Cuban, etc.) to be investigated.
