Brain Injury Is Prevalent and Precedes Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Julianna M. Nemeth (), Allison M. Glasser, Alice Hinton, Joseph M. Macisco, Amy Wermert, Raya Smith, Hannah Kemble and Georgia Sasser
Additional contact information
Julianna M. Nemeth: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Allison M. Glasser: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Alice Hinton: Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Joseph M. Macisco: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Amy Wermert: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Raya Smith: College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Hannah Kemble: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Georgia Sasser: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: 70%+ of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness (YYEH; 14–24 years old) smoke combustible tobacco. Little is known about the prevalence of acquired brain injury (ABI) among youth and young adult smokers experiencing homelessness (YYSEH) and its impact on tobacco use progression—the aim of our study. Through an interviewer-administered survey, YYSEH were asked about timing of tobacco use; exposure to causes of ABI; including brain oxygen deprivation (BOD; strangulation; accidental; choking games) and blunt force head trauma (BFHT; intentional; shaken violently; accidental); and perpetrators of intentional assault. Participants ( n = 96) were on average 22 years old and from populations who experience structural disparities; including those minoritized by race (84.4%) and gender/sexual orientation (26.0%). In total, 87% of participants reported at least one exposure to BFHT and 65% to BOD. Intentional injury was more common than accidental. Furthermore, 60.4% of participants ( n = 59) were classified as having ABI using the Brain Injury Severity Assessment. A significant proportion of YYSEH living with ABI were exposed to both BFHT and BOD prior to trying (68.5%, p = 0.002) and to first regular use (82.8%, p < 0.001) of tobacco. Among YYSEH with ABI; injury exposure occurred a median of 1 and 5 years before age of first regular tobacco use, dependent on injury mechanism. ABI from intentional violence is prevalent and precedes tobacco use among YYSEH.

Keywords: acquired brain injury (ABI); traumatic brain injury (TBI); anoxic and hypoxic injury; strangulation; tobacco initiation; homelessness; youth and young adults; domestic violence; intimate partner violence; peer violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/5169/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/5169/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:5169-:d:1097921

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().