Drinking plans and drinking outcomes: examining young adults' weekend drinking behavior

This study examined relationships among drinking intentions, environments, and outcomes in a random sample of 566 undergraduate college students. Telephone interviews were conducted with respondents before and after a single weekend assessing drinking intentions for the coming weekend related to subsequent drinking behaviors. Latent class analyses found evidence for four distinct drinking environments distinguished by private/public setting and presence of few/many intoxicated people. There was evidence that the drinking environment mediated the relationship between drinking intentions and heavy episodic drinking in this young adult sample. Future research might focus on examining person/environment interactions as they relate to heavy episodic drinking.     

Parental health and child behavior: evidence from parental health shocks

This study examines the importance of parental health in the development of child behavior during early childhood. Our analysis is based on child psychometric measures from a longitudinal German dataset, which tracks mothers and their newborns up to age six. We identify major changes in parental health (shocks) and control for a variety of initial characteristics of the child including prenatal conditions. The results are robust to placebo regressions of health shocks that occur after the outcomes are measured. Our findings point to negative effects of maternal health shocks on children’s emotional symptoms, conduct problems and hyperactivity. We estimate that maternal health shocks worsen outcomes by as much as 0.9 standard deviations. In contrast, paternal health seems to be less relevant to children’s behavioral skills.     

Older adults' exercise behavior: roles of selected constructs of social-cognitive theory

Exercise is consistently related to physical and psychological health benefits in older adults. Bandura's social-cognitive theory (SCT) is one theoretical perspective on understanding and predicting exercise behavior. Thus, the authors examined whether three SCT variables-self-efficacy, self-regulation, and outcome-expectancy value-predicted older adults' (N = 98) exercise behavior. Bivariate analyses revealed that regular exercise was associated with being male, White, and married; having higher income, education, and self-efficacy; using self-regulation skills; and having favorable outcome-expectancy values (p < .05). In a simultaneous multivariate model, however, self-regulation (p = .0097) was the only variable independently associated with regular exercise. Thus, exercise interventions targeting older adults should include components aimed at increasing the use of self-regulation strategies.     

The influence of nonverbal cues associated with looking behavior on young children's mentalistic attributions

The ability of children to use looking behavior as a cue to guide their mentalistic attributions was assessed. In Experiment 1 video displays were presented in which a protagonist faced one of two potential goals, half of the time standing equidistant from both targets and in the remaining trials standing closer to the target not being faced. Preschoolers consistently based their inferences of another's attention and goal on the direction in which the protagonist was facing. However, in Experiments 2 and 3 preschoolers experienced difficulty in correctly inferring an actor's desired goal when the protagonist's body was oriented in a direction opposite of where she was looking. Under these conditions, only young elementary school children consistently inferred that the protagonist's goal was the target being looked at (Experiment 2). The results from these three studies suggest that an important development occurring in childhood is the ability to consistently distinguish gaze from body orientation when inferring the goals of another. The implications of this development for children's understanding of the mind are discussed.     

Attitudes and beliefs about mental health among African American older adults suffering from depression

Depression among older adults is a major public health concern leading to increased disability and mortality. Less than 3% of older adults utilize professional mental health services for the treatment of depression, less than any other adult age group. And despite similar rates of depression, African Americans are significantly less likely to seek, engage and be retained in professional mental health services than their white counterparts. Cultural differences in the way depression symptoms are manifested, defined, interpreted and labeled may in part explain some of these racial differences in help-seeking behaviors. Focus group methodology was utilized to identify and explore attitudes and beliefs about depression and mental health treatment utilization among 42 older African Americans who had recently suffered a major depressive episode. Thematic analysis of identified six overarching themes: (a) perceptions of depression, (b) the African American experience, (c) seeking treatment as a last resort, (d) myths about treatment, (e) stigma associated with seeking treatment and (f) culturally appropriate coping strategies. We discuss implications for practice, education and research.     

How parents suspected of child maltreatment change their cognition and behavior: A process model of outreach and child protection,generated via grounded theory

AimAlthough considerable efforts have been made to improve relationships between professionals and parents suspected of child maltreatment, little research has been conducted to examine the ways in which parents escalate their negative cognition and behavior involving professionals. This study developed a model of parents' negative reinforcement of their cognitive behavior and the factors influencing reductions in this reinforcement.MethodInterview data were collected from 21 parents, who had experienced outreach and child protection issues, and analyzed using the grounded theory approach.ResultIn the outreach phase, the analysis initially produced the negative image of help-seeking behavior category, followed by the dissatisfaction with outreach and reinforcement of negative cognition categories. In this phase, the analysis also identified the social support and support groups step as a means of reducing negative cognition. In contrast, in the child protection phase, the analysis produced the anger and psychological conflict with child protection services and unwilling consent categories. In this phase, the analysis also identified the psychoeducation and timely feedback step as an acceptable means of minimizing the escalation of negative cognition.ConclusionThe hypothetical model revealed the ways in which parents changed their cognition and behavior and demonstrated the factors influencing reductions in the reinforcement of negative cognition and behavior. These results could be useful for practice in child maltreatment cases.     

Building collaboration between school and parents: issues for school social workers and parents whose young children exhibit violent behaviour at school

This research explores the perceptions of 60 parents whose children, aged from three to nine, had been involved in bullying, as defined under the Safe Schools Act and the Code of Conduct. Some of these children had been suspended from school, while others were potential candidates for suspension. These parents were recruited from Ottawa's two French-language school boards to participate in qualitative interviews between June 2000 and June 2002. The aim of this research was to cast new light on the perceptions of parents and schools with regard to their relationships, and on the role of school social workers in maintaining and enhancing collaborative partnerships.

The desire of some parents to be involved in the decisions concerning remedial action taken to address their child's aggressive behaviour touched a raw nerve in some schools. Nonetheless, when schools and parents ultimately recognize the daily challenges that both parties face, and a shared plan of action develops therein, the path to effective collaboration becomes clear. Early intervention on the part of school social workers gives them an edge in their efforts as mediators. They seize every opportunity to initiate different collaborative approaches between schools and parents, so that the issue of bullying can be handled in a more respectful way for everyone.     

Factors predicting student intervention when witnessing anti-LGBTQ harassment: The influence of peers,teachers, and climate

Bullying and harassment are systemic problems in schools, especially for sexual minority youth. Previous research suggests the importance of addressing student intervention in cases of bullying, but little is known about how to encourage this kind of intervention, particularly in response to anti-LGBTQ bullying. The present study used data collected through a participatory action research project to examine three factors' impact on students' intentions to intervene: hearing homophobic language, seeing teachers intervene, and seeing other students intervene. In the final model, seeing other students intervene (β = .19, p < .001) had a more significant positive effect on a students' own likelihood to intervene than seeing teachers intervene (β = .07, p < .05). In multivariate analysis, frequency of hearing homophobic language did not impact student's likelihood to intervene. Findings suggest the importance of youth leadership in multi-level anti-bullying programs.     

Economic change and health benefits: structural trends in employer-based health insurance

Drawing on structural theories of economic outcomes, we investigated how economic change affects the distribution of health benefits, the main source of health insurance for American workers. Through an aggregate level analysis, we show how the effects of industry level characteristics on the level of health benefits change between 1988 and 1997. Due to the increased reliance on women, nonwhite workers, and part-time labor, we expect declines in the effect sizes of gender and race composition and proportion full-time. In contrast, we predict increases in the effects of proportion small firm employment, proportion union, and industry sector due to rising health care costs, the competitive economic environment, and greater union effectiveness. We analyze data from the March Current Population Surveys for 1987 to 1997 using generalized least-squares regression. The positive effect of proportion white increases over time, while the positive effect of level of full-time work declines. The negative effects of small firm employment and being a retail or nonprofessional service industry increase in magnitude. Both union activity and gender composition have stable effects over the period. The results challenge views of a declining significance of race and gender in the labor market.     

A bit more understanding: Young adults' views of mental health services in care in Ireland

Children and young people in the care system typically experience very high levels of mental health difficulties, yet their views of these difficulties and of mental health services have rarely been explored. For this qualitative study we spoke with eight young adults aged 18 to 27 years with experience of the care system in Ireland about mental health challenges, service experiences, and how they felt mental health services needed to improve. Themes from the interviews illuminated young adults' views of their emotional well-being while in care, and the double stigma of being in care and mental health difficulties. In terms of services, young adults wanted these to be flexible and sensitive to level of need; to offer choice and more congenial environments; to provide more creative routes to engaging young people; and to offer honest, reciprocal, caring communication — treating children in care as one would any child. Recommendations highlight three key needs: an ethic of care in services as well as an ethic of justice; mental health training for all professionals in contact with children in care; and the need to listen, hear and act on what children and young people say.     

College students' knowledge and health beliefs about AIDS: implications for education and prevention

A questionnaire designed to measure the application of the dimensions of the Health Belief Model (HBM) to AIDS prevention and to practicing safer sex was administered to 139 undergraduates aged 22 years and under. Students generally had good knowledge about the facts of AIDS, which was consistent with other studies. We found an important difference between students' beliefs about practicing safer sex to prevent AIDS depending on whether their level of knowledge was high or low. The HBM posits that all of its dimensions must be present in order for belief to be followed by action. However, students with low knowledge indicated that the perceived barriers to practicing safer sex were higher than did students with high knowledge about AIDS. These results suggest that special efforts need to be made to teach students with low knowledge more about AIDS and that the barriers to safer sex can and should be overcome. There were no differences between students known to be sexually active compared with those who may or may not have been sexually active. One explanation was a possibly high number of students in the group identified as "perhaps sexually active" who actually were sexually active. Similarly, there were no differences between college students who did or did not know someone with AIDS, but this may have been due to the small number of students who did know such a person. Students' preferences for the format and methodology of AIDS education also were presented. In general, the students preferred small-group discussions and formats such as movies or panel discussions where they could remain "anonymous."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Managerial and professional beliefs influencing public health privatization: results of a national survey of local health department directors

This article describes managerial and professional beliefs underlying decisions to privatize public health services. We drew a stratified, nationally representative sample of local health departments and interviewed 347 department directors by telephone. We used logistic regression to establish the independent effects of various beliefs on the decision to privatize. Over half of directors did not believe that there was valid evidence that privatization results in more efficient performance, and those who believed there was such evidence were not more likely to privatize. However, directors held professional and managerial beliefs that influenced their decision to privatize. Directors most likely to privatize were those who believed that local health departments should exclusively focus on the core public health functions, those who asserted that public health should become involved in an increasingly diverse array of social problems, and those who believed that employees should be used on a temporary and contractual, rather than permanent, basis wherever possible.     

Fertility and social change: the neglected contribution of men's approaches to becoming partners and parents

Attitude survey and interview data are mobilised to address neglect of men's contribution to low fertility and wider social change in families and relationships. Men's attitudes are as relevant as women's to understanding fertility behaviour. However, fertility behaviour can only be understood in the context of a package of changes in gender relations and family life. Data from a random sample of men aged 18–49 surveyed in the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey 2005/06 are combined with in‐depth interviews conducted in 2007 with 75 men aged 25–44 identified through the Scottish Household Survey as not living in co‐resident partnership arrangements. Both datasets encompass the age span conventionally associated with having children and men who were the potential partners of women delaying a first child until their 30s. They allow consideration of the impact of social contact with parents and children on men's fertility intentions and how the role of provider features in men's views about parenting. The interviews focus on men who have fallen out of, or have not entered, co‐resident partnerships and examine the relationship between partnering and parenting. In combination the data suggest how men act as a complementary or contradictory downward drag on women's fertility and that their role has been underestimated in understanding the package of family change of which low fertility is a part.