Electronic Bullying and Victimization and Life Satisfaction in Middle School Students

This study examined the nature and prevalence of electronic bullying and victimization in a sample of middle school students in a southeastern USA school. Relationships among measures of electronic bullying and victimization and global and domain-specific life satisfaction were also investigated. A total of 855 7th and 8th grade US students responded to questions regarding global and domain-based life satisfaction, electronic bullying and victimization behaviors. Although a majority of students reported not engaging in or being the victim of electronic bullying, the small percentage of students who did report these behaviors as being problematic indicated that the behaviors occurred several times a week. Statistically significant correlates of electronic bullying were self-reported grades in school, gender, and parent marital status. Significant correlates of victimization were self-reported grades in school, parent marital status, and ethnicity. The results suggested modest, but pervasive relationships between experiences of electronic bullying and victimization and adolescents?? life satisfaction reports across a variety of important life domains. When the effects of demographic variables were controlled, the relationship between electronic victimization and global life satisfaction became non-significant, suggesting that global life satisfaction reports may mask the effects of specific life satisfaction domains.     

GotFlu Channel: An Online Syndromic Surveillance Tool Supporting College Health Practice and Public Health Work

Abstract

Objective: Develop a tool to ease the burden of H1N1 influenza on a campus clinic by promoting self-care, generating medical notes, and identifying vulnerable students. Participants: Students at Brock University, a mid-sized urban campus; Brock's Student Health Services; and Niagara Public Health. Methods: Students accessed a controlled portal of Brock's Web site and self-identified onset/offset of influenza-like symptoms. Daily sign-in numbers were monitored and nonidentifiable aggregate data transferred to the local public health unit. Results: There was concordance among the number of college students signing in, local school absenteeism rates, and local rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza. Many visits to the campus health clinic were averted, 1,432 students used the tool. Conclusion: The online, real-time surveillance tool was effective in monitoring influenza activity on campus, providing timely health advice, decreasing unnecessary visits to the campus medical clinic, and assisting local public health in surveillance activities.     

Well London: Results of a Community Engagement Approach to Improving Health Among Adolescents from Areas of Deprivation in London

This article reports findings among adolescents of the impact of Well London, a program of wellbeing interventions delivered across 20 deprived neighbourhoods of London using a community engagement model. Twelve hundred and fifty-four adolescents were surveyed from matched intervention and control areas. There was no significant intervention effect on the main outcome measures: unhealthy eating, physical activity, and mental health. Factors influencing the results may include the possibility that the communities defined by the cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) were not an accurate reflection of the adolescent’s natural community, and interactions within the school environment in particular could have led to a dilution of effect.     

Who loses in direct democracy?

We examine the success of California’s black, Latino, and Asian voters in ballot proposition elections, showing that minority voters lose more often than whites across all ballot propositions, and that this disadvantage is not limited to a small subset of racially-targeted propositions. Minority voters are 2-5 percentage points less likely than otherwise-similar white voters to be on the winning side of ballot propositions. These differences persist after excluding racially-targeted propositions because minority voters are more likely to lose on several issues including elections, the environment, health, housing, taxes, and transportation. We demonstrate that race is more important than class in describing which voters lose.     

Actor-based analysis of peer influence in A Stop Smoking In Schools Trial (ASSIST)

As shown by the success of network intervention studies that exploit the occurrence of peer influence in their target group, the reliable assessment of peer influence processes can be important for informing public health policy and practice. A recently developed tool for assessing peer influence in longitudinal social network data is stochastic actor-based modeling. The body of the literature in which this method is applied is growing, but how reliable are the results? In this paper, we identify two shortcomings in this literature: the questionable assumption of temporal homogeneity, and the potential dependence of results on the inclusion of nuisance parameters in the model specification. These issues are resolved by analyzing the data of three schools selected from ASSIST, a large UK-based trial of a school-based smoking prevention intervention. Results show that the co-evolution of friendship and smoking is a time heterogeneous process, and that results are sensitive to specification details. However, the peer influence parameter is not affected by either, but emerges as surprisingly stable over time and robust to model variation. This establishes confidence in the method and encourages detailed future investigations of peer influence in ASSIST.     

The Self-Regulation of Gambling

Despite the prevalence of gambling world-wide, relatively few individuals become problem gamblers. Additionally many problem gamblers recover without professional assistance. The current study aim was to examine how individuals self-manage their gambling through (a) assessing frequency of use of a range of self-regulation strategies (b) examining how these strategies cluster and (c) exploring relationships between strategies, gambling frequency, amount spent and problem gambling severity. A sample of 303 gamblers was recruited, over-sampling for problem gamblers as assessed by the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) of the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (mean age 26.4 years, SD = 10.1 years; 119 males, 184 females; 238 social gamblers, 63 problem gamblers, 2 unclassified). They rated extent of usage of 27 gambling self-management techniques and completed the PGSI and other gambling measures. Factor analysis of items produced five factors, named Cognitive Approaches, Direct Action, Social Experience, Avoidance and Limit Setting. The relationships between these factors and key gambling variables were consistent with hypotheses that problem gamblers trying to reduce their gambling would be more likely to use the strategies than other gambler groups. The potential for developing the factors into a Gambling Self-regulation Measure was explored.     

Science as a service: understanding successful knowledge transfer in a New Zealand research institute

This paper reports on an exercise conducted within a state-owned body (Crown Research Institute) in New Zealand aimed at building greater understanding of the key factors in successful research programmes. Success was defined in this study as a high level of uptake of the emerging science, with commensurate benefits to both industry and the community. The methodology had three parts. A review of the knowledge and technology transfer literature; a series of 15 semi-structured interviews with science leaders; and a facilitated workshop. The purpose of the review was to generate a robust framework upon which to centre the interview dialogues, and two models were selected. The results varied, reflecting the diversity of research services provided by the organization, but the findings were predominantly new and valuable. The importance of the long term relationship with the end users was the strongest recurring theme. The methodology may have wider application in both research and consulting settings; for the benefits derived from the interactive process with staff, as well as for the specific findings.