Are Adolescent Substance Users Less Satisfied with Life as Young Adults and if so,Why?

The present study investigated whether adolescent cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use predicts life satisfaction in young adulthood. Survey data were used from a longitudinal cohort of 2376 adolescents at ages 18 and 29, originally recruited from California and Oregon middle schools at age 13. Results of multivariate models indicated that use of cigarettes and hard drugs at age 18 was associated with lower life satisfaction at age 29, controlling for adolescent environmental, social, and behavioral factors related to lower life satisfaction, including poor mental health, loneliness, poor social skills, and Black race. Adolescent alcohol and marijuana use were not significantly related to adult life satisfaction. Low income, poor health, and cigarette use during adulthood each independently mediated the relationship between adolescent cigarette use and adult life satisfaction, together explaining 84.58% of the effect. Adult hard drug use mediated the effect of adolescent hard drug use, explaining 54.79% of the effect. Results suggest that some forms of adolescent substance use limit socio-economic opportunities, and have a lasting effect on health, consequently decreasing life-satisfaction. Continued use of substances may also lead to lower subjective well-being over time. Findings indicate a need for programs that increase social skills and effectively prevent adolescents from using substances, perhaps by incorporating information about consequences of use for socio-economic status, health, and well-being over the long term. This research was funded by grant #R01 DA 13515 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.     

The contribution of medical measures to the decline of mortality from respiratory tuberculosis: An ageperiod-cohort model

The decline of mortality in the more developed nations has been related to two major influences, economic development and the introduction of medical measures. The contribution of medical measures has been a source of continuing controversy. Most previous studies employ either a birth cohort or calendar year arrangement of mortality data to address this controversy. The present study applies an age-period-cohort model to mortality from respiratory tuberculosis in England and Wales, Italy, and New Zealand in an attempt to separate economic influences from that of medical measures. The results of the analysis indicate that while the overall contribution of medical measures is small when examined by calendar year, specific birth cohorts both in Italy and in England and Wales benefited substantially from these measures. The environmental conditions in New Zealand, however, were such that the introduction of medical measures barely affected declining mortality levels from respiratory tuberculosis.     

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a 10-Item Short Form Inventory of Gambling Situations

The Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS-63; Turner and Littman-Sharp, Inventory of gambling situations users guide, 2006) is a 63-item measure of high-risk gambling situations. It assesses gambling across 10 situational subscales that load onto two higher-order factors: negative and positive situations (Stewart et al. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22:257–268, 2008). While the IGS-63 has excellent psychometric properties (Littman-Sharp et al., The Inventory of Gambling Situations: Reliability, factor structure, and validity (IGS Technical Manual), in press) its length may preclude its use in time-limited contexts. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a 10-item short-form of the IGS (IGS-10). Each IGS-10 item reflects one of the ten subscale categories from the IGS-63, with two items from the original subscales included as examples for each IGS-10 item. The IGS-10 was administered to 180 undergraduate gamblers along with the IGS-63 and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI; Ferris and Wynne, Canadian Problem Gambling Index: Final report, 2001). IGS-10 items showed convergent validity with the corresponding IGS-63 subscales (r’s = .60–.73). Principal components analysis of the IGS-10 revealed two factors: negative (α = .84) and positive (α = .85). PGSI scores correlated significantly with all IGS-10 items (r’s = .33–.58) and with both IGS-10 higher-order subscales (r’s = .66 [negative] and .49 [positive]), supporting the criterion validity of the IGS-10. Since minimal information is lost when using the IGS-10, the short form may prove particularly useful when respondent burden prevents using the full IGS-63.     

Mortgage Mistakes? Demographic Factors Associated with Problematic Loan Application Behaviors

Using 2005 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, this study explores problematic mortgage application behaviors including submitting incomplete paperwork when seeking a mortgage, withdrawing a loan application before the lender makes a credit decision, rejecting a lender approved loan offer and accepting a high interest rate loan. Tract-level college completion rates, homeownership rates, and household age, as well as race, ethnicity, and income are all associated with problematic loan application behaviors, although these relationships vary across behaviors. The results of this analysis may prove useful for targeting financial education and counseling efforts to areas with the greater potential needs.     

Wiley’s Contribution to Symbolic Interactionist Theory

History of symbolic interactionism is reviewed from its pragmatist precursors (Peirce, Dewey), through the Idealist philosophical context of George Herbert Mead, to Blumer’s creation of a sociological interactionism. Wiley models interaction among parts of the self to account for both successes and failures of reflexive self-direction. Wiley thus provides a mechanism for agency or will, making these empirical topics via the study of internal dialogue.     

Young-onset dementia: a review of the literature and what it means for clinicians

It is estimated that more than a half million people in the United States are living with young-onset dementia and another half million with mild cognitive impairment, a precursor of dementia. Relatively little has been written about the psychosocial needs of these people, but information can be extrapolated from the literature on dementia in older adults and the developmental tasks and roles of middle age. This article synthesizes this literature and provides information to help psychiatric nurses and other health care professionals better understand individuals living with young-onset dementia.     

College Based Placement Co-ordinators in the United Kingdom: Their Perceptions of Stress

Placement co-ordinators on college-based social work courseshave a demanding task, liaising with students, tutors and agencytraining sections in order to provide appropriate practice learningopportunities. They cope with long established limitations onthe quantity and quality of placements. Therefore, the rolewould appear to be a stressful one. This research examines jobsatisfaction, pressure and constraints, psychological well-being,the impact of the host institution, and some changes that mightalleviate stress. A postal questionnaire was sent to all placementco-ordinators on college-based social work courses in the UK.The findings indicated that small numbers of placement co-ordinatorsexperienced high levels of stress to the point of sufferingfrom ‘borderline’ anxiety and depression. Stressscores for placement co-ordinators as a whole, however, werelower than those of the general UK population. The co-ordinatorsenjoyed considerable autonomy and a reasonable amount of support.Generally, they had positive attitudes towards the institutionswhere they worked. Males tended to emphasize the importanceof the institutional context rather than females. However, aroundhalf of the placement co-ordinators had considered giving uptheir posts; only about a quarter liked their work. Respondentsenjoyed only limited job satisfaction, felt pressurized, subjectto excessive demands and were ambivalent in attitudes aboutmanagers, colleagues, students and practice teachers.     

Governing the Global Land Grab: What role for Gender in the Voluntary Guidelines and the Principles for Responsible Investment?

The heightened interest in large-scale foreign agricultural investment in regions with ‘unused’ arable land has triggered a great deal of international attention. Concerns about ‘land grabbing’ have initiated efforts at the global level to establish standards for ‘responsible investment’ and good governance. These initiatives warrant critical examination given the social, political, and economic inequalities to which they are designed to respond, yet the scholarship on these initiatives frequently fails to incorporate gendered analyses. This article argues that gendered analysis of the governance of land grabs not only belongs at the local level—where it continues to yield important insights into how gender inequality is manifested in various forms of local governance—but that it is sorely needed at the global level as well. As such, this article begins an assessment of these governance frameworks and how they consider local realities, with particular attention to gender-based inequalities.