Substance use among older youth transitioning from foster care: Examining the protective effects of religious and spiritual capital

Among older youth transitioning from the foster care system, this longitudinal study examined the association of religious and spiritual capital to substance use in the past year at age 19. Participants consisted of African American (N = 179) and White non‐Hispanic (N = 133) older youth in foster care. Drawing from social capital theory, it was posited that religious service attendance (a proxy for religious capital) and belief in a spiritual force (a proxy for spiritual capital) would be inversely associated with substance use. Multiple logistic regression results indicated support for the first and second hypothesis for White foster youth only. Among White foster youth, more frequent religious service attendance and greater belief in a spiritual force were associated with a lower likelihood of illegal substance and polysubstance use. No association between religious or spiritual capital and substance use was found among African American foster youth. The findings underscore the importance of conducting spiritual assessments to help ensure older foster youth who have strong religious or spiritual orientations are in environments where they are accommodated and supported.     

Attitudinal and behavioral differences between cigarette users who do and do not identify as “smokers”

Objective: The current research aimed to understand differences in smoking-related identity among college students and to illustrate the distinct characteristics of nonidentified smokers (NIS). Participants: Students from 2 colleges in Massachusetts (N = 538; April 2016). Methods: Respondents reported by online survey whether or not they had smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days and if they self-identified as smokers. Nonsmokers (NIS) and identified smokers (IS) were then compared on their smoking attitudes and behavior. Results: NIS made up 12.5% of the sample and 64% of all tobacco users. NIS perceived themselves as less addicted and were more confident in their ability to quit smoking. They also were less likely to smoke alone, buy their own cigarettes, or have friends who smoked. Conclusions: College health officials can best motivate NIS to quit smoking by focusing on peer norms and the potential of long-term addiction.     

The reliance on recognition and majority vote heuristics over privacy concerns when selecting smartphone apps among German and US consumers

The smartphone app market is a prime example of a digital market where consumers are tasked with selecting one option among a plethora of alternatives, at times indistinguishable from one another. Building upon findings on information processing and decision-making, we postulate that consumers follow simple (rather than complex) heuristic rules to navigate the app market. In particular, we focus on two such strategies: the recognition heuristic and the majority vote heuristic. App privacy information was also considered as a potentially salient cue in the decision-making process, given the personal data stored on smartphones. Results of a mixed-method design (behavioral analysis and think-aloud protocols) study with German (N?=?18) and US (N?=?25) students find a dominance of the recognition heuristic. Decisions are further supported by majority vote heuristics. Privacy information is largely disregarded, particularly by US participants. Implications for app market design and engagement are discussed.     

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) increases insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in sedentary aging men but not masters’ athletes: an observational study

Introduction: The aim of this investigation was to examine the impact high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in active compared with sedentary aging men.

Methods: 22 lifetime sedentary (SED; 62?±?2 years) and 17 masters’ athletes (LEX; 60?±?5 years) were recruited to the study. As HIIT requires preconditioning exercise in sedentary cohorts, the study required three assessment phases; enrollment (phase A), following preconditioning exercise (phase B), and post-HIIT (phase C). Serum IGF-I was determined by electrochemiluminescent immunoassay.

Results: IGF-I was higher in LEX compared to SED at baseline (p?=?0.007, Cohen’s d?=?0.91), and phase B (p?=?0.083, Cohen’s d?=?0.59), with only a small difference at C (p?=?0.291, Cohen’s d?=?0.35). SED experienced a small increase in IGF-I following preconditioning from 13.1?±?4.7 to 14.2?±?6.0?μg·dl^?1 (p?=?0.376, Cohen’s d?=?0.22), followed by a larger increase post-HIIT (16.9?±?4.4?μg·dl^?1), which was significantly elevated compared with baseline (p?=?0.002, Cohen’s d?=?0.85), and post-preconditioning (p?=?0.005, Cohen’s d?=?0.51). LEX experienced a trivial changes in IGF-I from A to B (18.2?±?6.4 to 17.2?±?3.7?μg·dl^?1 [p?=?0.538, Cohen’s d?=?0.19]), and a small change post-HIIT (18.4?±?4.1?μg·dl^?1 [p?=?0.283, Cohen’s d?=?0.31]). Small increases were observed in fat-free mass in both groups following HIIT (p?d?=?0.32–0.45).

Conclusions: In conclusion, HIIT with preconditioning exercise abrogates the age associated difference in IGF-I between SED and LEX, and induces small improvements in fat-free mass in both SED and LEX.     

Use of online crowdsourcing platforms for gambling research

Crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon’s Mechnical Turk and Crowdflower have been touted to be a cost-effective way to collect large amounts of behavioural data. Across four large-n studies, gambling-related behaviours, tendencies and traits among participants in these labour markets were examined. In Studies 1 and 2, both conducted on Crowdflower, problem gamblers (as measured by the benchmark Problem Gambling Severity Index) comprised 24.5% and 21.9% of participants, respectively. In Study 3, conducted on Mechanical Turk, problem gamblers comprised 9.0% of participants. In Study 4, a two-wave longitudinal study conducted on Crowdflower, problem gamblers comprised 13.5% of participants in wave one and 14.8% of participants in wave two. In Studies 2 and 3, strong convergent associations were demonstrated across various measures of problem gambling tendencies and general gambling involvement. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that gambling was associated with personality traits (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, self-control), risk attitudes, affect, and behavioural risk-taking consistent with previous research. In Study 4, it was demonstrated that measures of problem gambling have acceptable test-retest reliability. Online crowdsourcing platforms appear to offer access to samples with remarkably high proportions of problem gamblers. However, this characteristic means that such samples are not necessarily representative of gambling tendencies among more general populations.     

Childbearing Behavior Before and After the 1994 Population Policies in Ghana

Due to the high population growth rate in the mid-20th century, the government of Ghana introduced population policies to reduce the growth rate. Encouraging girls’ education and increasing contraceptive use were the two main policy measures to reduce population growth. In order to get a clear picture of the childbearing dynamics of Ghanaian women in response to the population policy of 1994, we analyzed individual reproductive histories from 1969 to 2003 using 2003 Ghana Demographic Health survey data to disentangle patterns by parity, calendar period, and educational groups. Exponential hazard regression models were used to estimate the relative risk of births. We find some evidence of a critical juncture in fertility trends, particularly for the fifth child. In addition, higher parity transition rates continuously declined for women with secondary or higher education and these educational levels were achieved by a higher share of the population after the policy was implemented. The 1994 population policy was successful if only by virtue of the increasing number of women with secondary or higher education. Belonging to this group is not only associated with lower fertility, but this suppressing effect strengthened in the years following the policy implementation. We also suspect that the increasing similarity between women with no education and with primary education reflects the diffusion of contraceptive knowledge and norms related to childbearing. The educational reform and contraceptive initiatives did result in increased education and contraceptive awareness and are therefore beneficial programs.     

Subjective Well-Being in China: Associations with Absolute,Relative, and Perceived Economic Circumstances

Numerous studies examining the impact of income on subjective well-being (SWB) have found significant positive relationships exhibiting decreasing marginal returns. However, the impact of economic circumstances on SWB is better captured through a combination of income, wealth (per capita net worth), and perceived and relative economic conditions. Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project, I find that within rural and urban China, wealth significantly predicts SWB, exhibiting decreasing marginal returns independent of more common measures of economic circumstances such as income and occupational status. Within urban China, these associations decrease in magnitude and significance with the addition of objective relative measures of wealth and income. Finally, I find that subjective perceptions of relative standard of living are strongly associated with SWB independent of other measures. These results highlight the importance of using multiple objective and subjective measures of economic circumstances, demonstrating potential limitations of studies that have focused exclusively on income as a predictor of well-being. Results are interpreted within the context of China’s changing social and economic structure.     

Double Return Migration: Failed Returns to Poland Leading to Settlement Abroad and New Transnational Strategies

Many Poles who have arrived in the UK since EU accession show signs of settling. Often (especially for families with school‐age children) this is a gradual process. Other Poles have returned to Poland, but Poland currently seems to be having problems keeping its return migrants. Many go back only to depart again. This article focuses on why some returnees change their minds and decide to make a long‐term home abroad. It explores the implications of this decision for transnational practices and identities. It argues that often the key objective is stability. Choosing to settle abroad in the hope of a stable life, returnees attempt to live less split lives. While maintaining certain transnational practices, they scale down others, such as return visits to Poland and keeping well‐informed about Polish current events. Simultaneously, they make a decisive effort to integrate into the regular UK labour and housing markets.     

Interviewing children versus tossing coins: accurately assessing the diagnosticity of children's disclosures of abuse

We describe a Bayesian approach to evaluating children's abuse disclosures and review research demonstrating that children's disclosure of genital touch can be highly probative of sexual abuse, with the probative value depending on disclosure spontaneity and children's age. We discuss how some commentators understate the probative value of children's disclosures by: confusing the probability of abuse given disclosure with the probability of disclosure given abuse, assuming that children formally questioned about sexual abuse have a low prior probability of sexual abuse, misstating the probative value of abuse disclosure, and confusing the distinction between disclosure and nondisclosure with the distinction between true and false disclosures. We review interviewing methods that increase the probative value of disclosures, including interview instructions, narrative practice, noncontingent reinforcement, and questions about perpetrator/caregiver statements and children's reactions to the alleged abuse.     

Vowel harmony redux: Correct sounds,English loan words,and the sociocultural life of a phonological structure in Korean1

This paper examines an ideology of standard pronunciation and spelling of English loan words in South Korea through the lens of Korean vowel harmony. I focus specifically on the alternation between an older Japanese‐style ‘a’[a] and a newer Korean‐style ‘?’[?] for the mapping of mid‐vowels from English to Korean. The opposition between ‘a’ and ‘?’ also figures into the dichotomy of vowel classes between ‘yang’ or ‘light’ vowels and ‘yin’ or ‘dark’ vowels in Korean vowel harmony. This opposition is pervasive in Korean's rich stock of denotationally iconic words (e.g. onomatopoeia), where ablaut between vowel classes produces semantic and pragmatic contrasts. I suggest that this latter structure of phonological opposition has an influence on speakers’ perceptions of vowel difference and associated values in English loan words, despite an overarching ideology of standard pronunciation that is based on assumptions about phonetic fidelity. ? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ? ??? ? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????. ??, ?? ???? ‘?’[a]? ‘?’[?]? ??(mapping)?? ?? ??? ??. ??? ?? ????? ‘?’? ?? ?? ??? ? ?????? ???? ???? ??(正音)?? ?????? ??. ?? ‘?’? ????? ???, ??? ???? ??? ????? ?(音)?? ???? ??. ???, ‘?’/‘?’? ??? ??? ???? ?? ????? ????? ??; ?, ??? ????? ????? ??? ??. ??, ????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ??? ? ? ??. ????, ????? ????? ????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ??? ??? ???. [Korean]