Current Versus Ideal Skin Tones and Tanning Behaviors in Caucasian College Women

Abstract. Objective: To explore tanning behaviors and whether a discrepancy between current and ideal skin tones exists. Participants: The sample included 78 Caucasian women from a mid-sized midwestern university. Methods: Data were collected in spring 2012 via a paper questionnaire. Results: Sixty-two percent of the sample regularly engaged in salon tanning at least once per week, with an average frequency of 2.5 visits per week. Thirteen percent endorsed regularly tanning 4 or more times per week, and 26% reported visiting a tanning bed more than once in a 24-hour period. Ninety-four percent wished their current skin tone was darker, and ideal tone was significantly darker than current tone. Conclusions: The data suggest that the young Caucasian women in this sample tend to be dissatisfied with their current skin tone to an extent that leads the majority of them to engage in risky, potentially cancer-causing behavior by either salon tanning or considering tanning in the future as time and finances become available.     

Promoting Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem for Multiethnic Sexual Minority Youth: An Evidence-Informed Intervention

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority youth face multiple challenges, yet research regarding evidence-informed practice strategies for this population is limited. This study describes the pilot efforts of Strengths First, the first strengths-based intervention created specifically to promote self-esteem and self-efficacy among multiethnic sexual minority youth. A pretest–posttest design was used to gather preliminary data from program participants (n = 162) about the potential effectiveness of the program during a 2-year period that ranged from the inception of the program in June 2008 to September 2010. Significant increases in self-esteem and self-efficacy were found. Implications for social service research and practice are discussed.     

Associations Between Friendship,Sympathy, and Prosocial Behavior Toward Friends

The current study examined the associations between multiple aspects of the friend relationship (connection, companionship, psychological control) and global prosocial behavior toward friends. Participants included 467 early adolescents (M age of child = 13.32, SD = 1.05, 49% female, 69% European American), and data were collected at two time points, roughly 1 year apart. Structural equation modeling suggested that friend psychological control was negatively associated with prosocial behavior toward friends, while friend connection was positively associated (via adolescent sympathy). Discussion focuses on the friend relationship as an important influence on adolescent sympathy and prosocial behavior toward friends.     

Examining Direct Service Worker Turnover in Three Long-Term Care Industries in Ohio

This is the first study to examine direct service worker turnover and its predictors across three provider types: nursing homes, home health agencies, and providers of services for the developmentally disabled. Stratified random sampling procedures were used to select provider types across five geographic regions in Ohio. Data were collected from administrative staff. Findings indicated that annual direct service worker turnover did not significantly vary by provider type (mean = 33%). Predictors of turnover related to job burnout, negative social support, and region. Policymakers can promote practices to lower direct service worker turnover such as addressing burnout and increasing support.     

The contemporary foreclosure crisis and US crime rates

Foreclosure rates in America reached unprecedented levels during the last half of the 2000s, and many observers have speculated that elevated crime rates were one of the probable negative collateral consequences of this trend. We examine this issue with a comprehensive county-level analysis of the role of foreclosure in shaping contemporary crime patterns, highlighting the possibility of theoretically informed non-linear and conditional relationships. Multivariate regression models that account for the well-documented spatial autocorrelation of crime rates and the possible endogeneity of foreclosure reveal a positive association between rates of foreclosure and property crime that accelerates significantly once foreclosure rates attain historically high levels. Multiplicative models indicate that this pattern holds for burglary across diverse county conditions, but the observed non-linear effect of foreclosure on robbery rates is limited primarily to areas that also exhibit relatively high levels of resource deprivation and limited new housing construction.     

Television Viewing Patterns in 6‐ to 18‐Month‐Olds: The Role of Caregiver–Infant Interactional Quality

The present study examines coviewing of Baby Mozart by 6‐ to 18‐month‐old infants and their caregivers under naturalistic conditions. We had two questions. First, extending the method of Barr, Zack, Garcia, and Muentener ( Infancy, 13 [2008], 30–56 ) to a younger population, we asked if age, prior exposure, and caregiver verbal input would predict infant looking to a Baby Mozart video from 6 to 18 months. Second, we asked if caregiver–infant interactional quality, defined as the amount of shared focus and turn taking between infant and caregiver, would be associated with infant looking time. We found that, in addition to the anticipated effect of prior exposure and caregiver verbal input, interactional quality measures were related to infant media‐directed looking. Infants who engaged in more shared focus and turn taking looked more to the program than infants who interacted less with their caregivers. These results are discussed in terms of social mediation of coviewing during early infancy.     

Applying the model of human occupation in work-focused rehabilitation: a case illustration

This paper illustrates application of the model of human occupation in the long term rehabilitation of a German worker who suffered a stroke. The case shows the importance of assessing and addressing not only performance, but also volition and habituation. As such it illustrates a holistic approach to providing work related rehabilitation.     

Who's calling the shots? Decision-makers and the adoption of effective school-based substance use prevention curricula

This study investigates the relative roles of school district and school-level decision-makers in the implementation of effective substance use prevention curricula. Drawing on a "Site-Based Management" approach to effective decision-making, we hypothesized that schools whose personnel played active decision-making roles would be more likely to implement effective curricula than those in which decision-making was the prerogative of school district personnel. Study data comprised 1369 questionnaires completed by a representative national sample of both district-level prevention coordinators and middle school-based lead prevention teachers. From the perspective of the lead prevention teachers, the school district-level prevention coordinator was more influential than school staff in selecting effective prevention curricula. However, we did find some support for our hypothesis from our district-level informants, who indicated that community groups and advisory committees also play a modest role in the selection of such curricula.