The Self-Care Center for Cuts: A Model for Student Development

Abstract

We conducted a study to determine whether an intervention using self-care information would change college students' attitudes and beliefs concerning personal responsibility and involvement in their own health care. Individuals entering a student health service were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Members of the treatment group (n = 187) received the intervention and completed the survey instrument. Members of the control group (n = 204) completed the survey instrument only. The intervention consisted of one page of general information about the benefits to individuals of taking responsibility for their own health and a booklet containing excerpts from a consumer-oriented health care book. The survey instrument was composed of a measure of attitudes toward information and behavioral involvement in health care and a measure of beliefs regarding control over one's health. Results indicated that the intervention was able to change the treatment group's attitudes regarding active participation in health care. The treatment group's responses also reflected less belief that health was outside of the individual's control. The study showed that a positive change in health-related attitudes and beliefs can result from a relatively uncomplicated informational intervention.     

Inconsistencies in reporting the occurrence and timing of first intercourse among adolescents

Two types of reporting inconsistency for sexual initiation were analyzed—event occurrence and its timing—using data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Overall, 11.1% of those who reported they were sexually active at the time of first interview denied this at the subsequent one. Males of each race/ethnic group had higher percentages of inconsistency than their female counterparts. Being older, not living with parents, or having a highly educated mother was negatively associated with rescinding. Among those reporting sexual experience at both interviews, only 22.2% reported the same date of first sex. On average, teens revised their age at first sex to older ages, and boys, especially African American boys, had large variability in reporting dates, as did teens with lower verbal ability. Seven strategies for resolving inconsistent reports are presented and implications for substantive findings are discussed.     

HIV Risk Behaviors Among Three Classes of Female Sex Workers in Vietnam

Increases in the rate of HIV infection in Vietnam among female sex workers and their clients require more effective preventive interventions based on a better understanding of this population and important subgroups within it. Because little was known about women in the hospitality sex industry, this study compared demographic and work characteristics, history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and condom use among a sample of 310 female sex workers in low-, middle-, and high-class hospitality businesses in Ho Chi Minh City (mean age = 26.77 years, SD = 6.17). Data were collected through individual, face-to-face, semistructured interviews. Logistic regression models were used to identify demographic predictors of the incidence of STIs and reported condom use. Low occupational status was most strongly associated with a history of STIs, and use of condoms with new and regular clients also differed by occupational class. Implications are discussed.     

The sexually experienced woman: Multiple sex partners and sexual satisfaction

It has been suggested that women who have had more than one sex partner differ from those who have had only one, both in their background and in their current functioning (in the forms of attitudes, partner interaction, sexual satisfaction, desired changes in their sex life, and other behaviors). To explore these issues, we distributed a questionnaire to a sample of 868 nurses located in 15 states. For most variables, there were no significant differences among those with only one lifetime partner, those with few (2–5) partners, and those with many (6 or more) partners. Those with more partners did report having intercourse earlier, reaching orgasm earlier, and pretending to reach orgasm more often. Those with many partners indicated their partners more often delayed orgasm until after their own first orgasm. They also expressed more concern about a lack of interest in and a lack of adequate foreplay by their partners. Those women with a few partners expressed the least psychological sexual satisfaction (79%).     

Older Lesbian Sexuality: Identity,Sexual Behavior,and the Impact of Aging

In response to the very limited and mostly outdated literature on older lesbian sexuality, this exploratory study examined older lesbian sexual identity, romantic relationships, the impact of aging, and experiences of discrimination within these contexts. Utilizing an online survey that recruited via numerous online lesbian communities and snowball sampling, 456 lesbians over the age of 50 responded to closed, Likert scale, and open-ended questions that provided a preliminary understanding of older lesbian sexuality. The results indicated that older lesbians have experienced fluidity in past romantic and sexual relationships, as well as in erotic fantasies, despite strong identification with being lesbian. The findings also indicate a decreased focus on sexuality in the context of relationships, with more focus on stability and continuity. Future research is needed that provides greater specificity and detail about older lesbian conceptions of sexual behavior and sexual identity labels, as well as specific sexual behaviors.     

Enhancing Longitudinal Studies by Linkage to National Databases: Growing Up in Australia,the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children†

Growing Up in Australia is a national longitudinal study of the development and wellbeing of 10,000 Australian children. The study has been committed since inception to support data linkage to other datasets, to value‐add to the primary modes of data collection from parents and others. It can increase the efficiency of data collection by reducing respondent and interviewer burden as well as adding new dimensions to addressing key research questions. The viability of data linkage needs to take into account the relevance of the data for research and policy, as well as data quality and cost, privacy and consent issues and the ease of access. This article documents the various sources for data linkage considered for Growing Up in Australia, including government health and education records, child care accreditation data, and community‐level data, and examines the strengths and challenges associated with each.     

Learning to Speak the Language A Relational Interpretation or an Adolescent Girl's Suicidality

Through a clinical case study, this paper explores the peak in girls' suicide attempts at ages 13 and 14 and offers a relational interpretation of girls' suicidal behaviors as symbolic and indirect speech, reflecting a language that is deeply encultured. In early adolescence, girls learn that if they threaten to harm or endanger themselves or actually do so, people take notice. Girls then discover the communicative value of threatening or enacting harm, danger, or violence against themselves. Thus they “learn to speak the language of violence.” The clinical case illustrates how girls who speak this language can be called manipulative and not taken seriously, but also how, when their communication is heard and interpreted relationally, it can explain why girls' suicidality peaks in early adolescence and why it is associated with hope.     

Forever in Kente: Ghanian Barbie and the Fashioning of Identity

This article analyses the costuming of Mattel's Ghanian Barbie, and other ‘Dolls of the World’ for what they reveal about issues of nostalgia, imperialism and identity in a post Cold War American world. While many scholars have commented on the ideologies that Barbie exemplifies and promotes, few give attention to the ‘Dolls of the World’. Those that do focus on how these dolls promote American-like consumption in other parts of the world. Yet the largest market for these dolls is here in the US. My article addresses this gap through an examination of their American consumption as well as commenting on the complex issues of ethnicity and nationhood that these dolls raise.