Perceptions of environmental supports on the physical activity behaviors of university men and women: a preliminary investigation

OBJECTIVE: To examine perception differences between genders of university sidewalks and safety from crime on the physical activity (PA) behaviors of undergraduate students. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred and sixty undergraduate students participated in this study. METHODS: The authors derived questions from the South Carolina Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire (SCESPAQ) and National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRS) PA module. RESULTS: The authors found a significant mean difference between genders for the Moderate Intensity Item (eg, walking and biking) and the Flexibility Item, t(558)=3.602, p=.001, and t(558)=1.946, p=.050, respectively. Of participants surveyed, 30% of women perceived this campus to be extremely safe compared with 49% of men, t(558)=4.240, p=.001. Gender and the perceptions of sidewalk presence were significantly related (p<.05) to respondents' walking or bicycling patterns. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptions of sidewalks and safety from crime on this university campus were related to students' PA behaviors.     

Perceptions of the availability of recreational physical activity facilities on a university campus

OBJECTIVE: The author's purpose in this study was to assess perceptions of recreational physical activity (PA) facilities on a university campus. PARTICIPANTS: Four-hundred and sixty-seven undergraduate students participated in this study (women = 293; men = 174). RESULTS: The author found a significant percentage difference between women and men concerning the availability of racquetball courts on campus, 47% vs 63%, t (465) = -3.274. The author similarly found a significant percentage difference between women and men's perceptions concerning the availability of tennis courts. Twenty-seven percent of women were unaware or did not know tennis courts were available for PA, in comparison with 19% of men t (465) = -2.413. Awareness of recreational facilities revealed significant differences (Pillai's Trace = .189, p < .05) between freshmen and upperclassmen. Freshmen perceived themselves to have access to fewer recreational facilities on campus. CONCLUSION: More efforts to increase awareness of PA facilities are needed on university campuses.     

A flexible parametric survival model which allows a bathtub-shaped hazard rate function

A new parametric (three-parameter) survival distribution, the lognormal–power function distribution, with flexible behaviour is introduced. Its hazard rate function can be either unimodal, monotonically decreasing or can exhibit a bathtub shape. Special cases include the lognormal distribution and the power function distribution, with finite support. Regions of parameter space where the various forms of the hazard-rate function prevail are established analytically. The distribution lends itself readily to accelerated life regression modelling. Applications to five data sets taken from the literature are given. Also it is shown how the distribution can behave like a Weibull distribution (with negative aging) for certain parameter values.     

Erratum to: On the Social Validity of Behavior-Analytic Communication: a Call for Research and Description of One Method

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior -     

College majors and social mobility

To further our understanding of social mobility in the United States, this study examines the role of major field of study during college, and the relationships between origin characteristics and education attainment. Data, collected in 2001, consisted of information on the college and labor market experiences of 4435 alumni from 30 colleges, as well as matched ACT data on alumni background and pre-college characteristics from three cohorts of college graduates up to 25 years after college. Results indicate that both placement on and movement along the social ladder are affected by college major, and the extent to which status is awarded based on merit relative to inherited economic resources is partially dependent upon major.     

Are Adult Patients More Tolerant of Treatment Risks Than Parents of Juvenile Patients?

Understanding patient-specific differences in risk tolerance for new treatments that offer improved efficacy can assist in making difficult regulatory and clinical decisions for new treatments that offer both the potential for greater effectiveness in relieving disease symptoms, but also risks of disabling or fatal side effects. The aim of this study is to elicit benefit-risk trade-off preferences for hypothetical treatments with varying efficacy and risk levels using a stated-choice (SC) survey. We derive estimates of "maximum acceptable risk" (MAR) that can help decisionmakers identify welfare-enhancing alternatives. In the case of children, parent caregivers are responsible for treatment decisions and their risk tolerance may be quite different than adult patients' own tolerance for treatment-related risks. We estimated and compared the willingness of Crohn's disease (CD) patients and parents of juvenile CD patients to accept serious adverse event (SAE) risks in exchange for symptom relief. The analyzed data were from 345 patients over the age of 18 and 150 parents of children under the age of 18. The estimation results provide strong evidence that adult patients and parents of juvenile patients are willing to accept tradeoffs between treatment efficacy and risks of SAEs. Parents of juvenile CD patients are about as risk tolerant for their children as adult CD patients are for themselves for improved treatment efficacy. SC surveys provide a systematic method for eliciting preferences for benefit-risk tradeoffs. Understanding patients' own risk perceptions and their willingness to accept risks in return for treatment benefits can help inform risk management decision making.     

Direct observation of neighborhood stressors and environmental justice in the South Bronx,New York City

Neighborhood environments are believed to contribute to negative health outcomes; however, accurately measuring area attributes remains challenging. The objective of this research is to quantify the presence of (or lack of) environmental injustices characterized by the geographic distribution of neighborhood stressors related to the built and social environment in the South Bronx that may contribute to poor health outcomes. Objective environmental audits were collected and coded for over 2,000 block faces. Physical and social indices were calculated. Bivariate correlations and spatial regressions revealed potential environmental injustices related to the distribution of social and physical environmental stressors at the local level. This novel dataset has many future applications in the effort to understand the connection between health, environmental justice, and location.     

Movement Differences between Deliberate and Spontaneous Facial Expressions: Zygomaticus Major Action in Smiling

Previous research suggests differences in lip movement between deliberate and spontaneous facial expressions. We investigated within participant differences between deliberately posed and spontaneously occurring smiles during a directed facial action task. Using automated facial image analysis, we quantified lip corner movement during periods of visible Zygomaticus major activity. Onset and offset speed, amplitude of movement, and offset duration were greater in deliberate smiles. In contrast to previous results, however, lip corner movement asymmetry was not greater in deliberate smiles. Observed characteristics of deliberate and spontaneous smiling may be related to differences in the typical context and purpose of the facial signal. Karen L. Schmidt, Zara Ambadar, Jeffrey F. Cohn, and L. Ian Reed are affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Jeffrey F. Cohn is also affiliated with the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. This research was supported by NIMH Grants MH15279 and 167376 to Karen L. Schmidt, and NIMH Grant MH 51435 to Jeffrey F. Cohn. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Adena Zlochower in digitizing videotape used in this analysis and Rachel Levenstein in the analysis of data described in this paper. Address correspondence to Karen L. Schmidt, University of Pittsburgh, 121 University Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA; E-mail: kschmidt@pitt.edu