An evaluation of a social norms marketing project for tobacco prevention with middle, high, and college students; use of funds from the Tobacco Master Settlement (Virginia)

The Anti-Tobacco Media Blitz (ATMB), a social-norms marketing program, was utilized for tobacco prevention with middle and high school students. University students assisted middle and high school students with the implementation of this campaign, which included a variety of media. Students worked in teams to design, develop, and evaluate tobacco-free messages through posters, radio, television, and peer-led activities. Evaluation of the campaign was constant and included assessment of message retention and demonstration of positive behaviors. This article discusses the procedures of this project, the five-step social norms marketing model, with emphasis on the student-centered evaluation and results.     

Implementing a Trauma Recovery Framework for Youths in Residential Treatment

This paper describes an intervention designed to address the special needs of youths with histories of maltreatment and exposure to family and community violence. The primary components of the model include an enhanced therapeutic community environment and a psychoeducation program that is aimed at changing non-adaptive cognitive and behavioral patterns which developed as means of coping with traumatic experiences. The implementation of the model and proximal effects on the therapeutic communities and youths are being examined in comparison to standard residential services. Initial perceptions of staff illustrate the challenges in applying an intervention that calls for changing the organizational culture.     

Plasma endorphin levels in pathological gambling

Despite its formal definition as a disorder of impulse control, pathological gambling has come under the generic label of addictive disorders with subjective excitement and physiological arousal as the major motivating factor. Individual differences in autonomic/cortical arousability in interaction with irregular schedules of reinforcement have been postulated to be important determinant factors in the pathogenesis of pathological gambling (Anderson & Brown, 1984). Mood disturbances and cross-addictions are frequently observed in pathological gamblers seeking treatment and the behavior has also been conceptualized as a defense against depression and anxiety. Recently the role of endorphins has been implicated in mood disturbances associated with psychiatric states and in addictive processes; the latter through their euphorogenic or reward-transmitting properties in accordance with operant and classical conditioning principles. The hypothesis that the etiology or maintenance of gambling behavior is related to endorphin activity was investigated in this study. Using radioimmunoassay techniques, baseline B-endorphin plasma levels were measured in a sample of 39 pathological gamblers seeking treatment and 16 male and 19 female non-gambling healthy control subjects. In addition, B-endorphin reactivity to gambling activity was measured in a subgroup of 13 horse-race gamblers.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III criteria for diagnosis were used. Written consent was obtained. Blood samples were drawn at the same time of day for each subject. The experimental procedure consisted of taking baseline blood samples at 11 a.m. following which subjects were instructed to place a bet sufficient to excite them on a horse-race. A subsequent blood sample was taken at 2 p.m., five minutes after subjects listened to the race broadcast on radio. Heart rate measures and a visual analogue scale rating excitement, tension and urge to gamble were also administered immediately before and after the race broadcast. Results showed that as a group pathological gamblers did not differ from controls on baseline B-endorphin levels. But differentiating gamblers according to type of gambling activity revealed horserace addicts to have significantly lower baseline levels as compared to poker-machine players and controls. This finding provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis that distinct subgroups of gamblers exist and raises the corollary that different etiological factors may characterize each subgroup. That B-endorphin levels did not increase in response to gambling was explained by the failure of the relatively small bet size to generate high arousal.This paper was presented at the Sixth National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, held at Atlantic City, New Jersey, December 9 to 12, 1984.     

Power to People with Disabilities: empowerment issues in employment programming

A view of empowerment that focuses exclusively or primarily on increasing the personal or individual power of people with disabilities violates the spirit of the disability rights movement which is a political movement organizing for social change. A view of empowerment more in keeping with the political organizing and protest that generated interest in empowerment focuses on the acquisition of social forms of power, especially power with which is an egalitarian social power based in individuals acting together as equal partners. An understanding of the importance of power with as a basis for empowerment is useful in developing empowering and effective employment programs for people with severe disabilities. Examples of employment programs based in power with are described including self-managed work crews, and businesses owned and operated co-operatively by people with disabilities.     

It takes a village to raise a child: A model of training for prevention of youth abuse of alcohol and other drugs

Regional Prevention Centers in Massachusetts established a training of trainers model to help communities prevent youth from the early use of alcohol and other drugs. The curriculum, called It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, teaches interested adults about prevention, empowers them to be positive role models, and helps them teach children skills that will strengthen resistance to alcohol and other drugs. The success of the program lies in its egalitarian climate for learning, its adaptability to different problems and populations, and its enhancement of communities' sense of responsibility for all children.Assistant Professor, Simmons College, School of Social Work.     

Mechanism robustness in multilateral bargaining

This paper discusses the relationship between coalitional stability and the robustness of bargaining outcomes to the bargaining procedure. We consider a class of bargaining procedures described by extensive form games, where payoff opportunities are given by a characteristic function (cooperative) game. The extensive form games differ on the probability distribution assigned to chance moves which determine the order in which players take actions. One way to define mechanism robustness is in terms of the property of no first mover advantage. An equilibrium is mechanism robust if for each member the expected payoff before and after being called to propose is the same. Alternatively one can define mechanism robustness as a property of equilibrium outcomes. An outcome is said to be mechanism robust if it is supported by some equilibrium in all the extensive form games (mechanisms) within our class. We show that both definitions of mechanism robustness provide an interesting characterization of the core of the underlying cooperative game.     

Managing work and family in home-based employment

Two 10-item scales, one describing the management of the home-based work and the other, the management of the family work, were administered to a sample of household managers who are also the home-based worker. Scale items are designed to assess dimensions of input, planning, implementing, and output.T-tests are used to compare the means of the individual items and the scale means. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to assess whether the factoring of the scale items support the theoretical framework. Scores are higher for the management of the home-based work than for the management of family work. Although both scales are highly reliable, the items in the home-based work scale factor clearly into the dimensions of standard setting and controlling. One interpretation may be that, given a choice, the dual-manager may choose to consciously organize the paid work instead of the family work.This paper reports results from the Cooperative Regional Research Project, NE-167, entitled, At-Home Income Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity and Stability in Rural/Urban Families, partially supported by the Cooperative States Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Experiment Stations at the University of Hawaii, Iowa State University, Lincoln University (Missouri), Michigan State University, Cornell University (New York), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Utah State University, and the University of Vermont. Appreciation is expressed to Frank Chiang at Cornell University and Young Rae Oum at Iowa State University for the computer assistance needed to complete this research article. Patsy Sellen was instrumental in formatting and stylizing this paper to required guidelines.Her current research interests include household asset and debt formation, working families and employers' benefits, and home-based employment. She received her Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1978.Her current research work includes an analysis of family resource management in Mexico and housing conditions in rural areas. She is also involved in the study of households who work at-home for pay and their associated management practices and coping strategies. She received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 1970.Her current research work includes such topics as divorce settlements, at-home income generation and management practices of households who are engaged in home-based employment. Her Ph.D. was received from Cornell University in 1978.     

Growing up fast: stress exposure and subjective "weathering" in emerging adulthood

We examine "subjective weathering" among females entering adulthood, using three waves of a national study. Subjective weathering is a social psychological component of aging that is associated with "physical weathering" previously observed in research on physical health. We examine the influence of stressors from childhood and adolescence on subjective weathering and depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. Childhood abuse is associated with early menarche, as anticipated in research on physical weathering. Early menarche and child abuse are in turn associated with intimate partner violence exposure in adolescence. Both early menarche and intimate partner violence are associated with early parenthood and diminish the likelihood of high school graduation. These experiences culminate in subjective weathering associated with depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. Our findings connect physical and subjective weathering within the stress process paradigm.     

Approaching ADHD as a chronic condition: implications for long-term adherence

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood. Although evidence-based treatments for ADHD, including stimulant medication and behavior modification, have long been established, and guidelines for care of ADHD in primary care settings have been developed, adherence to long-term therapy is poor among youth with ADHD. This article proposes use of the Chronic Care Model for Child Health, the purpose of which is to develop informed, activated patients who will interact with a prepared, proactive health care team. Six "pillars" make up the model: decision support, delivery system design, clinical information systems, family and self-management support, community resources and policies, and health care organizations. Each of these is discussed, and an individual example is described. Adopting the Chronic Care Model for Child Health has the potential to improve the quality of care for ADHD.