Prenatal Development of Interlimb Motor Learning in the Rat Fetus

The role of sensory feedback in the early ontogeny of motor coordination remains a topic of speculation and debate. On E20 of gestation (the 20th day after conception, 2 days before birth), rat fetuses can alter interlimb coordination after a period of training with an interlimb yoke, which constrains limb movement and promotes synchronized, conjugate movement of the yoked limbs. The aim of this study was to determine how the ability to express this form of motor learning may change during prenatal development. Fetal rats were prepared for in vivo study at 4 ages (E18–21) and tested in a 65‐min training‐and‐testing session examining hind limb motor learning. A significant increase in conjugate hind limb activity was expressed by El9, but not El 8 fetuses, with further increases in conjugate hind limb activity on E20 and E21. These findings suggest substantial development of the ability of fetal rats to modify patterns of interlimb coordination in response to kinesthetic feedback during motor training before birth.     

Adolescent Health and Well‐Being in the Twenty‐First Century: A Global Perspective

Adolescence is a critical developmental period with long‐term implications for the health and well‐being of the individual and for society as a whole. The most significant factors to adolescents' health are found in their environments, and in the choices and opportunities for health‐enhancing or health‐compromising behaviors that these contexts present (e.g., exposure to violence, supportive families). Inadequate contexts represent a failure to invest in and protect adolescents, a choice to alienate rather than integrate them into society. This article describes a number of societal trends, including growing poverty and income disparities, government instability, the changing health‐care system, the spread of HIV/AIDS, increased migration and urbanization, changing family and cultural contexts, and new information technology. The health implications of these trends for the well‐being of adolescents in the 21st century are contemplated.     

Time diary and questionnaire assessment of factors associated with academic and personal success among university undergraduates

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 231 students attending a private liberal arts university in central Alberta, Canada, completed a 5-day time diary and a 71-item questionnaire assessing the influence of personal, cognitive, and attitudinal factors on success. METHODS: The authors used 3 success measures: cumulative grade point average (GPA), Personal Success--each participant's rating of congruence between stated goals and progress toward those goals--and Total Success--a measure that weighted GPA and Personal Success equally. RESULTS: The greatest predictors of GPA were time-management skills, intelligence, time spent studying, computer ownership, less time spent in passive leisure, and a healthy diet. Predictors of Personal Success scores were clearly defined goals, overall health, personal spirituality, and time-management skills. Predictors of Total Success scores were clearly defined goals, time-management skills, less time spent in passive leisure, healthy diet, waking up early, computer ownership, and less time spent sleeping. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest alternatives to traditional predictors of academic success.     

Estimating the costs of preventive interventions

The goal of this article is to improve the practice and reporting of cost estimates of prevention programs. It reviews the steps in estimating the costs of an intervention and the principles that should guide estimation. The authors then review prior efforts to estimate intervention costs using a sample of well-known but diverse studies. Finally, the authors illustrate the principles with an example, the Family Bereavement Program. They conclude that example by discussing whether and how the costs of the intervention might differ when implemented in a real-world setting.     

Religion,Infidelity, and Divorce: Reexamining the Effect of Religious Behavior on Divorce Among Long-Married Couples

Previous scholarship linking marital infidelity and divorce has tended to have 2 limitations: focusing on young marriages and overlooking the influence of religiosity. Using data from the panel study of Marital Instability over the Life Course (N = 763), we address both of these limitations. Using structural equation modeling and proportional hazards modeling, we examine the effect of religiosity on marital infidelity and subsequent divorce among couples married for at least 12 years. Our analyses reveal that religiosity reduces the likelihood of marital infidelity among these couples. However the effect of religiosity on the likelihood of a subsequent divorce is more complicated: Religiosity appears to indirectly reduce the likelihood of a subsequent divorce by increasing levels of marital happiness. Surprisingly, no influence is found of marital infidelity on marital stability or divorce. Implications for scholars concerned with marital stability are discussed.