Suicide ideation among US college students. Associations with other injury risk behaviors

Suicide, the endpoint of a continuum that begins with suicide ideation, is the third leading cause of death among the US college-aged population. The first and second leading causes of death among this age group, unintentional injury and homicide, may also be linked to suicide ideation. We used data from the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey to examine the association between suicide ideation and injury-related behaviors among 18- to 24-year-old college students. Students who reported suicide ideation were significantly more likely than students who did not report considering suicide to carry a weapon, engage in a physical fight, boat or swim after drinking alcohol, ride with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, drive after drinking alcohol, and rarely or never used seat belts. Given this clustering of injury-related risk behaviors, college prevention programs should aim to reduce risks for injuries comprehensively, rather than addressing each risk behavior separately.     

Crisis or creation?a systematic examination of "false memory syndrome"

In 1992, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF), an advocacy organization for people claiming to be falsely accused of sexual abuse, announced the discovery of a new syndrome involving iatrogenically created false memories of childhood sexual abuse. This article critically examines the assumptions underlying “False Memory Syndrome” to determine whether there is sufficient empirical evidence to support it as a valid diagnostic construct. Epidemiological evidence is also examined to determine whether there is data to support its advocates' claim of a public health crisis or epidemic. A review of the relevant literature demonstrates that the existence of such a syndrome lacks general acceptance in the mental health field, and that the construct is based on a series of faulty assumptions, many of which have been scientifically disproven. There is a similar lack of empirical validation for claims of a “false memory” epidemic. It is concluded that in the absence of any substantive scientific support, “False Memory Syndrome” is best characterized as a pseudoscientific syndrome that was developed to defend against claims of child abuse.     

Families and Inheritance Decisions: Examining Non-Titled Property Transfers

This study examines the transfer of personal possessions, which is a dimension of inheritance decision making from which few families are exempt but which largely has been ignored by researchers and educators. The qualitative analysis of a purposeful sample of individual family members who had experienced a transfer of non-titled personal possessions suggested the influence of six key themes. These included: (a) a sensitivity of the issue, (b) lack of goal discussion, (c) different perceptions of fairness, (d) different meanings of objects, (e) lack of awareness of distribution options and consequences, and (f) potential for conflict. The themes identified reinforced that inheritance is not simply an economic or legal issue but one with complex emotional and family relationship dimensions. The findings provide the foundation for further research agendas and for developing educational resources to help family members communicate about and make more informed decisions regarding the transfer of non-titled property.     

"Queering" development: exploring the links between same-sex sexualities,gender, and development

This article argues that enhancement of gender and development policy and practice requires embracing of the challenges to conventional definitions of sex and gender. Information presented here was based on the insights from cultural studies and experiences of lesbian and gay activists from China. Focusing on same-sex sexuality in relation to gender and development requires the analysis of the link between the sexual behavior and economic and political freedom. Likewise, stereotyping of those opposing the gender norms exists as well as the degradation of human rights among these individuals due to the increasing threat of HIV/AIDS infection. Furthermore, reluctance to address questions of sexuality could be attributed to the following: the right to intervene in the local culture; the notion that homosexuality originated in the West; and the reluctance to bring a ?developmental machine? into their intimate lives. A new approach to sexuality, ?queer theory,? was found beneficial in changing the attitude of the society. Carrying out this approach would require targeting homosexual groups for support; adapting perceptions of the community, household, and family; integrating homosexuality into health, education, and youth work; and institutionalizing homosexuality. The author emphasizes that the adaptation of the ?queer theory? could provide a solution for activists to engage in a process of mutual support and learning and taking on the common obstacles posed by the oppressive gender norms.     

Lesbian Identity Management at Various Stages of the Coming Out Process: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study is designed to explore how women at various stages of lesbian identity development make decisions about managing their identities. Management of identity was studied in terms of how women came out or stayed hidden and how they made decisions both to disclose and to conceal. The Cass (1984) Stage Allocation Measure was used as a means to categorize women at various stages of lesbian identity development. Twenty-five adult women were individually interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. A journal was kept by each woman for one month. The major findings indicated that women at different stages of lesbian identity development use both disparate and similar identity-management and decision-making strategies. Underlying and connecting lesbian identity management and development was the need to maintain self-esteem and safety.     

Conditioning factors for fertility decline in Bengal: history, language identity, and openness to innovations

This article argues that looking solely for the immediate causes of reproductive change may distort our understanding of policy options by failing to take into account the historical and cultural factors that affect not only the impact of policies and programs but their very nature and existence. The article examines the historical origins and spread of “modern” ideas in Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. It concludes that a colonial history in which education and modernization processes took hold very early among the elites in the larger Bengal region was paradoxically accompanied by a strong allegiance to the Bengali language. This strong sense of language identity has facilitated and reinforced the diffusion of modern ideas both within and between the two Bengali‐speaking regions. Thus, to understand the fertility decline in Bangladesh, for example, one needs to look also at cultural boundaries. In this case, the cultural commonality through language facilitates the spread of new ideas across the two Bengals. In turn, the strong sense of language identity has facilitated mass mobilization more easily and intensely within the two Bengals. Shaped by these processes, Bangladesh and West Bengal today are more amenable to social change than many other parts of South Asia and the Middle East.     

New contracts: The key to change

Successfully managing change in an organization is very difficult. Paul Strebel sets out a new way of doing this, based on contract theory which states that stakeholders have both an explicit and implicit individual contract with their companies. These contracts must be modified if corporate change is to proceed.The author develops five propositions about the role of contracts in change management. Change can only succeed if these five propositions are satisfied and the operational implications fully understood and implemented.     

Measurement of the effect of wool advertising

The paper reports a recent International Wool Secretariat (I.W.S.) study to measure the overall effect on sales of fibre advertising, based on annual data for eight major wool-consuming countries, collected from 1960 to 1970. An economic model of the fibre market is set up, and multiple linear regression is used to demonstrate a significant positive relationship between fibre sales and advertising. The effect of wool advertising is quantified, using the estimated regression coefficients, and its cost is compared with the estimated benefits to the wool industry in terms of increased revenue. Possible drawbacks of the approach described are considered, and aspects of the work requiring further study are also mentioned.