From Adolescent to Adult Gambling: An Analysis of Longitudinal Gambling Patterns in South Australia

Although there are many cross-sectional studies of adolescent gambling, very few longitudinal investigations have been undertaken. As a result, little is known about the individual stability of gambling behaviour and the extent to which behaviour measured during adolescence is related to adult behaviour. In this paper, we report the results of a 4-wave longitudinal investigation of gambling behaviour in a probability sample of 256 young people (50 % male, 50 % female) who were interviewed in 2005 at the age of 16–18 years and then followed through to the age of 20–21 years. The results indicated that young people showed little stability in their gambling. Relatively few reported gambling on the same individual activities consistently over time. Gambling participation rates increased rapidly as young people made the transition from adolescence to adulthood and then were generally more stable. Gambling at 15–16 years was generally not associated with gambling at age 20–21 years. These results highlight the importance of individual-level analyses when examining gambling patterns over time.     

‘It's just a natural human thing to do,to go and visit your family… but it's not easy for us’: Gender and generation in Bangladeshis’ transnational visits between London and Sylhet

In the title to this paper, Maya, a British-Bangladeshi woman, expresses her frustration at the refusal of the Home Office to grant her father in Sylhet a visa to come and fulfil his role as family head at the wedding of his son, Maya's brother, in London. The case illustrates well the intersection of gender and generation that fundamentally shapes the pattern of visits, in both directions, across this long-distance transnational social and family space. Bangladesh is a patriarchal society, with marked gender divisions layered across generations, which are largely reproduced among the migrant community in London and are manifested, in various ways, in the phenomenon of transnational visiting. Based on 61 in-depth interviews in London and Sylhet, supplemented by participant observation, we delineate the gendered and generational structures framing the visits, both of migrants to the homeland and of non-migrants to their relatives in London.     

An Analysis of the Commonality and Type of Preintervention Assessment Procedures in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (2000–2015)

We reviewed all issues of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) from 2000 through 2015 to identify the percentage of empirical articles, which utilized some form of preintervention assessment. In addition, we categorized five types of assessment used and compared the number of assessments conducted in each category. Finally, because assessment is considered to be particularly important in the subdiscipline of behavioral safety (McSween, 2003), and prior research has not examined the commonality of assessment in this area, we also analyzed the frequency and type of assessment procedures used in behavioral safety and compared this to the use of assessment in OBM in general. Results indicated that 28% of the empirical articles in JOBM used some form of preintervention assessment. Indirect methods were the most often used type of assessment. In addition, 48% percent of the articles in JOBM, which employed a safety-related dependent variable, included some form of assessment. The most frequently used type of assessment in behavioral safety was historical assessment. Based on these data, the use of some form of preintervention assessment in OBM appears to be occurring with some regularity, and assessment in behavioral safety is more common relative to assessment in OBM in general.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Thriving: Transcendent Narrative,Virtue, and Telos

A theory is proposed to explain how religion/spirituality (R/S) is related to positive youth development and thriving. The concept of telos is employed to define thriving as continued growth through strength‐based living that leads to contributing to one's communities and living out one's ethical ideals. Virtue development is proposed as a primary process by which R/S promotes thriving. Virtues are defined as hybrid personality units emerging when characteristic adaptations are given meaning by a transcendent narrative identity. R/S contributes to virtue formation through the ideological, social, and transcendent contexts embedded within religion by providing opportunities to grow both the characteristic adaptations and transcendent narrative identities necessary for virtue formation in youth and, ultimately, thriving. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Personality,Gender, and Family History in the Prediction of College Gambling

The present study examined the degree to which gambling behaviors and gambling-relevant cognitive distortions could be predicted by personality factors, gender, and familial history of substance use and gambling problems in a large sample of college students (N = 581). Results indicate that parental gambling problems and, especially for males, a propensity to experience negative emotions predicted time spent gambling and gambling problems. Negative emotionality, along with parental substance use problems, impulsivity, and being male predicted gambling-related cognitive distortions. The differing pattern for impulsivity with respect to behaviors and beliefs might be explained by the low accessibility of gambling venues for the student population. We compare the present findings with past studies examining gambling behaviors in adult populations.     

Risk and protective factors for recent alcohol use among African-American youth

A total of 7488 7th-12th grade African-American students completed a survey assessing factors associated with recent alcohol use. Results indicated that 13.6% used alcohol in the past month. A series of odds ratios revealed that making good grades, participating in school activities, attending church, and having parents/teachers talk about the dangers of alcohol and set/enforce rules regarding alcohol were associated with decreased recent use. Participating in risky behaviors such as getting into trouble, skipping school, and having friends who use alcohol and other drugs was directly related to recent use. Prevention specialists should encourage parents/teachers to engage youth in family, school, and community activities to deter alcohol use. Results may assist youth health professionals in developing prevention programs aimed at African-American youth.     

Scheduling and the problem of computational complexity

Why is it that the problem of scheduling is so computationally difficult to solve? At last recent developments in modern mathematical complexity theory are providing some insights. The paper describes in essentially non-mathematical terms the computational technique known as the ‘Branch and Bound Method’. This, the best general optimising technique available for scheduling, is also shown to have its limitations. It now appears that efficient computational and optimising algorithms are unlikely ever to be found for all except special cases of the general industrial scheduling problem. It seems that heuristic (rule-of-thumb) methods leading to approximate solutions are likely to offer the only real promise for the future.