A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Substance Use and School Motivation Among African American Youth

Cross‐sectional research has shown a link between adolescent substance use and educational motivation. The purpose of the current study was to examine this link in a longitudinal sample of African American youth. The study examined the interrelationships between alcohol and both marijuana use and school motivation over the high school years and their effect on graduation in 681 African American adolescents (50.8% female). School motivation was shown to relate to subsequent alcohol use throughout high school and marijuana use early in high school. School motivation did not affect graduation status, but alcohol and marijuana use were related to a lower likelihood of graduating from high school. Some gender differences and differences among those who had tried alcohol or marijuana at the first wave as opposed to those who had not tried each substance were found. The findings support a systems model where school experiences can affect substance use, which, in turn, can affect the completion of high school.     

黄河首曲生态环境现状与社会经济发展对策研究

黄河首曲生态环境的好坏不仅影响当地的社会经济发展,而且影响黄河流域社会经济的可持续发展。因此,全社会要高度重视首曲草地生态的功能和作用,从人与自然和谐共处、社会经济可持续发展的高度认识定位生态环境。本文通过实地调查,对黄河首曲生态环境恶化的原因进行了分析,并就如何治理生态环境,以及社会经济可持续发展提出了对策与建议。     

The Face-to-Face Light Detection Paradigm: A New Methodology for Investigating Visuospatial Attention Across Different Face Regions in Live Face-to-Face Communication Settings

We introduce a novel paradigm for studying the cognitive processes used by listeners within interactive settings. This paradigm places the talker and the listener in the same physical space, creating opportunities for investigations of attention and comprehension processes taking place during interactive discourse situations. An experiment was conducted to compare results from previous research using videotaped stimuli to those obtained within the live face-to-face task paradigm. A headworn apparatus is used to briefly display LEDs on the talker's face in four locations as the talker communicates with the participant. In addition to the primary task of comprehending speeches, participants make a secondary task light detection response. In the present experiment, the talker gave non-emotionally-expressive speeches that were used in past research with videotaped stimuli. Signal detection analysis was employed to determine which areas of the face received the greatest focus of attention. Results replicate previous findings using videotaped methods.