PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G W Mercer

Publications and source records attributed to G W Mercer.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Alcohol, drugs, and impairment in fatal traffic accidents in British Columbia.

Blood samples and accident records of 41 female and 186 male fatally injured drivers were examined. Analyses suggested that drugs other than alcohol are causally related to fatal traffic accidents in British Columbia. Toxicologies showed: 37% alcohol only, 11% alcohol and drugs, and 9% drugs only. The most frequently found drugs were: 48% alcohol, 13% tetrahydrocannabinol or its metabolites (THC/THCCOOH), 4% cocaine, and 5% diazepam. In addition, alcohol-only impairment was missed by investigating police officers in many cases, impairment by alcohol and drugs was mistakenly identified as alcohol-only impairment, and drug-only impairment was misclassified as "driving without due care and attention".

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1987

Influences on passenger vehicle casualty accident frequency and severity: unemployment, driver gender, driver age, drinking driving and restraint device use.

A correlational examination of 84 consecutive months of data on the frequency and severity of passenger vehicle casualty traffic accidents, unemployment rates, drinking driving, restraint device use and the driver demographics of driver age and driver gender suggested the following: Increases in unemployment levels remove young male drivers from the driving population, which in turn reduces the frequency of drinking driving and increases the proportion of restraint device use in this population. These changes combine to reduce both the frequency of casualty accidents per million driven kilometers and the severity of these accidents. However, the apparent relationship between changes in restraint device use and the frequency and severity of casualty accidents, and the apparent relationship between changes in drinking driving and the frequency of casualty accidents can be, to a great extent, a function of unemployment-driven changes in driver demographics.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1985

The relationships among driving while impaired charges, police drinking-driving roadcheck activity, media coverage and alcohol-related casualty traffic accidents.

A correlational examination of 54 consecutive months of data from British Columbia on the relationships among the number of vehicles checked in police drinking-driving roadchecks, the number of driving while impaired (DWI) charges laid, the number and percent of alcohol-related casualty traffic accidents, and the extent of media coverage on drinking-driving (as measured by print media coverage), revealed that: the extent of media coverage, and not the extent of roadchecks or charging activity is probably the critical element in the reduction of drinking-driving accidents. The failure of the minimally publicized April-May 1984 British Columbia police roadcheck "blitz" to reduce either the number or proportion of alcohol-related casualty traffic accidents lent support to these correlational findings.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1982

Adolescent drug use and other behaviors.

Little systematic information is available concerning the association between adolescent drug usage and other forms of behavior. The present study addressed this issue. Two hundred and thirty-one adolescents completed questionnaires concerning their use of drugs (alcohol, tobacco, pain-killers, marijuana, etc.). Factor analysis of endorsements of a broad range of behaviors, followed by regression analysis, indicated that sexual behavior, general delinquency, school misbehavior, social behavior and studying/reading (--) were all related to drug use. School achievement (--) and domestic behavior (--) gave lower correlations. Religious behavior did not emerge as a clear correlate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Child-rearing factors, authoritarianism drug use attitudes, and adolescent drug use: a model.

With the use of questionnaire returns from 214 male and 286 female upper-year high school students, a model of adolescent drug use is proposed. The model hypothesizes that the parents' child-rearing practices produce within the child a personality which shapes his attitudes toward the use of drugs, which in turn affect the child's use of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. The personality dimension in the model is Authoritarianism. The model proved more successful in predicting illicit than licit drug use. Further, love on the part of the mother and positive control on the part of the father were the most salient dimensions within the model with regard to child-rearing practices.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Death anxiety among university students in Northern Ireland and Canada.

Male and female university students in Northern Ireland (n = 315) and Canada (n = 255) completed Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS). Results of a discriminant function analysis indicated that Canadian students showed more concern about being afraid to die and thoughts of death, while students from the North of Ireland were more concerned about getting cancer, the shortness of life, and the viewing of a corpse. However, total DAS scores failed to show significance between group differences (p greater than .10). Correlations between DAS and MAS total scores were r = .34 for Northern Ireland and r = .31 for Canadian students.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

The effects of location, experiences with the civil disturbances and religion on death anxiety and manifest anxiety in a sample of Northern Ireland university students.

A total of 315 Northern Ireland university students were compared to 302 Republic of Ireland university students in terms of death anxiety, manifest anxiety, and perception of dangerousness of aspects of their environment and attitudes toward the civil disturbances in Northern Ireland. Also using these variables in the Northern Ireland sample, Protestants were compared to Catholics, those having had experiences with the disturbances were compared to those not having had such experiences, and those living in nominally dangerous areas of Belfast were compared to those living in nominally safer areas of Belfast. Students living in Northern Ireland had higher death anxiety and stronger fears than students living in the Republic. Those having had experiences with the civil violence had higher manifest anxiety and stronger fears than those not having has such experiences. Persons living in safe environments thought the disturbances to be more serious than those living in more dangerous environments, a result which is discussed in terms of the media and cognitive dissonance. Finally, an argument is made that the influence of religious denomination is an overemphasized variable in the understanding of the civil disturbances.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

The structure of death anxiety: a factor analytic study.

University students in Canada (n = 255) and Northern Ireland (n = 315), graduate nursing students (n = 124), funeral service students (n = 79), and members of the Unitarian Fellowship (n = 83) completed Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). The responses of each group were subjected to principal components factor analysis using varimax rotational procedures and the factor scores derived from this analysis were then contrasted using multiple discriminant function analysis. Results indicated that there was more commonality than uniqueness in the factor patterns for these groups. Four common death anxiety patterns were classified as follows: (a) cognitive-affective concerns; (b) concern about physical alterations; (c) concern about the passage of time; and (d) concern about stressors and pain. These factors are consistent with and extend the views expressed in previous research (i.e., Pandy, 1974-75; Pandy & Templer, 1972.

Anxiety↗