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Biomedical subjects

William F Wieczorek

Publications and source records attributed to William F Wieczorek.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Substance involvement and the trajectory of criminal offending in young male.

The current study investigated the influence of substance involvement on the trajectory of delinquency. Data were from 625 Buffalo, NY males aged 16-19, interviewed three times at 18-month intervals. Hierarchical linear models were fit separately for respondents with increasing and declining delinquency. In the increasing group, aIcohol involvment was associated with a higher starting point (intercept), and alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a faster increase. In the declining group, alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a higher starting point, and frequency of drug use was associated with a slower decline. Alcohol involvement is important in the early delinquent career whereas illicit drug use delays maturing out of delinquency. In a further analysis, substance involvement variables were time-varying covariates in the within-subjects model and controls in the between-subjects model. Respondents' alcohol and other drug use varied across time in sync with their criminal offending.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The relationship of ecological and geographic factors to gambling behavior and pathology.

The current study examined the effect of neighborhood disadvantage and gambling availability on gambling participation and pathology. A national telephone survey included 2631 US adults. Census data was used to characterize the respondent's neighborhood, and the distance from the respondent's home to gambling facilities was calculated. Logistic and linear regressions were performed to predict gambling participation and pathology. Results showed that the neighborhood disadvantage was positively related to frequency of gambling and problem/pathological gambling. The presence of a casino within 10 miles of the respondent's home was positively related to problem/pathological gambling. The permissiveness of gambling laws was positively related to any gambling in the past year, as well as frequent gambling. These results were interpreted to mean that the ecology of disadvantaged neighborhoods promotes gambling pathology, and that availability of gambling opportunities promotes gambling participation and pathology.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Risk factors for pathological gambling.

To better understand pathological gambling, potential risk factors were assessed within three domains--gambling behaviors, substance abuse and other problem behaviors, and sociodemographic factors. A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted in 1999-2000 with a representative sample of the U.S. population aged 18 or older. The current analyses uses data from the 2168 respondents who gambled in the year before the interview. Gambling measures included the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS)-IV for pathological gambling, frequency of 15 types of gambling, and size of win or loss on the last occasion. Other measures included the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption, frequency of illicit drug use and criminal offending, and the DIS-IV for alcohol and drug abuse and dependence. Results showed that casino gambling is associated with a high risk of gambling pathology. Lottery, cards, and bingo are associated with a moderately high risk of gambling pathology. Participation in a greater number of types of gambling is strongly predictive of gambling pathology, even after frequency of gambling and size of win or loss are taken into account. Alcohol abuse is strongly predictive of gambling pathology, even with gambling behaviors held constant. Minority and low socioeconomic status (SES) group members have higher levels of gambling pathology than other groups after all other factors are considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Gambling participation and pathology in the United States--a sociodemographic analysis using classification trees.

This article describes an analysis of gambling and gambling pathology from a telephone survey of 2631 U.S. residents, using Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID). Catholics were more likely to have gambled (92%) than Protestants (78%), and elderly Protestants were the least likely (55%) group to have gambled. Among past-year gamblers, men gambled more often (74 times) than women (46 times). The most frequent gamblers were divorced, widowed, or cohabiting men (125 times). Minorities were much more likely than whites to be problem gamblers (PGs). Nonpoor, married, or widowed whites were the least likely to be PGs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Simultaneous drinking and gambling: a risk factor for pathological gambling.

The aim of the current study was to determine the effect of simultaneous drinking and gambling on negative consequences from gambling. Data was analyzed from a national telephone survey of 2631 US residents aged 18 or older. Males were more likely than females to drink while gambling. Simultaneous drinking and gambling was more closely associated with video keno, pull tabs, dice (not in a casino) and casino gambling than with other types of gambling. Those who drank while gambling were more likely to be problem gamblers, even when holding constant frequency of gambling, size of the average win or loss, and average alcohol consumption. Those gamblers who are drinkers, but did not drink while gambling, had a prevalence of problem gambling of close to zero. They had a lower prevalence of problem gambling than gamblers who didn't drink alcohol at all in the past year, and a much lower prevalence than those who drank while gambling. These results were interpreted to mean that simultaneous drinking and gambling is an indicator of a more reckless gambler. The results did not support the theory that gambling while under the influence of alcohol causes more risky gambling behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The association of irritability and impulsivity with suicidal ideation among 15- to 20-year-old males.

Information on the association of impulsivity and measures of aggression with suicidal ideation in adolescents and young adults is limited. Data were gathered from a community sample of 625 adolescent and young adult males. Analyses were based on multivariate generalized estimating equations. Impulsivity and irritability were associated strongly with suicidal ideation after accounting for alcohol dependence and other aggression-related constructs including psychopathy. Given that irritable, impulsive adolescent males appear to contemplate suicidal behavior, their heightened suicide risk may be anticipated and mitigated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Studying Chinese suicide with proxy-based data: reliability and validity of the methodology and instruments in China.

This study examined the reliability and validity of the instruments as used in the psychological autopsy method in China. With data from 130 informants on 66 completed suicides and 130 informants on 66 normal community controls and 66 controls themselves, the validity was examined by comparing the responses of informants and the responses (gold standards) of the target participants in the control group. All the tested instruments were shown to be reliable, and proxy respondents were generally good judges of targets' suicidal intention, social support, depression, life events, personality traits, and mental disorders. Additionally, interrater reliabilities of the five interviewers were very good on selected scales. This study has laid a partial foundation for future psychological autopsy projects to be held in Chinese culture.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Alcohol mortality: a comparison of spatial clustering methods.

The identification of spatial clusters of alcohol mortality can be a key tool in identifying locations that are suffering from alcohol-related problems or are at risk of experiencing those types of problems. This study compares two methods for identifying statistically significant spatial clusters of county-level alcohol mortality rates in New York. One method utilizes a local indicator of spatial association to determine which groups of neighboring counties have rates that are significantly related to each other. The other method is a spatial scan technique that calculates a maximum likelihood ratio of cases relative to the underlying population to identify the group of counties that rejects the null hypothesis of "no clustering". The results show that because each technique bases its cluster detection on its own criteria, different counties are selected by each method. However, the overlap of the selections indicates that the two analytic methods illustrate different elements of the same clusters. Consequently, these spatial analytic techniques are seen as complimentary and are best used in tandem rather than individually. These findings suggest that multiple methods are a preferred approach to identifying clusters of alcohol-related mortality at the county level.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2002

Gambling participation in the U.S.--results from a national survey.

Demographic patterns of gambling participation in the U.S. were examined. A national telephone survey was conducted with 2,630 representative U.S. residents aged 18 or older. The sample as weighted for analysis was 48% male, 12% black, and 11% Hispanic. Respondents were questioned on 15 types of gambling: how often they played and how much they won or lost. Eighty-two percent gambled in the past year. Lottery was the most commonly played game, while casino gambling accounted for the largest extent of gambling involvement. Men and women were equally likely to gamble in the past year, but men gambled more frequently and had larger wins and losses, particularly on sports betting and games of skill. Blacks were less likely to have gambled in the past year, but blacks who gambled did so more heavily than other racial groups. Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than average to be pathological gamblers. The rate of past year gambling declined with age, but extent of gambling involvement among gamblers did not vary with age. Rates of participation in most forms of gambling increased with socioeconomic status, but higher socioeconomic status gamblers had lower rates of pathological gambling, and lower extent of gambling involvement, particularly for lottery. New Englanders gambled more heavily than other Americans. Comparison with past studies showed an increase in overall gambling participation in the U.S., and large increases in rates of participation in lottery and casino gambling.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Studying suicide with psychological autopsy: social and cultural feasibilities of the methodology in China.

As China opens its door to the world, suicide research is making rapid progress using methods and instruments developed in the West. This is a feasibility study of the psychological autopsy methodology applied in China, with its emphasis on the social and cultural environments. With samples of 66 completed suicides and 66 community normal living controls, the authors found that it is feasible to interview at least two informants for each suicide case and each control, between 2 and 6 months after the suicide. With the Chinese-cultivated contacting method of recruiting cases, the refusal rate is nearly zero. The Western-developed methodology per se proved to be valid in the Chinese culture. Ethical considerations in the context of Chinese culture are as important as in the West. Psychological autopsy technique is shown to be an equally applicable method for the study of completed suicides in Chinese culture as it is in the West. Future epidemiological research on Chinese suicide should use the psychological autopsy method to collect data from larger samples in order to increase our understanding of the risk factors for Chinese suicides.

Adult↗