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PubMed1995

Types of drunk-driving intervention: prevalence, success and gender.

OBJECTIVE: Survey research suggests that there are few, if any, gender differences in the types and frequency of informal drunk-driving intervention. This contrasts sharply with laboratory studies of helping behavior which report that men are more likely to help than are women. The present study examined the frequency and success rate of several different types of informal drunk-driving intervention for women and men. The influence of the gender of the intervenor and the intoxicated individual and the intervenor's familiarity with the individual on the use and success of the different interventions were also examined. METHOD: Students (N = 388) at a major West Coast university completed a drinking and driving questionnaire. Of these subjects 303 (78%) reported having been in a DUI situation within the last year, and 68% at these students (n = 206) who reported having intervened at least once in the past year were used in the present study. RESULTS: Women were just as likely as men to intervene. There were few gender differences in the frequency and success rates of the different types of intervention examined. Familiarity with the intoxicated individual increased the frequency and success of intervention. However, intervention with strangers occurred under certain circumstances. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that there are few gender differences in the use and success rate of different types of informal drunk-driving intervention. However, since the interventions examined in this study were determined a priori, gender differences may still be operative. There is some research evidence that suggests that men and women approach potential drunk drivers differently. Furthermore, the role of familiarity in drunk-driving intervention needs to be further examined.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2000

Sex offender community notification: examining the importance of neighborhood meetings.

Within the last decade, federal and state laws have been passed authorizing or requiring the notification of local residents that a convicted sex offender will be released and living in their neighborhood. The community meeting method of notifying neighborhood residents, although the subject of extensive news media attention, has been largely overlooked by empirical researchers. This study focuses on the experience of residents who attend such meetings and how that experience factors into a collective response on the part of the community. Data are derived from attendee surveys and recorded observations taken at all community notification meetings held throughout Wisconsin during a nine month period. The findings suggest that community notification meetings, if properly conducted, can perform an important role in managing the behavior of known sex offenders in the community. However the decision to notify and involve the public in an informal network of neighborhood surveillance may come at the cost of increased community anxiety. This anxiety is related to how the attendees were notified of the meeting, how clearly the purpose of the meeting was conveyed, and how organized the meeting appeared to the audience. Suggestions on how to more effectively utilize the community meeting method of notification are presented.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Retributive reactions to suspected offenders: the importance of social categorizations and guilt probability.

In the current research, the author investigates the influence of social categorizations on retributive emotions (e.g., anger) and punishment intentions when people evaluate suspected offenders as independent observers. It is argued that information that guilt is certain or uncertain (i.e., guilt probability) has different consequences for retributive reactions to ingroup and outgroup suspects. In correspondence with predictions, results of four experiments showed that people reacted more negatively to ingroup than outgroup suspects when guilt was certain but that people reacted more negatively to outgroup than ingroup suspects when guilt was uncertain. It is concluded that guilt probability moderates the influence of social categorizations on people's retributive reactions to suspected offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The influence of informal control sources upon adolescent alcohol use and problems.

Although the past literature has hypothesized that alcohol consumption on the part of adolescents is influenced by the use patterns and standards of peers, parents, and community, a multivariate analysis of data from high school seniors reveals that only respondent's personal standards and number of close friends who drink exert a major influence on respondents' beer use, while the standards of other students explains an additional small part of the variance. Similarly, only friends' beer use and standards, in addition to the frequency of respondents' beer use, had significant correlations to drinking problems. Use patterns and standards of parents, as well as standards of close friends and of the adult community, had no appreciable relationship to adolescent alcohol use or problems. The greater importance of self-standards among late adolescents is consonant with theories of development of identity and autonomy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Multiple suicide attempts and informal labeling: an exploratory study.

Attempted suicide is considered to be a form of deviant behavior. Multiple suicide attempts are evaluated within the labeling perspective. Specifically, it is determined if labeling theory can explain acts of repeated suicide attempts as a form of deviance. Two hypotheses are created to test the influence of informal labeling on multiple suicide attempts. Family and friends constitute the categories most important in informal labeling. Labeling by them is measured through a series of behavioral scales. It is hypothesized that the greater the labeling by each of these categories, the greater the likelihood of recurrence of attempted suicide. It is also predicted that the greater the "self concept as suicidal," the greater the likelihood of recurrence. Labeling by family and friends was found to be significantly related to repeat. Conclusions about the relationship between "suicidal self-concept" and repeat were not drawn.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Social identity and the recognition of creativity in groups.

This paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. Two studies are reported that support this analysis. Study 1 (N=73) manipulated social identity salience and the content of group norms. The group norm was either conservative (i.e. promoted no change) or progressive (i.e. promoted change). When social identity was salient and the group norm was conservative, a non-novel proposal was perceived to be more creative. Study 2 (N=63) manipulated social norms and identity relevance. Results showed that while social norms influenced perceptions of creativity, identity relevance influenced positivity but not perceptions of creativity. These findings support the idea that perceptions of creativity are grounded in the normative content of group membership and self-categorization processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relations of regulation and negative emotionality to Indonesian children's social functioning.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of individual differences in regulation and negative emotionality to 127 third-grade Indonesian children's social skills/low externalizing problem behavior, sociometric status, and shyness. Parents and multiple teachers provided information on children's regulation, negative emotionality, and social functioning; peer sociometric information on liking and social behavior was obtained; and children reported on their self-regulation. In general, children's low socially appropriate behavior/ high problem behavior and rejected peer status were related to low dispositional regulation and high negative emotionality (intense emotions and anger), and regulation and negative emotionality (especially teacher rated) sometimes accounted for unique (additive) variance in children's social functioning. Adult-reported shyness was related to low peer nominations of disliked/fights (although shy children were not especially liked), low adult-reported regulation, and (to a lesser degree) low teacher-rated negative emotionality. Findings are compared with work on regulation, negative emotionality, social competence, and shyness in other countries.

Affect↗
PubMed2004

Mental health and social capital in Cali, Colombia.

Mental ill health forms an increasingly significant part of the burden of disease in developing countries. The growing interest in social risk factors for mental health coincides with the development of social capital research which may further inform the social model of mental health. The objective of the study reported here was to discover if there is an independent association between social capital and mental health when taking into account an array of demographic and violence variables. A total of 1168 youth (15-25 years) in a low income community in Cali, Colombia were surveyed. Mental health was measured by a 20 item self-report questionnaire. The instrument used to measure social capital covered structural and cognitive social capital. Twenty-four per cent of the sample were probable cases of mental ill health. Females had a prevalence rate three times higher than males. Using a model which considered demographic and social capital measures as potential risk factors for mental ill health, the significant risk factors emerged as being female, having limited schooling, working in the informal sector, being a migrant, and having low trust in people. The 'classic' poverty type variables (poor education and employment) were more important than social capital, as was the commonly dominant risk factor for mental ill health-being a woman. When violence factors were added to the model, the 'trust' factor fell out and the most important risk factors became (in descending order of importance): being female; no schooling/incomplete primary; and being a victim of violence. The dominance of poverty related factors, as opposed to social capital, prompts renewed attention to the explanatory mechanisms that link income inequality and poor mental health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Contact and the ecology of racial division: some varieties of informal segregation.

The analysis of contact between groups must proceed from an uncomfortable realization. Notwithstanding its formal abolition in many societies, segregation remains pervasive as an informal mechanism for ordering and defining social relations. Social psychologists' tendency to investigate contact under 'optimal' conditions may obscure this fact. This article discusses an observational study that attempted to chart some varieties of informal segregation on an 'open' beach in post-apartheid South Africa. The study used a novel methodology to plot the ecology of racial distribution within this public setting over time. The analysis, which included measures of dissimilarity (D) and exposure (P), indicated that processes of segregation operated in various ways to limit the opportunities for racial contact. Follow-up interviews conducted with 'white' holiday-makers suggested that such processes embodied shared assumptions about the 'proper' socio-spatial organization of race relations. Some implications for research on the contact hypothesis are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Models-of-self and models-of-others as related to facial muscle reactions at different levels of cognitive control.

The hypotheses of this investigation were based on attachment theory and Bowlby's conception of "internal working models", supposed to consist of one mainly emotional (model-of-self) and one more conscious cognitive structure (model-of-others), which are assumed to operate at different temporal stages of information processing. Facial muscle reactions in individuals with positive versus negative internal working models were compared at different stages of information processing. The Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) was used to categorize subjects into positive or negative model-of-self and model-of-others and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure trait anxiety (STAI-T). Pictures of happy and angry faces followed by backward masking stimuli were exposed to 61 subjects at three different exposure times (17 ms, 56 ms, 2,350 ms) in order to elicit reactions first at an automatic level and then consecutively at more cognitively elaborated levels. Facial muscle reactions were recorded by electromyography (EMG), a higher corrugator activity representing more negative emotions and a higher zygomaticus activity more positive emotions. In line with the hypothesis, subjects with a negative model-of-self scored significantly higher on STAI-T than subjects with a positive model-of-self. They also showed an overall stronger corrugator than zygomatic activity, giving further evidence of a negative tonic affective state. At the longest exposure time (2,350 ms), representing emotionally regulated responses, negative model-of-self subjects showed a significantly stronger corrugator response and reported more negative feelings than subjects with a positive model-of-self. These results supported the hypothesis that subjects with a negative model-of-self would show difficulties in self-regulation of negative affect. In line with expectations, model-of-others, assumed to represent mainly knowledge structures, did not interact with the physiological emotional measures employed, facial muscle reactions or tonic affective state.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

A longitudinal study of adolescents' attitudes about assistance in the development of moral values.

A questionnaire-based study of 2,863 adolescents (ages 12 to 22 years), with data collected over 15 years, measured the extent to which informants believed that elementary, secondary, and college-age young people should receive guidance on moral issues from the family, school, clergy, peers, and/or the individual himself or herself. Averaging the ratings of all respondents over the first three categories yielded an overall authority score of 1.85, where a score of 2.00 represented a belief in moderate influence. Results showed a minimal difference in the ratings between genders, among different age groups, and across the different calendar years of questionnaire administration. Much more substantial differences existed among the actual influences investigated and across the ages of those to whom the influence was to be directed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Researching sexual and reproductive behaviour: a peer ethnographic approach.

In recent years, ethnographic research has challenged the notion within demography that fertility-related behaviour is the outcome of individualistic calculations of the costs and benefits of having children. Anthropology has further criticised the abstraction in demographic analysis of sexual behaviour and fertility decision-making from the socio-cultural and political context in which the individual or couple is located. Within demography itself, institutional and political-economic analyses have argued strongly that sexual and reproductive behaviour must be understood within locally specific social, cultural, economic and political contexts. Positivist and empiricist research methods, such as the sample survey and focus groups, which continue to dominate demographic inquiry and applied research into sexual and reproductive behaviour, have been shown to be limited in their ability to inform about the process of behaviour change and contexts within which different behaviours occur. The article introduces a new methodology for researching sexual and reproductive behaviour, called the peer ethnographic approach, which the authors have developed in an attempt to address some of the limitations of the methods which currently dominate research into sexual and reproductive behaviour. The peer ethnographic methodology is discussed in detail and the results of recent field-testing are reported, which show that, although the approach has limitations, it also has the potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of sexual and reproductive behaviour.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Mechanisms through which drug, sex partner, and friendship network characteristics relate to risky needle use among high risk youth and young adults.

Drug injector social networks are a primary social space in which risky needle use behaviors associated with HIV transmission occur, but the mechanisms through which these social networks influence risky needle use are unclear. This study investigated two mechanisms, social support and social regulation, through which injection drug users' social networks might relate to risky needle use behaviors. We investigated how these mechanisms work in three types of social networks, namely, drug user, sex partner, and friendship networks. Data are from a study of HIV risk and protective behaviors of youth and young adults, ages 14-43, in the United States who were injection drug users and/or the sexual partners of users (N = 277). The three types of networks were constructed based on information respondents provided about their drug use partners, sexual partners, and friends. The networks were characterized by structural (i.e., size and density) and interactional (i.e., multiplexity and closeness) characteristics. We conducted tests for mediation using ordered probit models and multiple linear regression. In the drug networks, social regulation partially meditated the relationship between multiplexity and risky needle use (p<.10). In the sex partner networks, emotional support partially mediated the relationship between network size and risky needle use (p<.001), fully mediated the relationship between network closeness and risky needle use (p<.001), and partially mediated the relationship between multiplexity and risky needle use (p<.01). Mediators were not identified in the friendship networks. The findings demonstrate that network mechanisms explaining risky needle use differ for drug user and sex partner networks in ways consistent with the functional nature of each type of network tie.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Indigenous social insurance as an alternative financing mechanism for health care in Ethiopia (the case of eders).

With increasing demand for services further propagated by population growth and by people's response to newly emerging pathologies, nations in sub-Saharan Africa are faced with insurmountable problems in sustaining their health systems. Realizing the inadequacy of solely relying on the public sector, these countries are seeking alternative mechanisms for health financing. Among the alternatives suggested are risk-sharing mechanisms that include community-based schemes that tap the potential of indigenous social arrangements. In Ethiopia, eders are major forms of indigenous arrangements utilized mainly for assisting victims in bereavement and executing funeral-related activities. These associations are also called upon in various self-help activities and sometimes provide health insurance, even though mostly in an informal manner. Therefore, they have the potential to serve as social financing mechanisms. Since these are already functioning groups, the administrative cost for the extra health-related activity will not be as high as in the case of forming a new insurance entity. In addition, the fact that eders are based on mutual understanding among members minimizes the possibility of adverse selection. Based on the above background, an exploratory study was conducted in 40 villages distributed in various parts of Ethiopia to assess the possible roles eders might play in providing insurance for health financing. Both qualitative and quantitative (household and health facility exit interview surveys) methods of data collection were utilized. The study concludes that eder-based schemes are, indeed, options for experimentation as mechanisms for financing health care in rural Ethiopia. It was also found that 21.5% of respondents in the household and 16% of those in the exit surveys were already utilizing eders to finance part of their health expenditure. In addition, 86% of the respondents in the household and 90% of those in the exit survey were willing to participate in eder-based health insurance schemes.

Community Networks↗
PubMed2000

Tobacco consumption in Swedish twins reared apart and reared together.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies of twins reared together suggest that regular tobacco use (RTU) is substantially heritable. However, strong social influences on RTU might have biased these results. METHODS: We examine the self-report lifetime history of RTU in members of 778 male-male and female-female twin pairs, raised together and apart, born from 1890 to 1958 and ascertained through the population-based Swedish Twin Registry. RESULTS: In men, the pattern of twin resemblance for RTU suggested both genetic and rearing-environmental effects, which, in the best-fit biometrical model, accounted for 61% and 20% of the variance in liability to RTU, respectively. For women, overall results were hard to interpret, but became clearer when divided by birth cohort. In women born before 1925, rates of RTU were low and twin resemblance was environmental in origin. In later cohorts, rates of RTU in women increased substantially, as did heritability. For women born after 1940, heritability of RTU was similar to that seen in men (63%). CONCLUSIONS: Genetic factors play an important etiologic role in RTU. In women, the impact of genetic factors increased in more recent cohorts, suggesting that, as social restrictions on female tobacco use relaxed over time, heritable influences increased in importance.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Association of psychological vulnerability factors to post-traumatic stress symptomatology in mothers of pediatric cancer survivors.

The current study investigated whether individual differences in coping style, lifetime experience of traumatic events, perceived social support, and perceived social constraints were associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress among 72 mothers of children who had successfully completed cancer treatment. Results suggested that more perceived social constraints and less perceived belonging support were associated with significantly more post-traumatic stress symptomatology, and this association was present after controlling for the effects of child age. Monitoring coping style and lifetime traumatic events were not significantly predictive of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The results of this study indicate that a sense of belonging to a social network as well as comfort expressing cancer-related thoughts and feelings to friends and family may play a key role in mothers' long-term adjustment to this extremely difficult life experience.

Adaptation, Psychological↗