142 research outputs found
Evaluation of Sexual Communication Message Strategies
Parent-child communication about sex is an important proximal reproductive health outcome. But while campaigns to promote it such as the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC) have been effective, little is known about how messages influence parental cognitions and behavior. This study examines which message features explain responses to sexual communication messages
Evaluation of Sexual Communication Message Strategies
Parent-child communication about sex is an important proximal reproductive health outcome. But while campaigns to promote it such as the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC) have been effective, little is known about how messages influence parental cognitions and behavior. This study examines which message features explain responses to sexual communication messages
Financial risk information avoidance
Availability of information is one of the most important factors for
financial decision-makers. Having complete information about the
probability of losing money should always leave decision-makers
better off. However, in some situations financial decision-makers prefer
to know less than more. In this study we investigated the impact of
selected characteristics of financial threats on individuals’ decisions to
avoid risk information in an incentivised online experiment. We found
that threat severity, relative risk, and effectiveness of threat prevention
alone do not influence decisions to avoid risk information. However,
we did find an interaction effect between the first two treatments.
Furthermore, our data suggest that coping style, locus of control, and
anticipated emotional response are statistically significant predictors
of financial risk information avoidance
Frequency Characteristics of Visually Induced Motion Sickness
This article was published in the journal, Human Factors [Sage Publications / © Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018720812469046Objective: The aim of this study was to explore
the frequency response of visually induced motion
sickness (VIMS) for oscillating linear motion in the foreand-
aft axis.
Background: Simulators, virtual environments,
and commercially available video games that create an
illusion of self-motion are often reported to induce
the symptoms seen in response to true motion. Often
this human response can be the limiting factor in the
acceptability and usability of such systems. Whereas
motion sickness in physically moving environments
is known to peak at an oscillation frequency around
0.2 Hz, it has recently been suggested that VIMS peaks
at around 0.06 Hz following the proposal that the
summed response of the visual and vestibular selfmotion
systems is maximized at this frequency. Methods: We exposed 24 participants to random
dot optical flow patterns simulating oscillating foreand-
aft motion within the frequency range of 0.025 to
1.6 Hz. Before and after each 20-min exposure, VIMS was
assessed with the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire.
Also, a standard motion sickness scale was used to rate
symptoms at 1-min intervals during each trial.
Results: VIMS peaked between 0.2 and 0.4 Hz with
a reducing effect at lower and higher frequencies.
Conclusion: The numerical prediction of the
“crossover frequency” hypothesis, and the design
guidance curve previously proposed, cannot be accepted
when the symptoms are purely visually induced.
Application: In conditions in which stationary
observers are exposed to optical flow that simulates
oscillating fore-and-aft motion, frequencies around 0.2
to 0.4 Hz should be avoided
Behavioural Stimulation and Sensation-Seeking among prisoners: Applications to substance use
Background: Sensation-seeking among prisoners with substance dependence difficulties (drug and/or alcohol) was examined. This topic is under-researched in a prisoner sample.
Aims: To examine the association between sensation-seeking, other personality variables, and substance dependency among prisoners. To examine if sensation-seeking can be refined.
Methods: Adult male prisoners (n=200) completed self-report measures examining the constructs of interest.
Results: Sensation-seeking comprised extraversion and
openness to experience. It was more appropriately described as Behavioural-Stimulation-and-Sensation-Seeking (BStim-SS). BStim-SS related to drug and poly-substance dependency but not alcohol-only deendency. Increased impulsivity was related to all sustance use dependencies.
Conclusions and implications for practice: The BStim-SS presents as a valuable concept to apply to forensic populations. It captures the need for behavioural and emotional stimulation and lends support to Reward Discounting theory as valuable to apply across substance dependency. Implications for practice include:
* A need to identify a broader concept of sensation-seeking for prisoner samples:
* The recognition of differences within substance dependent samples, with impulsivity presenting differently across drug and/or alcohol dependent groups;
*Recognition that concepts regularly applied to community samples need to be examined more specifically among forensic samples to ascertain validity
Personal values and involvement in problem behaviors among Bahamian early adolescents: a cross-sectional study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies, particularly in developing countries, have explored the relationship between adolescents and parental values with adolescent problem behaviors. The objectives of the study are to (1) describe adolescents' personal values, their problem behaviors, and the relationships thereof according to gender and (2) examine the relationship between parental values, adolescent values, and adolescents' problem behaviors among sixth-grade students and one of their parents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data used in these analyses were from the baseline assessment of a school-based HIV risk reduction intervention being conducted and evaluated among sixth grade students and one of their parents across 9 elementary schools in The Bahamas. Personal values were measured by the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ). Seven reported problem behaviors were queried from the students, which included physical fight with a friend, drank alcohol, beer, or wine, smoked a cigarette, pushed or carried any drugs, carried a gun, knife, screwdriver or cutlass to use as a weapon, had sex and used marijuana or other illicit drugs over the past 6 months. Multilevel modeling for binary data was performed to estimate the associations between adolescent and parental values and adolescent problem behaviors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 785 students, 47% of the students reported at least one problem behavior. More boys (54%) reported having one or more problem behaviors than girls (41%, p < 0.01). Boys compared to girls expressed a higher level of self-enhancement (means score: 36.5 vs. 35.1; p = 0.03), while girls expressed a higher level of self-transcendence (42.3 vs. 40.7; p = 0.03). The results of multilevel modeling indicates that boys with a higher level of self-enhancement and girls with a higher level of openness to change and a lower level of conservation were more likely to report engagement in problem behaviors. Only two parental values (self-transcendence and conservation) were low or modestly correlated with youth' values (openness to change and self-enhancement). Parental-reported values documented limited association on adolescents' reported values and behaviors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In designing interventions for reducing adolescents' problem behaviors, it may be important to understand the values associated with specific problem behaviors. Further exploration regarding lack of association between adolescent and parental values and problem behaviors is needed.</p
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