Risk Factors of Adolescent Pathological Gambling: Permissive Gambling Culture and Individual Factors

This study investigated the relationships between types of gambling activity, problem behaviors, and self-esteem with adolescent problem gambling in Hong Kong. From a sample of 2,258 students aged between 12 and 17, study results showed that playing Poker and gaming in Amusement Game Centers (entertainment venues with gaming machines) had the strongest predictive value, implying a gambling-permissive culture regarding gambling as an entertainment, with parental and societal support and availability of gambling opportunities, has more impact on adolescent problem gambling than other personal risk factors like problem behaviors and low self-esteem. Prevention strategies at individual and societal levels are discussed.     

青少年社会适应的保护性与危险性因素的评估

青少年期的社会适应不仅关系个体在青少年期的健康发展,也对其在青年以及成年期的适应具有深远影响。我们提出了青少年社会适应的领域-功能理论模型,并将保护性与危险性因素的概念引入社会适应的研究中,对我国青少年的社会适应现状,以及青少年生活中的主要个体与环境因素对其社会适应的影响机制进行了全面而系统的探讨,提供了新的视角。本文综述了我们在该领域取得的的主要研究成果,并对未来研究的方向进行了展望。     

Modeling Potential Psychological Risk Factors of Pathological Gambling

This paper proposes a model of potential psychological risk factors antecedent to pathological gambling. Proposed relationships are tested using a structural equations methodology for 2 samples: (a) gamblers composed of members of Gamblers Anonymous and individuals clinically diagnosed and in treatment for pathological gambling. and (b) a demographically matched sample drawn from the general population of a 3-state area from which the gamblers were recruited. Results show both intriguing similarities and differences in relationships among the risk factors. Specifically. for these 2 samples, relationships among the constructs of neurotic/obsessive thoughts, self-esteem, impulsiveness, and anxiety/nervousness are generally similar, but relationships between model constructs and a measure of probable pathological gambling varies across the samples.     

Adolescent Suicidal Risk: Psychological,Problem Solving,and Environmental Factors

This study examined the life stress and problem-solving interactional model of suicide proposed by Clum, Patsiokas, and Luscomb (1979) . Thirty-three hospitalized suicidal adolescents were compared with 21 adolescents hospitalized for other psychiatric problems and with 89 controls. The assessment battery was composed of psychological measures, problem-solving measures, and environmental and family measures. The discriminant analyses revealed that the suicide group could be discriminated from the psychiatric control group but not from the high school control group. Unexpectedly, life stresses did not contribute to the identification of current suicide risk. The results suggest the importance of assessing suicide risk at the time of admission to minimize any subsequent changes in the risk group.     

Tele-counselling for Problem Gambling: A Case Study

Innovative approaches to the treatment of pathological gambling are required since the number of individuals who seek treatment tend to be fewer than the prevalence studies would indicate. In this study, an innovative approach to the treatment of pathological gambling was used in order to address the common hindrances to treatment-seeking these patients face. One such approach is to offer the option of manual-guided tele-counselling. This case study reports on the progress of one individual who was treated using this modality. For reasons of privacy and anonymity, the individual in this case report preferred to address her problem gambling with the assistance of a therapist whom she never met. The client was provided with 10 weeks of tele-counselling treatment during which six treatment modules were delivered. Problems of access, privacy and anonymity were overcome with this method and the client was able to reduce their gambling behavior significantly with the therapeutic gains being maintained at the 6-month follow-up. The implications for the treatment of problem gambling using a non-traditional approach are discussed.     

Media Effects on Women's Body Esteem: Social and Individual Difference Factors

This study examined individual difference and social factors in moderating the effects of media images on women's body satisfaction. Participants heard a conversation wherein 2 people either were judgmental about a mutual friend's weight gain or discussed their friend's recent move. Participants then viewed slides which were either neutral or depicted "ideal" images of women. Results underscored the importance of individual differences. When exposed to ideal images, thinner women more positively evaluated their sexual attractiveness, while heavier women reported more negative self-evaluations. Compared to low self-monitors, high self-monitors who were exposed to ideal images were more positive about their physical condition. The findings demonstrate that media images do not similarly affect all women's body esteem.     

Social Learning,Social Disorganization,and Psychological Risk Factors for Criminal Gangs in a British Youth Context

ABSTRACT

Using longitudinal data from a British longitudinal cohort study (ALSPAC), the current study examines “developmental domains” from individual, peer, and community risk factors. Using four logistic regression models, we looked at 10 correlations between children’s experience with risk factors outlined by the literature and criminal gang association. Gang membership was associated with drug use, delinquent peers, and disorganized neighborhoods. Further, early diagnoses of childhood aggression, ADHD, depression, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, were not associated with later, adolescent youth gang membership. Our results suggest community based programs that stem from social learning policies and collective efficacy militate against gang growth.     

Individual, Social, and Behavioral Factors Associated with Co-Occurring Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits can have a long-lasting negative impact into adulthood. Importantly, among youth with CP, those high on CU traits engage in a more severe, aggressive, and persistent pattern of antisocial behavior. The current study investigates the co-occurrence between CP and CU traits among a large sample of Greek-Cypriot adolescents (N?=?1,674; 50.1 % girls). Five distinct groups were identified with Latent Profile Analysis: low risk (48.7 %), average risk (33.8 %), co-occurring high CP-high CU (5.4 %), high CP-low CU (5.2 %), and low CP-high CU (6.9 %). Although more boys were identified in the higher risk groups, boys and girls within each group were not differentiated on levels of CP or CU traits during early adolescence. Youth in the identified groups were compared on early (Mean age?=?12.12) and middle (Mean age?=?14.02) adolescence individual and contextual factors. Youth with high CP-high CU were at higher risk for behavioral (bullying and substance use), individual (inattention, impulsivity, narcissism), and contextual (low family-support) problems compared to youth in the high CP-low CU and low CP-high CU groups, providing evidence that the combination of CP and CU traits might constitute a pathological group. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of sub-typing CP based on CU traits for the forthcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Additional novel findings suggested that adolescents scoring high on CP, irrespective of CU, were not differentiated on hyperactivity, victimization, and anxiety/depression, and adolescents scoring high on CU traits, with or without CP, reported similar low levels of self-esteem and peer and family social-support.     

Individual and Social Factors in the Development of Graphic Symbolization

College student attitudes toward United States involvement in three international conflict areas were measured at various times during the years 1965 through 1971. An examination of the mean attitude scores obtained toward United States involvement in the Arab-Israel, India-Pakistan, and Vietnam conflicts revealed some reluctance on the part of the students to have the United States involved in any of these areas of international conflict.

Younger students were most dovish concerning United States involvement in Vietnam and were less so on the issues of the India-Pakistan and the Arab-Israel conflicts, whereas older students were more dovish regarding the issues of United States involvement in the Arab-Israel and India-Pakistan conflicts and least dovish with respect to the Vietnam conflict. Attitudes toward the involvement of the United States in both the Vietnam and Arab-Israel conflicts became significantly more dovish over time.     

Social Network Sites,Individual Social Capital and Happiness

Can online social contacts replace the importance of real-life social connections in our pursuit of happiness? With the growing use of social network sites (SNSs), attention has been increasingly drawn to this topic. Our study empirically examines the effect of SNS use on happiness for different subgroups of young adults. More specifically, we examine whether the effect of SNSs on happiness is moderated by individual social capital, as measured in terms of frequency of social contacts and feelings of loneliness. Using Dutch data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences panel, we provide robust empirical evidence that there is, on average, no relationship between the amount of time spent on SNSs and happiness. However, we find a negative association between the numbers of hours spent on SNS and happiness for SNS users who feel socially disconnected and lonely. The results hold when we control for socio-demographic characteristics, trust, hours spent on other Internet sites and household income. Hence, SNSs are not a substitute for real-life social connections and, at most, complement them.     

Evidence for Risk Estimate Precision: Implications for Individual Risk Communication

Actuarial risk assessment instruments using well-established predictor variables measured at the individual level (e.g., age, criminal history, psychopathy) discriminate well between recidivists and non-recidivists across diverse samples. Data indicating the relative risk of recidivism can inform policy decisions about allocating resources according to risk within a correctional system, consistent with the first of the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) principles. Evidence for the precision of absolute risk as applied to an individual based on scores from many samples, however, has proven challenging. In this paper, we present a study examining the association of actuarial risk estimate precision with sample size using the Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA; Lowenkamp et al., 2013), in samples of up to 26,642 offenders. Results indicate that the precision of individual estimates can be demonstrated with sufficient sample size. We believe that the implications of absolute risk for the communication of an individual offender's risks have been poorly understood. We argue that the purpose of individual-level risk communication is to ensure the effective application of policy, which requires matching a new case to aggregate data. We illustrate how an offender's risk might thus be communicated, and conclude that this function is distinct from management of an individual's criminogenic needs and identification of effective and suitable treatments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality,Luck Beliefs,and (Non-?) Problem Lottery Gambling

This study offers both the first systematic investigation of the relationship between the five-factor personality model and general (ostensibly non-problem) lottery gambling, and the first application of Thompson and Prendergast’s (2013) bidimensional model of luck beliefs to gambling behavior. Cross-sectional analyses (N = 844) indicate the bidimensional model of luck beliefs significantly accounts for variance in lottery gambling that is discrete from and greater than that of the five-factor personality model. Moreover, the broad pattern of relationships we find between presumably harmless state-sponsored lottery gambling and both personality and luck beliefs tend to parallel those found in studies of problem gambling, suggesting implications for quality of life and public policy in relation to lottery gambling.

     

Comorbidity of Hyperactivity-Impulsivity-Inattention and Conduct Problems: Risk Factors in Social, Affective, and Academic Domains

Children showing a comorbid behavior pattern of hyperactivity-impulsivity-inattention and conduct problems (HIA + CP) were contrasted to children having only an internalizing and externalizing behavior pattern (I + E) and matched controls. Children displaying the HIA + CP behavior pattern were at greater risk on a number of outcome measures in social and academic domains beginning in Grade 3 and continuing into Grade 4. The most marked differences among the three groups were found on peer measures of rejection and friendship and teacher ratings of social skills. On average, almost two-thirds of the HIA + CP group were rejected by their peers compared to one-third of the I + E group and only 12.5% controls. Over 70% of the HIA + CP group had no reciprocated friendships from Grade 3 to Grade 4 compared to less than half of the I + E group and approximately one-fourth of controls. Contrary to much theorizing in the literature, the HIA + CP and I + E groups showed average levels of academic self-concept and did not differ from controls in on measures of social self-concept and academic self-concept and general self-esteem. These findings were interpreted in light of positive illusory biases and the established link between aggressive behavior and egotism. The current article offers partial support for Lynam's (1996) notion of the fledgling psychopath.     

Alcohol Use,Problem Drinking and Health Risk Factors Among South African Youths

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of problem drinking among South African youth (18–24 years). A cross-sectional population-based household survey was conducted using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling approach. The total sample included 3123 participants (age range 18–24 years, 45.4% women) from four of nine provinces in South Africa. Results indicate that current alcohol was relatively more common among male (40.7%) than female youths (21.3%). Similarly, hazardous or harmful drinking was more prevalent among males (24.3%) than among women (12.9%). In multivariable analyses among men and women high on sexually permissiveness had hazardous or harmful alcohol use. Lifestyle including high peer pressure, and spending more nights away in a week were associated with hazardous or harmful alcohol use.     

Laboratory Simulated Gambling: Risk Varies Across Participant-Stake Procedure

ABSTRACT. This study investigated whether risk taking on a laboratory gambling task differed depending on whether participants gambled with earned or experimenter-provided game credits. Participants made repeated choices between two options, one to wager game credits on a game that produced probabilistic gains and losses, and one to gain game credits with certainty. Choice was investigated across stake and no-stake conditions and condition order was counterbalanced across conditions. Risk taking was higher under stake than no-stake conditions, but only when stake conditions were experienced first. There was no effect on risk taking of the amount of the certain gain. Results are consistent with previous research showing that participant-stake procedures promote greater risk taking than procedures that allow participants to gamble with their own earnings, and also show that experience gambling with earned credits has an enduring effect on risk taking.     

Individual Well-Being,Geographical Heterogeneity and Social Capital

This paper argues the relevance of analysing the origins of contextual effects to explain subjective well-being (SWB). Using the 2012 European Social Survey, the study applies social capital indicators to distinguish between-context and between-individual heterogeneity in three multilevel models of happiness and life satisfaction. Five indicators of social capital at individual and regional level are used to measure the trust, networks and norms dimensions of social capital. Random intercept and random slope hierarchical models are used to control for unexplained regional variability. The possibility of aggregated subjective perceptions conditioning, or interacting with, the effects of individual perceptions is also examined. The results show that the regional means of the social capital indicators are useful in explaining not only average levels of SWB (between-context heterogeneity) but also differences in the importance individuals attribute to their social capital (between-individual heterogeneity). The paper also proposes a research agenda to expand the frontier on contextual effects in the new science of well-being.     

The Interconnected Self: The Social Individual is More Than Just Social + Individual

Although decades of research provide consistent evidence supporting the perspective that the self is divided into social and personal components each with unique and predictable motivational associations, the current paper argues that something important has been overlooked. Specifically, what has been lost is the acknowledgment that although different components of self can be activated, and can have important implications, the two aspects of self are highly interconnected. Specifically in this paper, it is argued that (i) the independent self is affected by social motivations and (ii) the social self is affected by independent motivations. Two studies are presented in support of these hypotheses. We conclude by comparing our perspective with existing theories of the self and by discussing implications for the study of the self.     

Image Theory, Social Identity, and Social Dominance: Structural Characteristics and Individual Motives Underlying International Images

The present study provides an empirical test of international relations image theory and extends the theory by emphasizing that individuals' social identity and social dominance motives contribute to such images. One hundred forty-five Lebanese participants completed a survey that assessed their perceptions of U.S.-Lebanese relations, the images they have of the United States, their social identities, and their social dominance orientations. Participants were more likely to hold the barbarian image of the United States than the enemy, imperialist, or ally images. Participants also tended to perceive the United States as having relatively superior power, inferior cultural status, and goals that are incompatible with those of Lebanon. Consistent with image theory predictions, this constellation of structural perceptions was associated with stronger endorsement of the barbarian image. Furthermore, participants were more likely to endorse the barbarian image of the United States the more they identified with Arabs and Palestinians, the less they identified with Christians and the Western world, and the lower their social dominance orientation. Results highlight the importance of considering both structural characteristics and individual motives underlying international images and demonstrate the need for scholars to move beyond the enemy image of nations when describing international relations.