Exploring teenagers' adaptive and maladaptive thinking in relation to the threat of hiv infection

Abstract

Teenagers' HIV-preventive cognitions were explored within a protection motivation theory framework. Five hundred and seven adolescent men and women from two cohorts (sixteen and eighteen) completed a confidential postal questionnaire. The effect of demographic variables, previous sexual experience and appraisal of threat and coping resources upon HIV-relevant cognitions was investigated using path analysis. Cognitions promoting (adaptive) and inhibiting (maladaptive) preventive behaviour were considered. Anticipated condom use, intention to limit number of sexual partners and willingness to consider an HIV antibody test were included as adaptive HIV-preventive cognitions. Coping appraisal measures were strongly associated with anticipated condom use but threat appraisal measures were not. Gender, previous sexual experience, coping appraisal measures and denial accounted for 33% of the variance in anticipated condom use. Overall the results provided qualified support for Protection Motivation Theory. Implications for health education are highlighted.     

Follow-up effects of social comparison information on the quality of life of cancer patients: The moderating role of social comparison orientation

Objective: To examine how social comparison orientation (SCO) moderates the effects of three types of social comparison information on the global quality of life of cancer patients 2 weeks and 3 months later. Design: Cancer patients (n?=?226) were provided with social comparison information just prior to undergoing radiation therapy, using audiotapes. Each participant was confronted with one of three tapes: (1) focusing on procedural aspects, (2) focusing on emotional reactions and (3) focusing on coping strategies. Main outcome measures: Quality of life as measured with the Cantril self-anchoring scale [Cantril, H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press]. Results: With increasing SCO, a lower quality of life was reported after listening to the emotion tape, while a higher quality of life was reported after listening to the coping tape. These effects were found 2 weeks as well as 3 months after the radiation therapy had ended. Conclusion: Social comparison information may have longitudinal effects on quality of life, but these effects are to an important extent dependent on the nature of the information and individual differences in SCO.     

Personality,Faking, and Convergent Validity: A Warning Concerning Warning Statements

Personality measures continue to be criticized for their susceptibility to faking and socially desirable responding. The present study examined the effects of warning applicants against faking on convergent validity of self-observer ratings. Four hundred sixty-four participants completed personality inventories in either a warned or unwarned condition. Results indicated that warning statements resulted in lower mean scores for some personality dimensions but did not improve convergent validity for any of these dimensions. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to employment selection and future research.     

How much behaviour change should we expect from health promotion campaigns targeting cognitions? An approach to pre-intervention assessment

For those planning interventions based on social cognition models, it is usually not clear what impact on behaviour will follow from attempts to change the cognitions specified in these models. We describe a statistical simulation technique to assess the likely impact of health promotion targeting Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)-based predictors of condom use. We apply regression-based simulation techniques to data from the SHARE project (n?=?756 Scottish adolescents) to assess the potential impact of changes in cognitions on condom use. Results support the predictive utility of TRA-based models of psychological antecedents of condom use but also provide a cautionary warning about the magnitude of behaviour change likely to be achieved by interventions based on such models.     

Decision type,participative decision making (PDM), and organizational behavior: An experimental simulation

The present study tested hypotheses derived from the path‐goal theory of leadership concerning attitudes and behavior in an organizational change situation. Using an experimental simulation, the method of payment for 199 coding workers was changed from hourly to piece‐rate, either by participation or initiating structure (i.e., direction). Results supported the influence of the type of change decision on change acceptance. Initiating structure in the strategic change decision (whether or not to implement a planned change) and participation in tactical decisions (how to implement the change) both increased change acceptance. An interaction effect was also observed with subjects in the directive strategy with participation tactics combination showing the largest change acceptance mean. However, initiating structure or participation in both decision types had minimal effect on performance. Theoretical and practical implications of the results were discussed.     

Anomalous ductile-brittle fracture behaviour in fcc crystals

The fracture behaviour of fcc crystals has been investigated by numerically simulating the dynamical failure of a three-dimensional notched crystal using molecular dynamics, simple interatomic potentials for a rare-gas solid and system sizes of about ten million atoms. We find that the solid fails by brittle cleavage for cracking on a {110} face growing in a [110]direction and by ductile plasticity for cracking on a {111} face growing in a [110]direction. Comparison of equilibrium surface energies on the crack face and Schmid factors on the primary slip systems indicates that the classical theories of fracture give predictions in contradiction with the simulation results. A hyperelasticity model is proposed to explain this discrepancy. This anomalous fracture behaviour of fcc crystals has a profound implication on general modelling of dynamic failure of solids.     

Moral Treatment in Asylums and General Hospitals in 19th-Century America

Moral treatment, a therapeutic approach that emphasized character and spiritual development, and called for kindness on the part of all who came in contact with the patient, flourished in American mental hospitals during the first half of the 19th century. Many of its essential features also existed then in the treatment of physical illness in American general hospitals. Changing social and welfare services and advances in scientific medicine contributed to a subsequent decline in moral treatment and to a divergence between the therapeutic approaches of the two kinds of hospitals. In recent years, there has been a gradual convergence in their treatment modes. Contemporary social and welfare services are contrasted with traditional moral treatment.