Intention, Context, and Safe Sex: Australian Adolescents' Responses to AIDS

This study examined the applicability to condom use of Ajzen and Madden's (1986) theory of planned behavior by examining the predictors of intention to use a condom and actual condom use in a specific sexual situation. In a sample of 144 sexually active heterosexual males and females, limited support was found for the model. Intentions to use a condom immediately before a particular sexual encounter, and those assessed some time prior to this encounter were found to have direct and positive effects on condom use. In addition, perceptions of the disadvantages of condoms (a measure of attitudes to condoms in general) had direct negative effects on condom use and, together with perceptions of the advantage of condoms, also had indirect effects on condom use via prior intention. A number of the postulated predictors of safe sexual practice related neither to intentions nor behavior. The contextual variables of sexual arousal, condom availability, and degree of communication with a sexual partner all influenced condom use. Discussion centered on first, differences in the predictive ability of the model when compared to other studies of planned behavior, and second, the factors limiting the relationship between intention and behavior when the behavior in question is not under complete, volitional control.     

The influence of geographic region on the seasonality of early motor development

This investigation was conducted to determine whether the strong seasonality effect on infant motor development that has been noted in moderate climates would be replicated with infants born in a geographic region with more extreme conditions. One hundred and forty-five full-term infants (72 males, 73 females) born in Edmonton, alberta were assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) at 7 months of age. No seasonality effects on the AIMS total scores or the prone, supine, sitting, or standing subsection scores were detected. A weak and statistically non-significant correlation was obtained between the average monthly AIMS scores and the average monthly temperatures 7 months after birth. These results suggest that extreme climatic conditions in urban geographic regions may dampen effects of season of birth on infant motor development.     

Impairment of nonlinguistic hand movements in a deaf aphasic

A deaf man who became aphasic for sign language was seen 4 years after a left-hemisphere stroke. While not impaired on traditional apraxia tests, he was impaired, relative to nonaphasic deaf controls, in the imitation of complex nonlinguistic hand movements. He was not impaired on single isolated movements. These findings are interpreted as supporting a concept of left-hemisphere function which emphasizes complex motor control.     

The lady spaceman: Children's perceptions of sex-stereotyped occupations

In a study of perceptions of sex-sterotyping in occupations, children from first, fourth, and sixth grades in single-sex schools and a coeducational school were asked to name male and female occupants of traditionally male and traditionally female roles. Use of linguistic markers (e.g., lady doctor) or stereotypically inappropriate responses (e.g., naming a female doctor nurse, while correctly naming the male occupant of this role doctor) was associated with labeling female occupants of traditionally male roles and male occupants of traditionally female roles. The results from this study indicate that language subtly reflects children's perceptions of sex roles.This study was supported by a grant from the Melbourne State College Standing Committee on Research and Development.     

Prevention-centered science in mental health

Conclusion This special issue of AJCP is the first attempt to collectively publish some of the research generated by the PIRCs, an effort that we hope conveys the richness and sophistication of prevention research at its best. As seen in the papers, the work encompasses a broad multidisciplinary focus, including the domains of epidemiology, econometrics, sociology, community psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, and psychiatry. The rigor of the studies is sometimes astonishing given the complexities of implementing field-based research, and speaks to the creativity of the investigators at the PIRCs. The critical role they have carved out for prevention within the broader scientific enterprise should move the field toward greater acceptance by other scientists, and should hasten the achievement of its main goal and an important mission of the NIMH—the prevention of mental disorders and dysfunctions and the promotion of mental health. Editor's Note: This special issue of theAmerican Journal of Community Psychology was organized by Doreen Spilton Koretz, who introduces it with a commentary describing the National Institute of Mental Health program that supports the Preventive Intervention Research Centers. Editorial review was handled by Edward Seidman, Associate Editor, with the assistance of a special review board composed of people listed at the end of the issue.The opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the support or endorsement of the National Institute of Mental Health; the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration; or the Public Health Service.     

The Effects of Demographic Variables and Stereotype Threat on Black/White Differences in Cognitive Ability Test Performance

The present study examined whether a set of demographic variables and stereotype threat could explain African-American/White mean differences in cognitive ability test performance. African Americans and Whites were found to significantly differ in stereotype threat and educational attainment of participants' fathers (i.e., father education). In moderate support of our study hypothesis, stereotype threat and father education partially mediated race differences in cognitive ability test scores. Implications for study findings are discussed, and limitations of the study are noted.     

Decision to Leave Scale: Perceived Reasons to Stay In or Leave Violent Relationships

The 30-item Decision to Leave Scale (DLS) was developed with 631 college women and 420 college women and women in shelters. Seven DLS subscales emerged for concerns in deciding to stay or leave: Fear of Loneliness, Child Care Needs, Financial Problems, Social Embarrassment, Poor Social Support, Fear of Harm, Hopes Things Change. Mean internal reliability was .73, mean test-retest reliability was .70. Discriminant validity was demonstrated by expected associations between DLS concerns and self-esteem, children, and violence. Criterion validity was demonstrated by greater DLS concerns for women in shelters than for college women. Women in violent relationships who decided to stay reported more Fear of Loneliness than women who decided to leave.     

Validity of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64) for predicting assertiveness in role-play situations

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64; Horowitz, Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 2000) is a self-report measure of maladaptive relationship behavior. Ninety-five adult female participants completed the IIP-64 and then interacted with a same-sex confederate in three diagnostic role plays, designed to evoke assertive responses. After each role play, both the participant and the confederate judged how assertive the participant had been, using two subscales from the Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS; Wiggins, 1995). The participants' general self-images, assessed with the IIP-64, were quite congruent with how they judged their own assertiveness in the role plays. But when role-play assertiveness was judged by the confederate, the match with the participants' general self-images was considerably lower. Our results indicate that self-reported interpersonal problems do not converge well with external judgments of interpersonal behavior.     

Memory development in the second year: for events or locations?

We employed an object-placement/object-removal design, inspired by recent work on 'episodic-like' memory in scrub jays (Clayton, N. S., & Dickinson, A. (1998). Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature, 395, 272-274), to examine the possibility that children in the second year of life have event-based memories. In one task, a successful search could have been due to the recall of an object-removal event. In the second task, a successful search could only have been caused by recall of where objects were located. Success was general in the oldest group of children (21-25 months), while performance was broadly similar on the two tasks. The parsimonious interpretation of this outcome is that the first task was performed by location memory, not by event memory. We place these data in the context of object permanence development.