When School Fits Me: How Fit Between Self-Beliefs and Task Benefits Boosts Math Motivation and Performance

We hypothesized that college students would engage more and perform better in math when the benefits of learning it were described in a manner that fit their self-beliefs, such as whether they view themselves as interdependent or as independent and unique. In three studies, fit predicted greater performance on math problems. Fit also predicted greater use of tutorials after answering problems incorrectly, and choosing to work on problems framed in the service of students' beliefs. Results highlight the potential power for strengthening math motivation and performance by creating a fit between the portrayal of math's utility and students' self-beliefs.     

Examining the Role of Peer Influence and Self-Control on Downloading Behavior

In the Chilean school system, classrooms are stable settings and constitute a closed socialization context. Through multilevel analysis, this article examines the association between classroom composition and students' marijuana consumption. Under the theoretical assumption that social control mechanisms work into social learning peer processes, our results indicate that, as an imposed environment, the classroom may encourage or discourage marijuana use among students. The results suggest that individual marijuana use is strongly associated with school bonding and marijuana tolerance at the classroom level. The strength of these associations depends on the flexibility and stability of the classroom structure.     

The Relationship Between Self-Control,Witnessing Domestic Violence,and Subsequent Violence

The notion that violence begets violence is well accepted. Less clear are the precise factors that link together child violence and adult violence in an individual's life course. This study examines the role that self-control has in linking together exposure to violence in a child's life and subsequent violence in that individual's life. A telephone survey with 375 residents in Southeastern Virginia was conducted. Attention is given to whether those who saw their parents fight are more likely to (1) have a low self-control and (2) report having experienced violence either as an offender or a victim. Results suggest that witnessing violence is not related to self-control, and those who witnessed violence were less likely to have subsequent experiences with partner abuse. Further, we found that low self-control has a link with partner abuse. Implications for theory, policy, and future research are provided.     

The Impact of Negative Stimuli on Suicidality among Adulthoods: A Mediating Effect of Depression

ABSTRACT

Suicide is the leading cause of mortality in the world. The major factors of suicidal behavior are depressive symptoms. Using data from the Korean General Social Survey conducted in 2012, this study identified the causes of suicidality using general strain theory (GST). The total sample size was 1,396. The results showed that physical punishment and mental abuse experienced in childhood increased the mediating variable, level of depression, in adulthood. This study also found that suicidality was significantly associated with depression level. Furthermore, physical punishment and mental abuse had significantly direct effects on the suicidality. As a result, this study found that negative experiences before 18 years of age have an influence on later depression, which increases the likelihood of suicide. Also, this study strongly supported GST. Therefore, reducing the causes of depression during adolescent period would be a key strategy to decrease suicide risk during adulthood.     

Introduction to The Special Issue on The Behavior Analysis and Treatment of Drug Addiction

Extensive evidence from the laboratory and the clinic suggests that drug addiction can be viewed as operant behavior and effectively treated through the application of principles of operant conditioning. Contingency management interventions that arrange for the direct reinforcement of drug abstinence or of other therapeutically important target behaviors (e.g., regular use of drug abuse treatment medications) are among the most studied type of operant treatments. Behavior analysts have contributed to the substantial and rapidly growing literature on operant treatments for drug addiction, but the publications of this work usually appear in medical, clinical psychology, or drug abuse journals. This special issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis represents an effort to bring this important work to the attention of the behavior-analytic community. The articles in this special issue illustrate both the enormous potential of contingency management interventions to address the serious and seemingly intractable problem of drug addiction as well as the real challenges involved in attempting to develop and disseminate treatments that will produce substantial and lasting changes in the lives of individuals plagued by the chronic problem of drug addiction.     

Financing A Voucher Program for Cocaine Abusers Through Community Donations in Spain

This study analyzed the viability of financing a voucher program for cocaine addicts in Spain through public and private donations. Of the 136 companies contacted, 52 (38%) provided donations. The difference between the benefits (15,670€/$20,371) and the costs (3,734€/$4,854) was 11,936€/$15,517. The type of reinforcer a company can offer, the size of the company, and the time elapsed before responding may be determining variables in a company''s decision whether to collaborate.