Adolescent boys’ physical fighting and adult life outcomes: Examining the interplay with intelligence

Although it is well known that adolescent delinquent behavior is related to poor outcomes in adulthood, longitudinal research on specific acts of delinquency and their interplay with important individual characteristics in predicting future outcomes is scarce. We aimed to examine how physical fighting—one of the most common acts of violent delinquency among adolescent boys—is related to adult life success in several domains, and how intelligence influences these associations. The study used data from 1,083 boys that participated in the population-based longitudinal Young in Norway Study, following adolescents from 1992 to 2015, by combining self-reports at four time points with comprehensive information from registers. Results showed that adolescent boys’ physical fighting was associated with poor adult outcomes in the domains of employment, education, and criminal behavior. Associations remained significant even after controlling for conduct problems in general—which isolated the effects of fighting from other delinquent acts—as well as from a variety of other potential confounders. Detailed analyses on the interplay of physical fighting and intelligence showed that some parts of the associations between adolescent boys’ fighting and several adverse adult outcomes could be ascribed to lower intelligence among the fighters. Moreover, intelligence moderated the relationship between physical fighting and adult education. Adolescent fighting was not related to educational attainment among boys with high intelligence, whereas boys with lower intelligence experienced detrimental effects of adolescent fighting. The analyses show the importance of considering adolescent boys’ physical fighting as a potential risk factor for future social marginalization.     

Long-term effects of lifestyle behavior change in coronary artery disease: effects on recurrent coronary events after percutaneous coronary intervention.

This study evaluated the effects of a behaviorally oriented cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention program on lifestyle changes and on coronary recurrence rates. Patients recently treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were randomized to an intervention with an aggressive focus on lifestyle changes (smoking, diet, exercise, and stress; n=46) or to a standard-care control group (n=42). Results showed that the intervention group had significantly larger overall lifestyle changes than the control group after 12, 24, 36, and 60 months. The intervention group had significantly lower rates of all coronary events (acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, PCI, cardiac death; 30.4% vs. 53.7%), and of cardiovascular mortality (2.2% vs. 14.6%). The need for future large-scale and long-term evaluations of lifestyle-oriented secondary prevention interventions of this kind is emphasized.     

Youth Suicide in Norway, 1990–1992: A Comparison between Children and Adolescents Completing Suicide and Age- and Gender-Matched Controls

In Norway 1990–1992, the suicide rate was 18.6 per 100,000 individuals per year for boys 15–19 years old and 6.3 for girls, and for 10–14 year olds the rate was 2.7 for boys and 0.5 for girls. Comparison of all completed suicides (N = 129) with gender- and age-matched control subjects identified depression (OR = 19.9; CI = 11.2, 35.5), disruptive disorders (OR = 6.0; CI = 3.1, 11.4), and previous suicidal behavior (OR = 3.4, CI = 2.0, 5.6) as main risk factors. Of the suicide completers, 74% had mental disorders. Suicidal intent was previously expressed by 48%, but few (24%) had received treatment, despite well-developed health services. A history of disruptive disorders (17%) and substance abuse (10%) were less frequently found than in previous studies, but binge drinking may contribute to the adolescent suicide rate.     

民间寺庙与中国宗教经济——对宗教经济理论的探讨

国外宗教经济理论能否适用于中国宗教研究备受关注。香港城市大学梁景文教授及罗斯教授等对此问题也做出了回应。从1980年代后期到2004年,他们对广东和浙江八座黄大仙庙进行了研究,并得出结论:中国的寺庙在吸引信众方面存在竞争,并在宗教经济中扮演积极的角色。在最成功的新寺庙中,管理者制定了选址、推销、推广、革新和公共活动等一系列战略决策,以增加他们寺庙的吸引力。宗教经济模型能够有效地用来研究中国社会中的民间寺庙。