The prediction of safe sex behaviour: The role of intentions,attitudes, norms and control beliefs

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the utility of the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Azjen, 1975) in relation to people's propensity to engage in a range of different safe sex strategies, including engaging in an exclusive sexual relationship, avoiding casual sex, and asking sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history. It was proposed that the intention to engage in a particular safe sex practice would be influenced by the person's attitude towards engaging in the practice, as well as his or her perception of the extent to which others thought they should do so (subjective norm), while behavioural intentions were proposed to predict actual behaviour. The study was also designed to examine whether, after control of the effects of the components of the theory of reasoned action, the person's generalised control beliefs would explain any additional variance in either behavioural intentions or actual behaviour. One hundred and two sexually active heterosexual students participated in the study. At the first wave of data collection, subjects completed measures of intentions, attitudes, and norms appropriate to each of the different behaviours. Measures of actual behaviour were obtained at follow-tip (three months after first period of data collection). The results of the study indicated that attitudes and norms predicted intentions for avoiding casual sex and asking sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history, while intentions predicted actual behaviour for all three safe sex strategies. Although there were no significant main effects of control beliefs on intentions or behaviour, subjects with internal control beliefs were more likely than their counterparts with external control beliefs to behave in accordance with their intentions to engage in an exclusive sexual relationship and ask sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history. Additional analyses revealed that the levels and determinants of intentions and actual behaviour were, in general, similar for males and females.     

Feasibility and Preliminary Outcomes of a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Urban Youth

Youth in underserved, urban communities are at risk for a range of negative outcomes related to stress, including social-emotional difficulties, behavior problems, and poor academic performance. Mindfulness-based approaches may improve adjustment among chronically stressed and disadvantaged youth by enhancing self-regulatory capacities. This paper reports findings from a pilot randomized controlled trial assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a school-based mindfulness and yoga intervention. Four urban public schools were randomized to an intervention or wait-list control condition (n = 97 fourth and fifth graders, 60.8% female). It was hypothesized that the 12-week intervention would reduce involuntary stress responses and improve mental health outcomes and social adjustment. Stress responses, depressive symptoms, and peer relations were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. Findings suggest the intervention was attractive to students, teachers, and school administrators and that it had a positive impact on problematic responses to stress including rumination, intrusive thoughts, and emotional arousal.     

Enhanced spatial ability in aged dogs following dietary and behavioural enrichment

We examined the benefits of a broad spectrum antioxidant diet and enrichment comprised of physical exercise, environmental stimulants and cognitive testing, on spatial memory performance in beagle dogs. Both aged (N=48) and young (N=16) beagle dogs (Canus familiaris) were tested yearly on a three-component delayed non-match to position spatial task for three consecutive years. The results showed that young enriched animals acquired the task in fewer sessions, made fewer errors, responded slower and made fewer positional responses, compared to aged enriched animals. An analysis restricted to aged animals revealed that antioxidant administration and enrichment resulted in fewer errors, slower responses and decreased positional responses, particularly in Year 3. Finally, cohort differences emerged, which exemplify the significance of early environmental intervention. Aged dogs that were housed with other animals and exposed to an outdoor environment in early development displayed greater benefits from both interventions. These findings indicate that long-term dietary intervention and enrichment can buffer age-associated cognitive decline.     

ASSESSING CHOICE MAKING AMONG CHILDREN WITH MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

Some learners with multiple disabilities display idiosyncratic gestures that are interpreted as a means of making choices. In the present study, we assessed the validity of idiosyncratic choice-making behaviors of 3 children with multiple disabilities. Opportunities for each child to choose between food and drink were provided under two conditions. In one condition, the children were given the food or drink item corresponding to their prior choice. In the other condition, the teacher delivered the item opposite to that chosen. It was reasoned that valid choice-making behaviors would be reflected in a greater tendency to accept the chosen item and refuse the unchosen item. Direct observations revealed all children consistently indicated choices during both conditions. Choices of both the food and drink items were made by all 3 children. A reversal design demonstrated that acts of refusal were more frequent when choices were followed by delivery of the item opposite to that chosen. Similar assessment procedures may be effective in determining the function of idiosyncratic gestures exhibited by persons with multiple disabilities. For children lacking such skills, intervention to teach valid choice-making behaviors may be needed to complement assessment procedures.     

Super's Career Stages and the Decision to Change Careers

This study examined Super's (1990) concept of recycling through the stages of adult career development in a sample of 226 Australian men and women who were approximately evenly distributed across the following four steps in the uptake of a second career: (a) contemplating a change, (b) choosing a new field, (c) implementing a change, and (d) change fully completed. A group of adults of similar age, gender, education, occupation, and career history who had no intention of switching careers was also included for comparison. Recycling predictions were supported by the finding that the three groups who were in the throes of career change displayed greater concern with Super's first (exploration) stage than the nonchanging control group. In addition, the two groups who were most intensely involved in the change process (choosing field and implementing) scored higher in exploration concern than the group whose career change was fully completed. Satisfaction also varied as a function of the participant's stage in the process of switching to a new career. Global satisfaction with the present job was highest in workers who had completed the change to a new career, but nonchangers were more satisfied than the three groups who were actively caught up in the change process. On the other hand, satisfaction with the overall pattern of career development was higher in the two stable groups (nonchangers and change-completed) than among the three groups still actively involved in making a change. Implications of these results for midlife career counseling were considered.     

Countering perfectionism in research on clinical practice II: Retrospective analysis of treatment progress

A simple correlational study is described which has methodological advantages, when compared with an equivalent manipulative (i.e., quasiexperimental) research design, for examining exploratory questions about treatment outcome. These advantages stem from the fact that retrospective designs, when compared with prospective ones, are much less likely to involve ethical problems due to offering relatively ineffective or unnecessary treatment, and less likely to involve confounds from newly hypothesized differential expectations about treatment. Based on Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) scale scores, clients with high levels of histrionic or narcissistic (and possibly also those with antisocial, compulsive and paranoid) personality traits seemed to profit more from RET than those without such traits. Clients with high levels of schizoid, avoidant, and schizotypal traits (and probably also clients with strong passive-aggressive traits, and possibly also clients with strong dependent and borderline traits) seemed to profit less from RET than those without such marked traits. We have previously shown that the relatively healthy personality traits and disorders are associated with global self-upping and the relatively sick ones with global self-downing, as well as contrasting patterns of positive and negative reactions to stressful events. Our findings here support the concept that clients who consistently handle life situations well will tend to progress most rapidly in therapy, and those who generally handle life situations badly will tend to progress slowly. Personality traits may be especially significant markers for therapeutic attention to problems stemming from global self-rating. Expectations based on the severity of global self-upping and/or self-downing may be good predictors of therapeutic progress. In contrast, expectations about RET outcomes based on severity of distress or neediness will probably be less accurate.Dr. Russell C. Leaf is Associate Professor of Psychology at Rutgers. He also directs a research project at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, in collaboration with the four other authors of this article, on the relationships between intake personality and mental health. He is an Institute Fellow and Supervisor, and previously served as a staff therapist and as the Institute's Director of Clinical Evaluation.Albert Ellis is President of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Roslyn Mass is Professor at Middlesex County College. She is in charge of data processing and analysis for the collaborative research of this authorial team, and is a Fellow of and previously served as Administrative Director of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Raymond DiGiuseppe is Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Johns and Director of Research and Director of Training at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Diane Alington is Assistant Director and a member of the core faculty of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers, where she conducts a research program on sex differences in adult development.     

Covariation and temporal contiguity as principles of causal inference in young children

Four- to seven-year-old children observed a simple physical effect which could be attributed to either a consistent but noncontiguous covariate or a contiguous but inconsistent covariate. When there was a physical rationale for the temporal delay between covariate and effect, children attributed the effect to the consistent but noncontiguous covariate. In the absence of such a rationale, they attributed the effect to the contiguous but inconsistent covariate. It was concluded that neither consistent covariation nor strict temporal contiguity were essential aspects of causal inference for these children.