Stress and smoking in adolescence: a test of directional hypotheses.

The authors conducted a comparative test of the hypotheses that (a) stress is an etiological factor for smoking and (b) cigarette smoking causes increases in stress (A. C. Parrott, 1999). Participants were a sample of 1,364 adolescents, initially surveyed at mean age 12.4 years and followed at 3 yearly intervals. Measures of negative affect, negative life events, and cigarette smoking were obtained at all 4 assessments. Latent growth modeling showed negative affect was related to increase in smoking over time; there was no path from initial smoking to change in negative affect. Comparable results were found for negative life events, with no evidence for reverse causation. Results are discussed with respect to theoretical models of nicotine effects and implications for prevention.     

CHILD LABOUR: AN UNDERDEVELOPED TOPIC IN PSYCHOLOGY

Certain issues concerning child labour are raised: Why do psychologists do so little research on children working, despite the fact that it is widespread? Does work harm the child's development or deprive the child of necessary opportunities for play? How should research on child labour be conducted?     

Determinants of educational achievement at 16+: Intelligence,personality, home background and school

The classical path model linking home background with IQ and school type to educational attainment is extended by the inclusion of the EPQ and new questionnaires measuring Status Aspiration and Work Ethic. In a study of approx. 700 adolescents it was shown that Psychoticism and Status Aspiration are significant variables in the prediction of educational achievement. The most important determinant of educational attainment was found to be intelligence.     

Health Beliefs and Intentions: Predictors of Return Compliance in a Tuberculosis Detection Drive1

A prospective design was employed to study the ability of various factors to predict return compliance in a tuberculosis detection drive. Five hundred fiftythree participants in the drive were asked to complete a questionnaire tapping their views of TB (based on the Health Belief Model) and their intentions to return for the recommended skin test reading. Behavioral intention was found to be an important predictor of return rates, and the inclusion of the HBM variables aided in the classification noncompliers. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Relationships between locus of control,health value,and preventive health behaviors among women

This study examines the relationships between locus of control expectancies, rated health value, and reported participation in preventive health behaviors among a healthy sample of undergraduate women. The prediction that participation in preventive health behaviors would be a joint function of an internal health-related locus of control belief and holding health in high value was not supported. Instead, individuals who valued their health reported participating in a greater number of health-enhancing behaviors compared to those who valued their health less. Respondents' scores on a health value scale in combination with their rated health status proved to be better predictors of health behaviors than their locus of control beliefs. Limitations of locus of control research with young, healthy individuals are discussed and further investigation into the utility and validity of health value scales is recommended.     

Temperament and adolescent substance use: an epigenetic approach to risk and protection

We outline an epigenetic approach to understanding the relation between simple dispositional characteristics and complex problem behaviors, with a focus on adolescent substance use. Epigenetic theory predicts that effects of temperament are mediated through self-control and risk-taking tendency, isomorphic attributes that are based in temperament but represent developmental elaborations of these characteristics. We describe how the research program has confirmed predictions from epigenetic theory, addressed additional questions embodied in the theory, and clarified the multiple pathways from temperament characteristics to life stress, social relationships, and motives for substance use. In a final section, we discuss implications for the study of problem behavior and psychopathology.     

Power and perspectives not taken

Four experiments and a correlational study explored the relationship between power and perspective taking. In Experiment 1, participants primed with high power were more likely than those primed with low power to draw an E on their forehead in a self-oriented direction, demonstrating less of an inclination to spontaneously adopt another person's visual perspective. In Experiments 2a and 2b, high-power participants were less likely than low-power participants to take into account that other people did not possess their privileged knowledge, a result suggesting that power leads individuals to anchor too heavily on their own vantage point, insufficiently adjusting to others' perspectives. In Experiment 3, high-power participants were less accurate than control participants in determining other people's emotion expressions; these results suggest a power-induced impediment to experiencing empathy. An additional study found a negative relationship between individual difference measures of power and perspective taking. Across these studies, power was associated with a reduced tendency to comprehend how other people see, think, and feel.