Drug Ingestions in Children 10–14 Years Old: An Old Problem Revisited

To determine changes in rates of drug ingestions in 10–14 year old children in our country, a retrospective chart review of 10–14 year olds hospitalized for drug ingestion between 1993–1995 and 2000–2004 was performed. Odds ratios and Chi‐square were used for analyses. From 1993–1995 there were 92.8 ingestions/100,000 children/year; from 2000–2004 there were 63.3 ingestions/100,000 children/year. More males ingested in 2000–2004 than 1993–1995 (26.3% vs. 14.2% O.R. 2.15 [1.19, 3.92]). More patients took psychiatric medications in 2000–2004 than 1993–1995 (38.9% vs. 27.0%, O.R. 1.72 [1.06, 2.80]). More patients ingested SSRIs in 2000–2004 than 1993–1995; fewer ingested tricyclics. Hospitalization rates for drug ingestions have decreased. There has been a change in drug ingested, and more males are ingesting drugs.     

Examination of the Relationships among General and Work-Specific Self-Evaluations, Work-Related Control Beliefs, and Job Attitudes

Les auteurs ont décrit et mis à l’épreuve les liens supposés exister entre les différences individuelles (les auto‐évaluations spécifiques au travail et générales), les variables contextuelles (les croyances relatives au contrôle des tâches) et trois attitudes professionnelles (la satisfaction relative à l’emploi, l’engagement organisationnel et l’implication liée au poste). Les résultats tirés d’une investigation portant sur 159 salariés des services de santé montrent que les auto‐évaluations, en particulier l’estime de soi liée à l’organisation, prédisent fortement les attitudes professionnelles. En outre, les auto‐évaluations spécifiques au travail permettent d’expliquer pourquoi et comment les auto‐évaluations générales et les croyances relatives au contrôle des tâches sont reliées aux attitudes professionnelles. En dernière analyse, les corrélations entre les auto‐évaluations générales et l’estime de soi liée à l’organisation étaient modulées par les croyances relatives au contrôle des tâches. On réfléchit à ce que ces résultats peuvent apporter à la théorie et à la pratique organisationnelles. Et des pistes pour de futures rechèrches sont suggérées. The authors delineated and tested the relationships among individual differences (general and work‐specific self‐evaluations), contextual variables (work‐related control beliefs), and three job attitudes (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and job involvement). Results from a study of 159 healthcare employees found that work‐specific self‐evaluations, particularly organisation‐based self‐esteem, strongly predicted job attitudes. Moreover, work‐specific self‐evaluations helped explain why and how general self‐evaluations and work‐related control beliefs relate to job attitudes. Finally, the correlations between general self‐evaluations and organisation‐based self‐esteem were moderated by work‐related control beliefs. Contributions to organisational theory and practice, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Mood-dependent memory for generated and repeated words: Replication and extension

Abstract

Mood-dependent memory (MDM) has been difficult to demonstrate, but Eich and Metcalfe (1989) reported a strong effect with music-induced moods and learning of self-generated responses. Bower and Mayer (1989), however, could not obtain the MDM effect with self-generated responses. The present experiment attempted to replicate Eich and Metcalfe, but induced positive and negative moods with self-referent statements rather than music. Sixty-four subjects (32 males, 32 females) were randomly assigned in equal numbers to one of four mood conditions, same or opposite mood at learning and testing. At learning, immediately following mood induction subjects (Ss) generated 16 response words and 16 repeated words. Forty-eight hours later, Ss were given recall and recognition tests. For recall, there was a significant learn mood by test mood interaction (P < 0.0001), with greater recall for generated than repeated words (P < 0.0001). The interaction for repeated words approached significance (P = 0.07). For recognition memory, the learn by test mood interaction was also significant (P = 0.03), with a significant interaction (P = 0.02) for repeated words, but not for generated words (P = 0.23). An analysis of the Eich and Metcalfe data and ours suggests that the generation procedure only produced better memory overall and that under some conditions (but not all) this level of memory was optimal for demonstrating MDM.     

Health-related behavior and beliefs of pregnant smokers.

To determine the association of smoking with other health-compromising behavior and beliefs during pregnancy, a cross-sectional survey of 1,203 women in the United Kingdom assessed smoking status, stage of change, fetal health locus of control, alcohol consumption, folic acid intake, and use of vitamin and iron supplements. Twenty percent were current smokers, and 33% were alcohol users. Pregnant smokers (especially those in the precontemplative stage) were less likely to increase folic acid intake, less likely to take vitamin and iron supplements, and less likely to feel personally responsible for the health of the fetus. Infants of smokers may be placed at an intrauterine disadvantage, not only in terms of smoking, but also in terms of nutrition.     

The role of expectations in children's experience of novel events

The expectations children bring to interactions, as well as the information they receive prior to them, may be important for children's experiences of new adults. In this study, 148 children (8-13years old) reported on their expectations of adults, received one of three types of information about a new adult (positive, realistic, or control), and then "interacted" with a videotaped "controlling" adult. The effect of information type depended on children's age and prior expectations, with expectancy effects emerging in the context of positive information at the younger end of our age range and in the context of realistic information at the older end of our age range. Furthermore, the more expectations exceeded perceptions (i.e., the more disappointment), the lower children's rapport, affect, and prosocial intentions were and the more internal causal attributions they made. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied contributions.     

Bilingual recognition memory: Stronger performance but weaker levels-of-processing effects in the less fluent language

The effects of bilingual proficiency on recognition memory were examined in an experiment with Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in English and Spanish under shallow- and deep-encoding conditions. Overall, hit rates were higher, discrimination greater, and response times shorter in the nondominant language, consistent with effects previously observed for lower frequency words. Levels-of-processing effects in hit rates, discrimination, and response time were stronger in the dominant language. Specifically, with shallow encoding, the advantage for the nondominant language was larger than with deep encoding. The results support the idea that memory performance in the nondominant language is impacted by both the greater demand for cognitive resources and the lower familiarity of the words.     

The use of a mental imagery intervention to enhance integrated regulation for exercise among women commencing an exercise program

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a mental imagery intervention designed to enhance integrated regulation for exercise among women commencing an exercise program. Healthy women who previously did not exercise regularly (N?=?102; M _age ?=?29.54, SD?=?8.34) participated in an 8-week cardiovascular exercise program in which they exercised 3 times each week at a moderate intensity. The intervention group (n?=?51) received weekly guided imagery sessions which were administered in person via audio recording. A comparison group (i.e., attention control; n?=?51) received health information delivered in the same manner. Despite substantial dropout of participants from both groups, the analysis revealed that participants in the imagery group experienced greater changes in integration than participants in the comparison group. These findings support the utility of imagery interventions for influencing exercise-related cognitions, and more specifically integrated regulation.