Student access to competitive foods in elementary schools: trends over time and regional differences.

Objective: To examine the availability of competitive foods in elementary schools.

Design: Nationally representative mail-back survey.

Setting: United States public and private elementary schools during the 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years.

Social support as a moderator of the relationship between recent history of depression and smoking cessation among lower-educated women.

We examined psychosocial mechanisms linking recent history of depression and subsequent short-term smoking cessation. Our sample included lower-educated women smokers who registered for a brief cessation intervention (registrant panel; n = 1,198), and a quasicontrol panel not participating in the intervention (population panel; n = 682). Women were surveyed by telephone every 6 months for a period of 2 years, measuring psychosocial variables (motivation, self-efficacy, perceived stress, and social support) and self-reported smoking status (7-day abstinence) at each point.

Adolescents' smoking expectancies: psychometric properties and prediction of behavior change.

Outcome expectancies have been related to smoking behavior among adults, but less attention has been given to expectancies about smoking among adolescents at differing levels of smoking experience. The present study reports the psychometric properties and predictive validity of a brief expectancy scale across two samples of adolescents. Sample 1 (N = 349) consisted of high school students (54% female) who were regular smokers enrolled in a cessation program.

Adolescent smoking: are infrequent and occasional smokers ready to quit?

We examined motivation for cessation and plans to quit among 945 high school students in 2001 at three levels of smoking frequency (regular, occasional, and infrequent). Surveys were completed at six Illinois high schools. In multivariate models, females (compared to males) and white students (compared to nonwhite students) were more likely to plan to quit, but plans to quit did not differ by smoking level.

Psychosocial characteristics associated with sun protection practices among parents of young children.

Despite the importance of sun protection during childhood, many parents fail to adequately protect their children from the sun. The current study assessed sun-related knowledge, stage of change, and psychosocial characteristics of parents of young children. We examined how knowledge and psychosocial characteristics differed by stage of change, and tested a model of the relationship among demographics, knowledge, psychosocial variables, and child sun protection.

Motivation and reasons to quit: predictive validity among adolescent smokers.

Objectives: To examine reasons to quit among adolescents in a smoking cessation program, and whether reasons were associated with subsequent cessation.

Methods: Participants were 351 adolescents. At baseline, adolescents reported motivation, reasons to quit, and stage of change for cessation.

School-based smoking cessation programs for adolescents: what predicts attendance?

The present study examined contextual and individual predictors of attendance in a 10-session school-based teen smoking cessation program. Participants were 349 students at 29 Illinois high schools. Predictor variables included demographics, smoking history, psychosocial variables, and social environment variables.

The use of multiple-item scales for pain intensity measurement in chronic pain patients.

This study examined the relative predictive validities of several measures of pain intensity. Forty chronic pain patients completed 6-14 days worth of hourly pain ratings, which were averaged to obtain a measure of actual average pain intensity. These patients then made ratings, on 101-point numerical rating scales, of worst, least, and usual pain during the previous 2 wks, and of their current pain.