Differences among consumer segments with regard to perceptions of comparative effectiveness research.

Aim: To examine differences among health-related decision-making consumer segments with regard to knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors pertinent to comparative effectiveness research.

Methods: Data were collected via an online survey from 603 adults with chronic conditions. Consumer segment was determined using a two-item tool.

Medicare beneficiary knowledge of and experience with prescription drug cards.

Medicare beneficiaries used prescription drug discount cards, both Medicare and non-Medicare cards, to assist them in paying for the cost of prescription drugs. This article describes the beneficiary's awareness and understanding, sources of information, and experience with drug discount cards a year prior and during the implementation of the Medicare-Approved Prescription Drug Discount Card program. Also, it explores beneficiary characteristics that contribute to card ownership and knowledge about drug discount cards.

When the party for some becomes a problem for others: the effect of perceived secondhand consequences of drinking behavior on drinking norms.

The authors examined the influence of fraternity men's expectancies regarding secondhand consequences of excessive drinking behavior on normative standards regarding alcohol use and consumption levels. Participants were 381 men from 26 chapters of 2 national fraternities. One organization participated in a brief intervention involving discussion of secondhand consequences of excessive drinking.

Understanding the food choice process of adolescents in the context of family and friends.

Purpose: To understand from the adolescents' own perspective the decision-making processes they use to make food choices on an everyday basis and how they resolve their need for personal control over food choices with the values of family and peers.

Methods: A sample of 108 adolescents, aged 11-18 years, were individually interviewed. They were asked in a simulated task to choose a lunch from a menu of offerings and give reasons for their choices.

Where public school students in Illinois get cigarettes and alcohol: characteristics of minors who use different sources.

The current study examined demographic, behavior, belief, and social influence characteristics of adolescents who use various means to get cigarettes and alcohol. Spring 1998 survey participants were 7302 6th, 8th, and 10th grade public school students from throughout Illinois, who self-identified as tobacco smokers and/or alcohol drinkers. The sample was not random, but closely matched the demographic composition of the state.

Relationship of cognitive restraint of eating and disinhibition to the quality of food choices of Latina women and their young children.

Background: Previous studies have examined the association of methods to control eating such as dietary restraint and disinhibition with weight and quantity of foods eaten. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of these constructs with quality of food choices for women and for their young children.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-seven Latina women completed the Eating Inventory, which measures cognitive dietary restraint and disinhibition, and reported on the food intakes of themselves and their 5- to 7-year-old child using a food frequency questionnaire.

Sexual relationships, condom use, and concerns about pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases.

As we move further into the 21st century, there are increasing numbers of teenagers and young adults infected with sexually transmitted diseases and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Aside from sexual abstinence, condom use is the best way to protect oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Participants in this study were predominantly female, predominantly Caucasian psychology students who experienced sexual intercourse with an opposite sex partner in the past year.

Considerations for more effective social norms based alcohol education on campus: an analysis of different theoretical conceptualizations in predicting drinking among fraternity men.

Objective: Recent alcohol education campaigns targeting college students have focused on correcting the erroneous perception students have of the amount of alcohol their peers consume. This strategy is based on assumptions that college students overestimate the amount of alcohol their peers consume and that correcting that misperception will lessen the pressure they feel to consume heavily. However, other theoretical constructs of normative influence may be as or more valuable in improving effectiveness of social norms based education for high-risk college students.

Social distance in response to psychiatric labels.

Several factors contribute to the amount of social distance individuals desire from each other, including the presence of a psychiatric label. This study examines aspects of the relationship between four specific psychiatric labels and social distance. A social distance scale was developed for this purpose and used in a pilot study.

Adolescents carrying handguns and taking them to school: psychosocial correlates among public school students in Illinois.

The current study sought to examine psychosocial correlates of adolescents carrying a handgun and taking a handgun to school. Survey participants were approximately 22,000 6th, 8th, and 10th grade public school students from throughout Illinois. Results showed that the strongest correlates of handgun carrying behaviours were variables directly associated with handguns and violence, both behaviours and beliefs, as well as delinquency variables.

Perceptions of own sexual lies influenced by characteristics of liar, sex partner, and lie itself.

The current study examined perceptions of own sexual lies (lies to sex partners about sexual matters), in particular the perceived acceptability and seriousness of such lies, as well as potential determinants of such perceptions. Participants were 166 undergraduates who were asked to recall a recent event in which he or she had engaged in sexual lying and then respond to several questions regarding the event. Results showed that those who recalled relatively risk-relevant and self-protective sexual lies saw their lies as more serious and less acceptable.