A descriptive study of research published in scientific nursing journals from 1985 to 2010.

Background: Numerous analyses of research published in scientific nursing journals have been examined over the past decades. However, a comprehensive analysis of trends in research has not been reported since 1980.

Objectives: The aim of this analysis was to review randomly selected research articles published in four scientific nursing journals for the years 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010 to identify changes in selected aspects of research and to compare the findings with those from an earlier similar study.

Stress, hope, and loneliness in young adolescents.

A sample of 134 young adolescents attending a middle school responded to the Perceived Stress Scale, the Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents, and the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. Correlational analyses indicated that higher scores on stress were significantly associated with lower scores on hope (r = -.55) and higher scores on loneliness (r = .

A meta-analytic study of predictors of anger in adolescents.

Background: There is a vast body of empirical work on adolescent anger, but no efforts have been made to summarize findings across nonintervention studies.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to identify predictors for anger in adolescents through a comprehensive review of the literature, to use quantitative meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the relationship between each predictor and anger, and to examine the influence of selected moderators on the relationship between each predictor and anger.

Method: The literature review included 288 published studies and 87 unpublished doctoral dissertation completed between 1980 and 2007, of which 88 met the inclusion criteria.

Perceived stress and wellness in early adolescents using the Neuman Systems Model.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived stress and wellness in early adolescents and to test primary appraisal as a mediator of this relationship using the Neuman Systems Model as the primary framework. The sample consisted of 144 adolescents, ages 12-14, who responded to instruments measuring perceived stress, primary appraisal, and wellness in classroom settings. Correlational analysis supported the three hypothesized relationships.

Vigor and fatigue and positive health practices in young adolescents.

A sample of 127 young adolescents attending a middle school responded to the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire, measuring positive health practices, and two subscales of the Profile of Mood States, Vigor-Activity and Fatigue-Inertia. Correlational analysis indicated that higher scores on positive health practices were significantly associated with higher scores on Vigor-Activity (r = .49), and lower scores on Fatigue-Inertia (r = -.

A meta-analytic study of predictors of maternal-fetal attachment.

Objectives: To identify predictors of maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) through a comprehensive review of the literature, and to use quantitative meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the relationship between each predictor and MFA.

Design: The literature reviewed included 183 studies of MFA, published and unpublished, between 1981 and 2006.

Methods: Seventy-two studies met the inclusion criteria and yielded 14 predictors of MFA.

Psychometric evaluation of the interpersonal relationship inventory for early adolescents.

The purposes of this methodological study were to factor analyze the short form of the Tilden Interpersonal Relationship Inventory (IPRI) for early adolescents, and to assess construct validity of the social support and conflict subscales with early adolescents. The sample consisted of 147 early adolescents, aged 12-14, who completed instrument packets in classrooms in a suburban middle school. Data obtained on the IPRI were subjected to principal components factor analysis with Varimax rotation.

Mediational models of health practices in early adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between social support and positive health practices in early adolescents and to test two variables, depression and optimism, that mediate this relationship. The final sample included 128 adolescents, ages 12 to 14, who responded to instruments measuring social support, depression, optimism, and positive health practices in classroom settings. Correlational analysis supported the five hypothesized relationships.

Relations of low frustration tolerance beliefs with stress, depression, and anxiety in young adolescents.

Young adolescents (N=144; 66 boys, 78 girls), ages 12 to 14 years (M=12.2, SD=.8), who reported lower scores on the Low Frustration Tolerance Beliefs Instrument had higher scores on the Perceived Stress Scale and the Profile of Mood States Subscales of Depression and Anxiety.

Correlates of low frustration tolerance in young adolescents.

148 young adolescents who reported low frustration tolerance also reported more trait anger, state anger, and hostility.

A meta-analytic study of predictors for loneliness during adolescence.

Background: Extensive research has been completed to investigate loneliness in adolescents over the past several decades; identification of key predictors for loneliness was needed using meta-analytic techniques.

Objectives: To identify predictors for loneliness in adolescents through a comprehensive review of the literature and to use quantitative meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the relationships between each predictor and loneliness.

Methods: The literature reviewed included 242 studies published or unpublished between 1980 and 2004, of which 95 met the inclusion criteria.

Psychometrics of the Laffrey Health Conception Scale for adolescents.

The purposes of this methodological study were to factor analyze the Laffrey Health Conception Scale (LHCS) and to assess construct validity of the instrument with early adolescents. The final sample consisted of 230 early adolescents, aged 12 to 14, who responded to instrument packets in classrooms in an urban middle school. Data obtained on the LHCS were subjected to principal components factor analysis with oblique rotation.

Happiness as related to gender and health in early adolescents.

The purposes of this study were to examine gender differences in happiness; to examine the relationship between happiness and several health variables, such as perceived health status, clinical health, and wellness, in early adolescents; and to examine further these relationships for boys and girls separately. The final sample consisted of 151 early adolescent boys and girls who were in the seventh and eighth grades of an urban middle school. Students responded to instruments measuring happiness, perceived health status, clinical health, and wellness.

Depression, optimism, and positive health practices in young adolescents.

Correlations among depression, optimism, and positive health practices were studied in young adolescents. A sample of 131 boys and girls, aged 12 to 14 (M=13.2, SD=.

Social support and positive health practices in early adolescents: a test of mediating variables.

This study examines the relationship between social support and positive health practices in early adolescents and tests two variables, loneliness and hopefulness, that theoretically mediate this relationship. The final sample of the study consisted of 134 adolescents, ages 12 to 14, who responded to instruments measuring social support, loneliness, hopefulness, and positive health practices in classroom settings. Correlational analysis supported the five hypothesized relationships.

A meta-analysis of predictors of positive health practices.

Purpose: To identify predictors of positive health practices from empirical studies in which the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire was used.

Methods: Meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the relationships between each of the predictors identified and positive health practices. Fourteen predictors of positive health practices were identified in 37 studies published since 1983; a meta-analysis was conducted on 14 predictors.

Health and well-being in early adolescents using Rogers' science of unitary human beings.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of perceived field motion and human field rhythms to perceived health status, health conception, and well-being in early adolescents to determine which health-related variables are most compatible with Rogers' science of unitary human beings. The sample of 142 early adolescents responded to the study instruments in classrooms. The correlations between perceived field motion and each of the other variables were statistically significant, and increased in magnitude from perceived health status to health conception to well-being.

Loneliness and health-related variables in early adolescents: an extension.

The purpose of this study was to extend knowledge about loneliness and health-related variables. In classrooms, 135 early adolescents responded to measures of loneliness, symptom patterns, and perceived health status. Statistically significant correlations were found for loneliness scores with ratings for symptom patterns (.

The revised Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire for early adolescents.

The purposes of this study were to revise the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire (PLQ), a measure of positive health practices, for use with early adolescents and to provide evidence of reliability and validity for the revised PLQ instrument. The sample consisted of 224 seventh and eighth graders who responded to the revised PLQ and instruments measuring three theoretically relevant variables. Relative to the revised PLQ, content validity was established, construct validity was determined by support of three hypotheses derived from theoretical propositions, and a two-factor solution was accepted in factor analysis procedures using principal components analysis with Varimax rotation.

Anger, anxiety, and depression in early adolescents from intact and divorced families.

This study examined differences in anger, anxiety, and depression between early adolescents from divorced families and early adolescents from intact families. To control for extraneous variables, 24 early adolescents from divorced families were matched with 24 early adolescents from intact families according to gender, age, race, and grade in school. All responded to measures of state anger, state anxiety, and depression.

Social support, self-esteem, and positive health practices of early adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of social support and self-esteem to positive health practices in early adolescents. A sample of 148 early adolescents (70 boys and 78 girls), aged 12 to 14 years, attending an urban middle school, responded to The Revised Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire, the Personal Resource Questionnaire 85-Part II, and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale in classrooms. A correlation of .

Anger in early adolescent boys and girls with health manifestations.

Background: Some theorists suggest that boys and girls might experience and express anger in different ways, while others do not, making the study of sex differences in anger an important area for investigation. Further, much has been written theoretically about the health implications of anger, but there is a paucity of studies that have examined the relationship between anger and health variables in early adolescent boys and girls separately.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine sex differences in anger in early adolescents, and to examine the relationship between anger and several health variables, e.

Humor and health in early adolescents: perceived field motion as a mediating variable.

The purpose of this study was to test a mediational model, developed within the science of unitary human beings, by examining the relationship between humor and eudaimonistic health conception in early adolescents and by examining the extent to which perceived field motion mediated this relationship. The sample consisted of 136 adolescents, aged 12 to 14, who responded to instruments measuring humor, perceived field motion, and eudaimonistic health conception in classroom settings. Correlational analysis supported the three hypothesized relationships.

Psychometric evaluation of the personal lifestyle questionnaire for adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to provide evidence of validity for the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire (PLQ), a measure of positive health practices, in a sample of 222 adolescents ages 15-21. Using a priori criteria, it was found that a two-factor solution, resulting from a principal components analysis with an orthogonal rotation, best represented the factor structure of the PLQ for adolescents. Of the two factors, only Factor I demonstrated an acceptable coefficient alpha reliability; this factor was labeled General Health Practices.