Background: Adolescents with disabilities are at risk for poor health outcomes including injury. The objective of this study was to examine if disability status modifies the association between risk behavior and injury among adolescents. Methods: The cross-sectional Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey was administered to a…

This report addresses the problem of sexually active teenagers who either do not use contraception or use it inconsistently. Psychological and cognitive barriers to contraception use are briefly reviewed and the development of a cognitively oriented intervention designed to modify beliefs inimical to contraceptive use is discussed. The selection…

Assessed Asian Americans' knowledge levels regarding the health risks of tobacco use. Surveys of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian smokers and nonsmokers indicated that most respondents recognized the association between smoking and increased risk for lung, mouth, throat, and esophageal cancer and heart disease. There were significant…

Employed a 6-year retrospective cohort design to examine the relationship between health indicators variables, health insurance costs, and utilization. Data collected from 1,940 employees who belonged to a worksite health plan indicated that employees with problematic health risk factors had a significantly higher probability of submitting health…

Surveyed college students regarding their sleep habits, patterns, and problems. A large majority had at least occasional sleep problems, with women reporting more of some difficulties than men. The most common sleep difficulties were taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, trouble falling asleep more than three times per week, morning…

Purpose: This study has two purposes. First, it determines if there is a relationship between body weight and the onset of functional impairment across time among this sample of older adults. More specifically, it examines if obese older adults are more likely to experience the onset of functional impairment. Second, it explores how health…

The authors identified the number, type, and frequency of protective behaviors that undergraduate college students who consume alcohol use to prevent alcohol-related consequences. Their hypothesis was that students who engage in more types of protective behaviors with greater frequency would be less likely to experience alcohol-related…

This article briefly describes floor/mat exercises to maintain toned abdominal muscles. It provides basic instructions on how to do stomach crunches and side crunches.

Objective:: Little information is available about the contribution of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to the likelihood of reporting hallucinations. We used data from the ACE study to assess this relationship. Methods:: We conducted a survey about childhood abuse and household dysfunction while growing up, with questions about health…

Although research on Health Behavior Theory (HBT) is being conducted at a rapid pace, the extent to which the field is truly moving forward in understanding health behavior has been questioned. This issue is examined in the current article. First, we discuss the problems within the HBT literature. Second, we discuss the proliferation of HBT and…

Does sexual debut (i.e., experiencing sexual intercourse for the first time) increase the risks of participating in later delinquent behavior? Does this risk increase if adolescents experience early sexual debut relative to the timing experienced by one's peers? Although many factors have been linked to sexual debut, little research has examined…

How aware are people of food-related decisions they make and how the environment influences these decisions? Study 1 shows that 139 people underestimated the number of food-related decisions they made--by an average of more than 221 decisions. Study 2 examined 192 people who overserved and overate 31% more food as a result of having been given an…

Fifty-two mother-adolescent dyads (mean adolescent age = 16.3) participated in an observational study of communication about health topics. The aim of the study was to examine mother-adolescent conversations about health issues--drugs/alcohol, sexuality, nutrition/exercise--to determine the extent to which the mothers treat these issues similarly.…

To evaluate a theory-based educational program to prevent Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses (TBI), a randomized controlled trial of an educational program was delivered to ferry passengers traveling to an endemic area in southeastern Massachusetts. Rates of TBI and precautionary and tick check behaviors were measured over three summers…

Being in balance is vital to a healthy school environment and may make schools more productive. However, being in balance is hard to define. It may be easier to start by identifying what "out" of balance looks like. All administrators have had days when they have felt that their efforts were for naught. The phone keeps ringing, the parents are…