The authors designed this study to evaluate the prevalence and magnitude of heavy drinking among college students in celebrating their 21st birthdays and the impact of a birthday card suggesting moderation. The authors randomly assigned subjects to receive or not receive the card approximately 1 week prior to their birthday. Approximately 1 week…

In 1600, William Vaughan, a Doctor of Civil Laws, published the first edition of his health education manual entitled "Naturall and artificial Directions for Health". In all, seven editions appeared over the next 33 years. Changes were made to the title and contents, but the same six general areas were covered in each, i.e. (1) Air, fire and…

This experiment investigated how age-related health stereotypes affect people's judgments of younger and older patients' medical compliance. Previous research has shown that stereotypes of young adults include healthy components, but stereotypes of older adults include both healthy and unhealthy components (Hummert, 1990). We predicted that…

Objective: To determine trends and sexual risk behaviors associated with anal intercourse among college women over an 8-year period. Methods: A sexual activity questionnaire was used to collect data from 813 students enrolled in a women's health course. Results: Thirty-two percent of the women had engaged in anal intercourse, and this measure was…

Educators and researchers strive to use terms that reflect a replicable measure of behavior. A term commonly used to describe drinking of a problematic nature is "binge drinking". Binge drinking defines behavior by a number of drinks of an alcoholic beverage consumed in a space of time. The authors argue that the term does not describe drinking…

Beliefs have a significant effect on the health behaviors of individuals and educators; however, they can be difficult to change. The purpose of this study was to determine if exposing community health educators, specifically family and consumer sciences county extension educators, to a multicomponent professional development training on food…

This study assessed mail survey return rates published in seven general health education journals for the 13-year period, 1990-2002: "American Journal of Health Behavior," "American Journal of Health Education," "American Journal of Health Promotion," "Health Education & Behavior," "Health Education Research," "Journal of American College Health,"…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate hand washing behaviors in public restrooms with and without reminder signs. Gender, race, signage, and time of day were examined to determine if there were differences in hand washing compliance based on these variables. Participants included male and female adults entering restrooms at two public shopping…

Examined in this article is whether it is ethical for health educators to try to change the health behaviors of people who are informed about the risks of engaging in an unhealthy behavior, have the skills and confidence to change the behavior, but nevertheless choose not to change. Questions are raised about whether interventions for such…

Sexuality is considered by most religious traditions to represent general temptation, procreation or a way to strengthen emotional bonds. The purpose of this study was to determine if frequency of religious attendance and perceived degree of religiosity could distinguish between those students who have and have not participated in selected sexual…

In 4 empirical studies, E. Stice, M. Fisher, and M. R. Lowe (see record 2004-11653-006) calculated the correlations between some widely used dietary restraint scales and food intake. Failing to find substantial negative correlations, they concluded that these scales were invalid. The current article challenges this conclusion. For one thing, there…

The State of the Science Conference Statement on "Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents" accurately summarizes the state of knowledge regarding risk factors for violence and intervention efficacy. The Statement missed an opportunity, however, to move the field of prevention practice and policy forward by…

We evaluated the effectiveness of a dentist-implemented behavioral intervention in which brief escape from dental treatment was provided on a regular basis, independent of the child's behavior. Within a multiple baseline design across subjects, 5 children, ages 4 to 7 years, were provided with temporary escape from dental treatment on a fixed-time…

Religion plays a significant role in human life, yet its potential to influence health and health-related conditions is not well studied. This article cites several studies that examine the correlation between religiosity and substance abuse. This article also suggests that more systematic researches are needed to validate the correlation of…

Teaching children habits is a routine part of many early childhood program curricula, with teachers never really stopping to think about what or how teaching is affecting their students. Habits are formed with consistent practice. Habits can be taught to children easily when teachers have some creativity to the actions. In this article, the author…