Aim: To identify social and neighbourhood correlates of drunkenness among adolescents. Design: A cross-sectional, community study. Participants: A multi-stage cluster sampling strategy was used to select 90 adolescents aged 11-17 years from nine distinct communities in Cape Town, South Africa. The sample was stratified by race, income, and gender.…

Studies have shown that physical activity can enhance academic performance (Skolnick, 1981; Summerford, 2001). In this article, the author shares an activity that can be used to help accomplish this goal. It is based on the following considerations: (1) To expand participation in physical activity outside the gym, it is necessary to have an…

Effective strategies that bring health promotion messages to older adults in a developing country are needed. To evaluate the impact of various education media upon changes in knowledge and health behavior, a double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 1,268 older adults in a southwest Bangkok suburb. Group teaching…

Compared with European Americans, African American infants experience disproportionately high rates of low birth weight and preterm delivery and are more than twice as likely to die during their 1st year of life. The authors examine 5 explanations for these differences in rates of adverse birth outcomes: (a) ethnic differences in health behaviors…

This meta-analysis tested the major theoretical assumptions about behavior change by examining the outcomes and mediating mechanisms of different preventive strategies in a sample of 354 HIV-prevention interventions and 99 control groups, spanning the past 17 years. There were 2 main conclusions from this extensive review. First, the most…

Phil Gainous is in a sticky spot. The board of education in Montgomery County, Md., decided this was the year when sugary sodas and non-nutritious snacks must disappear from high school vending machines, replaced by healthier options. Gainous isn't against promoting healthy habits. But as the veteran principal of Montgomery Blair High School, the…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the feasibility of using patient-driven, hand-held computers in primary care settings, in order to address the apparent failure to implement prevention initiatives into the routine delivery of health care services. Design/methodology/approach: During an eight-day period, patients of an English…

The purpose of the qualitative study was to understand how social factors might help or hinder the training transfer process. Specifically, this qualitative research looked at the meanings a group of women attached to social factors that might influence their practice of breast self-exam. Implications for transfer of training are suggested.…

A sample of 410 university students (96% response rate) completed a four-page survey regarding their perceived effectiveness of high school health education in increasing their knowledge and adoption of healthy behaviors. Results indicated that the majority of students felt health education was important and that healthy behaviors were important…

This paper focuses on the resistance young men show towards consistent condom use. It is based on data generated by peer research that offer information about the distaste young men express about condoms, but also emphasise some of the physical difficulties that young men can experience when using them, which they are less willing to express. The…

Although sororities are often perceived as contributing to eating-disordered behavior, limited research has investigated eating disorders in sorority members. The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of a highly interactive cognitive dissonance prevention program in reducing empirically supported risk factors in sorority members.…

This article addresses conceptual challenges and theoretical approaches for examining the role of the family in responding and adapting to genetic testing for inherited conditions. Using a family systems perspective, family-based constructs that are relevant to genetic testing may be organized into three domains: family communication, organization…

Objective: To describe the effects of a controlled family-based health education/counseling intervention on health behaviors of children with a familial history of cardiovascular diseases (FH-CVDs). Methods: The intervention group (IG, n=432) received 5 counseling sessions. The control groups 1 (CG1, n=200) and 2 (CG2, n=423) received no…

Background: Adults with intellectual disability have a range of significant health problems. If they are to live independently, they need to engage in behaviours that are health promoting, as well as avoiding behaviours that might directly lead to ill health. There is very little research about health-related knowledge and behaviour in this group.…

High school students have high ambitions but do not always make choices that maximize their likelihood of educational success. This was the motivation for investigating the relationships between high school sexual behavior and two important milestones in academic attainment: earning a high school diploma and enrolling in distinct postsecondary…