Who Persists and Who Desists? A Prospective Study of Prescription Stimulant Misuse in College Graduates.

Prescription stimulant misuse (PSM) has been studied extensively in college populations, but few studies have examined how PSM changes after graduation. We used a longitudinal design to follow individuals at risk for PSM two years after college graduation to document PSM prevalence, motives, and predictors of PSM persistence. Participants from two small, private colleges completed online surveys focused on intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociocultural predictors of PSM. Overall, PSM declined over time. Lack of premeditation, perceived peer norms, positive expectancies, media exposure, and other substance use were associated with continued PSM; however, only lack of premeditation, descriptive norms, and other substance use predicted PSM in a multivariate model. This preliminary study suggests dispositional and behavioral risk factors may help to explain why PSM persists after college. Interventions that enhance decision-making skills, correct misperceptions about peers' PSM, and reduce polysubstance use may be effective in curbing PSM in college graduates.

Tiny dancer: Body image and dancer identity in female modern dancers.

Dance has been found to both enhance and undermine body image. Most of the literature has focused on ballet dancers and has neglected the role of identity as a dancer. This study assessed general and dance specific body image and dancer identity in 77 female modern dancers. Compared to samples of non-clinical college women, this sample had higher body appreciation and lower drive for thinness and self-objectification. White dancers in the sample also had positive levels of dancer body efficacy/acceptance whereas as non-White dancers had negative levels of this variable. Identity as a dancer was negatively correlated with body appreciation and dancer body perceptions and not related to the number of years of dance experience. Of general and dance specific body image, body appreciation emerged as the unique predictor. The findings warrant further research on positive body image, modern dancers, and identity.

Exploring the relationships between self-objectification, rationales, and use of water as a strategy for appetite suppression.

Maladaptive eating behaviors and their relations to body dissatisfaction are widely studied, yet little is known about water consumption as an appetite suppressing strategy. This study investigated prevalence, frequency and quantity of water consumption, as well as its relationship to self-objectification and perceptions related to use. Online, 218 female undergraduates completed a survey consisting of the Water Consumption Questionnaire and the Self-Objectification Questionnaire. The results indicated that a third of participants reported using water as an appetite suppressant, although users and nonusers did not differ in water or daily fluid intake. Users had higher self-objectification scores, more motives for water consumption, more perceived social norms, held more false beliefs and perceived less risk than nonusers. These findings imply that water consumption is a common strategy for appetite suppression and its correlates are much like other maladaptive behaviors. A cognitive dissonance framework is suggested as a means for understanding its use.

Illicit use of prescription stimulants among college students: prescription status, motives, theory of planned behaviour, knowledge and self-diagnostic tendencies.

Published studies have reported that illicit prescription stimulant use is increasingly common on college campuses in the United States. The present study investigates the relationship between prescription status, motives, theory of planned behaviour, knowledge of side effects and self-diagnostic tendencies and illicit use of prescription stimulants among undergraduates (N = 333). Prescription holders and non-holders responded to a self-administered online survey. Results revealed that dependent variables were significantly different between illicit users and non-illicit users. Specifically, prescription holders were more likely than non-holders to report illicit use. Illicit users, relative to non-illicit users, reported more motives to use, less concern with ethics and safety of use, greater perception of use as socially acceptable, less perceived control over their behaviour without stimulant aid, more knowledge, and, among non-prescription holders, were more likely to self-diagnosis having an attention disorder. This study provides additional insight into students' attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and practices related to prescription stimulant use on campus. Implications for future research and the need for interventions to provide aid to students who are at risk for using stimulant medications illicitly are discussed.

The relationship between levels of perceived respect and bullying in 5th through 12th graders.

There are several avenues of inquiry that seek to understand and ameliorate the problem of bullying in schools, including the strategy of fostering respect. To date, however, there is little empirical literature testing the presumed relationship between respect and bullying. This study examined this relationship with surveys (N = 3,147) and interviews (N = 315) administered to 5th through 12th grade students in 26 public schools. Surveys assessed perceptions of respect from adults, respect from peers, and frequency ratings of observed and experienced bullying. Analyses indicated that perceived levels of respect were moderate overall and varied greatly by school and demographics. Approximately 15% of students reported that they observed physical bullying at least weekly and 12% said they were picked on daily. Demographically, males, minorities, 9th and 10th graders, and non-college bound students perceived significantly lower levels of adult and peer respect and higher amounts of bullying relative to comparative groups. Levels of respect significantly predicted frequency of bullying in a regression. Interviews indicated that, contrary to common belief, bullies were the popular students. This study highlights the importance of respect in understanding and improving the socioemotional and physical experience of students.

Conceptualizations of respect: qualitative and quantitative evidence of four (five) themes.

Respect is a term used frequently in the vernacular and psychological literature. However, frequency of use has not yielded a coherent body of psychological research on the topic, perhaps because of its elusive and contextual nature. Examining the divergent literature on respect yields 4 general themes in how it is conceptualized: (a) social rules, (b) equality, (c) caring, and (d) social power. In this study, the author used qualitative and quantitative assessment to explore the soundness of these themes. The 4 themes emerged in each of the different methods, and there was evidence of convergence of the themes across methods. A 5th unexpected theme, personal attributes, was revealed in the qualitative measures. This study provides an empirical foundation for acknowledging the complexity and potential importance of respect. Understanding the thematic variability in how respect is conceptualized will improve research, theory, and application.