Identity consolidation and health risk behaviors in college students.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the protective role of personal identity consolidation against health risk behaviors in college-attending emerging adults. METHODS: A multisite sample of 1546 college students completed measures of personal identity consolidation and recent risk behavior engagement. RESULTS: Multivariate Poisson regression indicated that personal identity consolidation was negatively related to binge drinking, illicit drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and risky driving. These findings were consistent across gender, ethnicity, and place of residence. CONCLUSIONS: A consolidated sense of personal identity may protect college-attending emerging adults from health-compromising behaviors. Health professionals could incorporate an identity development component into college health programming.

From efficacy to effectiveness: the trajectory of the treatment literature for children with PTSD.

This review summarizes efficacious treatments for preschoolers, children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder, with a focus on the advances made within the last 5 years. There is considerable support for the use of trauma-specific cognitive-behavioral interventions, in both individual and group formats. The research on psychopharmacological treatments lags behind that of psychotherapy and is currently inconclusive. Limitations of the studies are discussed and treatments that warrant further consideration are reviewed. The authors also review current advances in effectiveness and suggest future directions that are important in generalizing the interventions to underserved and hard to reach populations. The article concludes with the authors' projections for the evolution of the field within the upcoming 5 years.