Preventive health psychology from a developmental perspective: an extension of protection motivation theory.

Theories of health psychology developed to explain adults' rational decision making were applied to 10-year-old children (n = 112), who had not reached the stage of formal operational thought; 15-year-olds (n = 67); and 20-year-olds (n = 93), extending the protection motivation theory developed by R. W. Rogers (1983). Among the adolescents and young adults, the threat appeals worked only if people believed they could cope effectively with the danger; if they believed they could not cope, higher levels of the threat resulted in decreased intentions to refrain from tobacco use. Although children elaborated and integrated the information about threat severity, personal vulnerability, and response efficacy, the fragility and malleability of the children's beliefs in self-efficacy demonstrated the importance of adding a developmental perspective to theories of preventive health psychology.

Effects of exogenous porcine somatotropin on the carcass composition, hormonal and metabolic profiles, lipogenic capacity, and binding of insulin to erythrocyte receptors of fast- versus slow-growing swine.

Twenty barrows were designated as fast-growing (FG) and their littermates designated as slow-growing (SG) based on birth, weaning, and 56-d weight. Half of each group received 70 micrograms of porcine somatotropin (pST)/kg BW daily beginning at 40 kg BW. At 60 and 105 kg BW, blood was collected every .5 h for 12 h beginning 1 h before pST injection, fat biopsies were taken for in vitro lipogenic activity, and insulin erythrocytes were isolated for receptor binding. Swine treated with pST had elevated ADG (.95 vs .88 kg/d; P < .1) and reduced days to slaughter (61 vs 67; P < .1). The pST-treated pigs had less average backfat (2.73 vs 3.96 cm; P < .01), larger longissimus muscle areas (32.3 vs 28.2 cm2; P < .05), and a higher percentage of muscle (56.3 vs 50.3%; P < .01) than control pigs. Exogenous pST increased protein (17.4 vs 13.2%; P < .05) and decreased fat (22.9 vs 37.1%; P < .05). The FG pigs had higher ADG (.98 vs .86 kg/d; P < .01) and required fewer days to slaughter (57 vs 71; P < .01) than SG pigs. Administration of pST increased (P < .01) average pST levels (1.7 vs 14.0 ng/mL) in FG and SG pigs at 60 kg BW. At 105 kg BW, pST was higher (P < .01) in pST-FG than in pST-SG swine (46.0 vs 19.3 ng/mL) but was not different between FG and SG control swine (1.9 vs 1.8 ng/mL). Administration of pST increased concentrations of IGF-I (510.0 vs 160.0 ng/mL) and nonesterified fatty acids (182 vs 109 muEq/L, P < .01) in FG and SG swine. Over sample periods and growth rates, pST reduced (P < .05) CO2 production and lipid synthesis (.345 and 1.85 vs .575 and 2.71 mumol of glucose incorporated.g-1.2 h-1). At 60 kg BW, FG swine had less (P < .01) CO2 production and lipid synthesis (.299 and 1.83 vs .921 and 3.61 mumol.g-1.2 h-1) than did SG swine. Exogenous pST increased (P < .05) binding to insulin erythrocyte receptors (7.25 vs 6.34%).

Dimensions of the severity of a health threat: the persuasive effects of visibility, time of onset, and rate of onset on young women's intentions to prevent osteoporosis.

Examined the persuasive effects of information about different aspects of the severity of a health threat. The research participants were 170 young women who were at risk for osteoporosis because they neither consumed an adequate amount of calcium daily nor performed an adequate amount of weight-bearing exercise. A message describing osteoporosis as disfiguring and highly visible increased beliefs in its severity and strengthened intentions to adopt the communicator's recommended preventive responses. In addition, compared with control conditions, describing the threat as likely to occur in the near future, as opposed to the distant future, also strengthened intentions. Furthermore, motivation to prevent osteoporosis remained high regardless of whether subjects believed it might occur to them in the near or distant future if they believed it was highly visible or disfiguring. The rate of onset (sudden or gradual) had no effect on intentions. Several implications for preventive health psychology are discussed. First, health promotion campaigns should, whenever possible, emphasize the immediate onset of a health threat and any visible features. Second, in order to convince people a health threat can be severe, the sudden rate of onset should be emphasized whenever possible.

Coping with threats to health: effects of persuasive appeals on depressed, normal, and antisocial personalities.

Why do people frequently persist with unhealthy life-styles when they know they are harming themselves? To investigate the role of several personality variables, 114 depressed, antisocial, and normal individuals read health promotion and disease prevention communications about alcohol abuse, lack of exercise, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The results revealed that, compared to a low-coping ability information condition, a high-coping ability condition motivated normal individuals to protect themselves but did not motivate either depressed or antisocial individuals. Additional findings indicated that threat appeals worked only if people were persuaded that they could cope with the health threats; attempts to frighten people without reassuring them had a deleterious effect. Men were more concerned than women about the costs of drinking in moderation, exercising, and protection against STDs and were more reluctant than women to give up the pleasures associated with heavy drinking and unprotected sex.

Promoting safety belt use among state employees: the effects of prompting and a stimulus-control intervention.

This study assessed the effects of dashboard stickers and signature sheets on safety belt use among occupants of state-owned vehicles in three Florida agencies. The stickers and signature sheets contained information regarding a regulation requiring safety belt use and a consequence of a 25% reduction in benefits for noncompliance if the driver were to become involved in an accident. Safety belt use significantly increased during the intervention phase in all three agencies and maintained variable but high levels for 5 months. In Agency 1 and Agency 2 (stickers plus signature sheets) safety belt use increased from averages of 10.8% and 9.4% during baseline to 57.4% and 47.0%, respectively, during intervention. In Agency 3 (stickers only) the rates of safety belt use averaged 9.7% during baseline and 38.0% during intervention. Some increases in private vehicle use were observed. A substantial reduction in workers' compensation claim costs was shown for the target agencies with some reductions also shown in the nontarget agencies.

Effects of components of protection-motivation theory on adaptive and maladaptive coping with a health threat.

How do people cope with a threat when they do not plan to adopt an adaptive, protective response? We explored this question by examining the effects of information about a health threat and two aspects of coping ability, self-efficacy and response efficacy, on two adaptive and five maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., avoidance, wishful thinking). The results disclosed that the high-threat condition energized all forms of coping; it did not differentially cue specific coping strategies. The critical factor in determining the specific strategies used was the coping information. The high-response-efficacy and high-self-efficacy conditions strengthened adaptive coping and did not foster any maladaptive coping. A supplementary path analysis revealed an intriguing pattern of relations, including the finding that the most maladaptive strategy was avoidant thinking, which simultaneously reduced fear of the threat and weakened intentions to adopt the adaptive response.

Reproductive efficiency and calf survival in Ontario beef cow-calf herds: a cross-sectional mail survey.

A survey of the efficiency of production of Ontario beef cow-calf herds was conducted using a stratified systematic random sample of Ontario producers. In general, about 87% of females exposed to breeding produced a live calf and 6% of these died before reaching four weeks of age. The herd to herd variation in these rates was quite large, the coefficient of variation being about 17%. The stillbirth rate was 1.7% and the abortion rate 1.2%. In general, herds in northern Ontario and herds whose owners kept breeding and calving records, had reduced livebirth rates, the latter probably reflecting accuracy of data. Herds with a restricted (less than three months) breeding season had increased livebirth rates. Herds using injectable vitamins ADE, and prophylactic antibiotics, had increased neonatal losses. Herds with a restricted calving season (less than or equal to 3 months) and/or feeding free choice salt to cows had decreased neonatal losses. Herdsize and calf mortality rate were directly related, but this did not appear to be due to increased density of cows at calving time. In herds, where calving occurred during the spring, using scour vaccines in calves was associated with increased calf mortality.

Identifying effective components of alcohol abuse prevention programs: effects of fear appeals, message style, and source expertise.

Despite the importance of alcohol abuse prevention programs, the effectiveness of many components of these programs has not been demonstrated empirically. An experiment tested the efficacy of three components of many prevention programs: fear appeals, one- versus two-sided message style, and the expertise of the source. The persuasive impact of this information was examined on 113 ninth-grade students' intentions to abstain from drinking alcohol while they are teenagers. The results reveal that fear appeals are successful in strengthening students' intentions to refrain from drinking. Implications are discussed for implementing these principles and for designing future investigations of alcohol abuse prevention programs.

Dining out with children: effectiveness of a parent advice package on pre-meal in appropriate behavior.

The effectiveness of an advice package designed to restructure the restaurant environment and encourage parent praise was examined. Experiment 1 assessed the usefulness of the package when used with experimenter assistance. Videotapes were used to record the target child's behavior. Pre-meal inappropriate behavior decreased an average of 51% across target children. Mealtime inappropriate behavior and parent praise and disapproval were also measured. Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether families could implement the package without experimenter assistance and whether effects obtained would generalize to a different restaurant. Data were taken in vivo. Nine families were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Group assignment determined the order in which families went to two restaurants, the number of dinners each family participated in, and the point at which parents received the advice package. The order in which the families went to the two restaurants as well as the number of baseline meals was counterbalanced. Results of Experiment 2 showed that, when using the advice package, parents in all sequences were able to decrease pre-meal inappropriate behavior of their children, and that these effects generalized to a second restaurant.

Identifying effective components of alcohol misuse prevention programs.

An experiment demonstrated the effectiveness of three familiar components of many programs for the prevention of alcohol misuse and alcoholism: the severity of the consequences of excessive drinking, an individual's personal vulnerability to these unpleasant consequences, and the effectiveness of moderate or responsible drinking in preventing these problems.

Immunochemiluminometric assay for hepatitis B surface antigen.

A novel "sandwich" immunoassay for hepatitis B surface antigen monitored by chemiluminescence is described. The method involves use of an antibody-coated microtitration plate and requires 100 micro L of test specimen. The antigen binds to the antibody during the first 2-h incubation and, after an intermediate wash step, the sandwich is completed by 2-h incubation with antibody to antigen that has been labeled with an isoluminol derivative. A final wash step follows. A luminometer, built in-house, adds "microperoxidase" and peroxide, to initiate chemiluminescence, and provides automated readout at 10-s intervals. Results compare well in specificity and sensitivity with those of a comparison radioimmunoassay procedure. Within- and between-assay variability (CV) is 7 to 13% (n = 6). All reagents are stable at 4 degrees C for at least several months. Use of a non-radioisotopic label in this assay avoids the stability problems and inconvenience associated with radioactivity.

Effects of therapists nonverbal communication on rated skill and effectiveness.

A therapist's nonverbal behavior may communicate emotion and feelings toward a client. Thus, skilled utilization of appropriate nonverbal cues should facilitate many nonbehavioral therapies. A 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experiment investigated the therapy-facilitating effects of three theoretical dimensions of nonverbal communication: Immediacy, potency or status, and responsivity. A reenacted client-centered therapy session was videotaped. Verbal content was held constant, but all combinations of the three nonverbal dimensions were portrayed. A total of 118 male and female nonparticipant observers rated the therapist's interpersonal skills (empathy, warmth, and genuineness) and effectiveness. The results disclosed that the nonverbal cues of immediacy (close therapist-client distance and eye contact) significantly improved ratings of the therapist's interpersonal skills and effectiveness. Thus, the study demonstrated that a therapist's nonverbal behavior is a basis for interpretations of empathy, warmth, genuiness, and effectiveness. These findings were interpreted in terms of the therapist's nonverbal cues communicating liking and acceptance of the client.

Effects of deindividuating situational cues and aggressive models on subjective deindividuation and aggression.

This experiment demonstrated that a subjective state of deindividuation mediates the effect of deindividuating situational cues on aggression displayed by small groups (n = 4) of coacting aggressors. The deindividuated state was composed of two factors, Self-Awareness and Altered Experiencing, both of which had a causal influence on aggressive behavior. These data are interpreted in terms of deindividuation theories which assume that certain input variables reduce self-awareness and concern about social evaluation and thereby weaken the restraints against expressing antisocial behavior. Also as predicted, compared with a no-model control condition, a high-aggressive model disinhibited overt displays of aggression, whereas a low-aggressive model inhibited aggression among both individuated and deindividuated group members.

An expectancy-value theory approach to the long-term modification of smoking behavior.

Despite the research interest in modifying smoking behavior, therapeutic treatments that can produce long-term cessation have not been demonstrated rigorously. A follow-up study of two attitude change experiments (N = 173) examined the effects of a fear appeal, that is, increasing smokers' awareness and appreciation of the highly noxious consequences of smoking. Although this familiar type of information may be an integral component of many smoking treatment programs, its long-term suppressive effect has not been demonstrated in well-controlled experiments. The results disclosed that 3 months and also 1 year after treatment, a high-fear manipulation had increased significantly the percentage of smokers who were able to stop smoking completely.

Fortification of hamburger with calcium, vitamin A, and ascorbic acid.

Patties were prepared from ground beef--some with and some without calcium, vitamin A, or ascorbic acid, either singly or in various combinations. After cooking, the patties were mixed with buns and mayonnaise, ground, and then fed to weanling rats. No single added nutrient or combination of added nutrients seemed to affect flavor, texture, or cooking losses of fat or water. Fortification with calcium and ascorbic acid increased liver storage of vitamin A and decreased liver:body weight ratios.

Reducing interracial aggression: inhibiting effects of victim's suffering and power to retaliate.

A 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experiment employing 64 white male university students investigated the aggression-inhibiting effects of three characteristics of a victim: his race, expression of pain, and potential to retaliate. As predicted, pain cues effectively inhibited aggression. A triple-order interaction effect extended previous findings by demonstrating that the expression of suffering reduced aggression (a) even if the victim had no power to retaliate and (b) even if the victim was a member of a racial minority. In contrast to the suppressive effect of suffering, potential retaliation was a relatively ineffective deterrent of physical attack. Additional factors limiting the aggression-inhibiting power of threatened retaliation were the victim's expression of suffering and expectations of weak counteragression.

Sex role stereotypes: developmental aspects and early intervention.

A total of 122 children participated in 2 experiments that examined the utility of sumbolic modeling stimuli in modifying sex role stereotypes. Results disclosed that, while some aspects of sex role stereotypes are present at age 3, other aspects are acquired between the third and fourth year of life. Additionally, males were found to exhibit more stereotyped responses than females. As predicted, brief presentations of illustrated stories involving egalitarian sex role models reduced stereotypic thinking. Interaction effects revealed that an egalitarian literature presentation was more effective at age 5 than age 4 and more effective for females than males. Finally, egalitarian symbolic models in films p-oduced more enduring attitude change on several measures than similar models in picture books.