College students' willingness to terminate a pregnancy.

PIP: 403 male and 420 female Michigan State University undergraduate students responded to survey questions on their willingness to terminate a pregnancy. The number of students willing to terminate a pregnancy changed according to situational scenarios and general questions presented. While 96% opted to terminate a life-threatening tubal pregnancy, only 3% would do so in the case of a fetus of unwanted gender. Except for cases of incest and rape, respondents were 2.3 times more likely to terminate for biomedical than for psychosocial reasons. 89% were willing to terminate for incest and 82% for rape. The 75% who considered the fetus to be a child were less inclined to terminate than those who perceived otherwise. These findings paralleled those of other studies which found that attitudes toward abortion are not strongly linked to gender. Most respondents were able to weigh moral convictions against taxing situations when considering pregnancy termination.^ieng

Drugs in the womb: college student perceptions of maternal v. fetal rights.

A survey of 523 college undergraduates regarding a pregnant woman's culpability for the use of specific drugs during pregnancy indicated that a rank order of the relative safety of the drugs existed in the minds of the respondents. Tobacco, alcohol and aspirin were perceived as similar in their consequences to the fetus, while cocaine was considered to be the most deleterious and Accutane, the least deleterious. Although 75 percent would imprison a pregnant woman who used cocaine, only 16 percent would do so for the use of Accutane, a prescription drug. The 87 percent of the students who believed that the fetus was a child, were more likely to consider the use of the five drugs during pregnancy as a form of child abuse and were also more willing to imprison the "offending" women. It was suggested that drug education programs need to place more emphasis on the potentially deleterious consequences of prescribed medicines to the fetus.

Tobacco advertising in gender-oriented popular magazines.

The number and content of tobacco advertisements were examined in seventy-four gender-oriented popular magazines published during the summer of 1988. More ads were present in women's than men's magazines, and the messages contained in these ads were differentially stressed as a function of the magazine's primary readership. The type of Surgeon General's warning appearing in an ad often was not directed toward the typical concerns of the readership of the magazine in which the ad appeared. This survey, and a follow-up three months later, indicated that the Surgeon General's report on nicotine addiction, published in the Spring of 1988, had no apparent effect on the number of ads placed. Advertising revenues received by publishers from conglomerates which control the manufacture of food as well as tobacco products may be partially responsible for this finding. It was concluded that effective drug education programs should encourage skepticism when tobacco advertisements are examined.

Enhancing the effectiveness of alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs for children.

Questionnaire responses of eighth-grade students who had made a brief visit to a residential substance (alcohol and drug) abuse treatment center were analyzed to determine the impact of the experience over and above traditional classroom presentations about substance abuse. Questions were designed to test the hypotheses that the brief encounter would result in greater assimilation of and accommodation to more correct information about substance abuse, greater changes in substance abuse constructs, and concomitant changes in attitudes and behaviors. It was expected that visitors would maintain fewer naive, idealized beliefs of the type that facilitate "backing" into participation in substance abuse. Some expected significant differences were found in responses to questions reflecting knowledge and attitudes. The visitors manifested a more realistic, factually based view of substance abuse and substance abusers. It is concluded that intensive prevention/education programs are appropriate for this age group and that the school-based program was significantly enhanced by the brief naturalistic exposure to the people of a therapeutic community. Implications for cognitive learning theory and needed future research are discussed.

Prescription drug advertising: trends and implications.

Prescription drug advertisements which appeared in two leading American medical journals in 1972, 1977 and 1982 were analyzed to discover possible trends in advertising. The 5016 ads examined showed that ads for the diuretic-cardiovasculars, especially the beta-adrenergic blocking agents and the slow channel inhibitors, as well as the analgesics, had increased, while ads for the anti-infectives and tranquilizers had diminished. The average amount of space allocated for each ad had increased. On the average, most ads (69%) depicted neither male nor female patients in their graphics, and a trend of increased neutrality was observed. When the hormones were excluded, an average of 21% of the ads showed male patients and 10% showed females. Since a relationship was discerned between the leading drugs advertised and the leading prescriptions filled, it was concluded that advertising does have some effect on the prescribing behavior of practitioners. The findings suggest that great investment in advertising is necessary in order to achieve high levels of sales for such drugs as Valium (diazepam) which do not have a clear-cut ameliorative effect on a specific physiological condition. On the other hand, it was suggested that saturation advertising would not significantly enhance the sales of such drugs as Dyazide (triamterene and hydrochlorothiazide) because of its well established therapeutic value in the control of hypertension. Ten advertising companies, on the average, had purchased 67% of all advertising space and five had purchased almost half (47%). The same two pharmaceutical companies were among the top five advertisers and the same five were among the top ten for the three years studied.

Drug usage and health characteristics in noninstitutional retired persons.

A study was made of total drug usage (prescription, over-the-counter, social), health characteristics, and life satisfaction in 55 noninstitutional retired men and women whose average age was 70 years. The sample was purposively selected on the basis of involvement in peer group interaction networks. Among those using drugs, the average number taken per person was 2.0 prescription, 1.8 over-the-counter, and 1.8 social (alcohol, caffeine, nicotine), for a total of 5.6 drugs. For men the average was 7.5, and for women 4.7 drugs. Although drug interaction hazards from prescription drugs alone appeared to be minimal, examination of total drug usage indicated potential interactive hazards. Despite the number of chronic illnesses and physical impairments (5 and 1 per person respectively) and the number of drugs ingested, the respondents usually expressed overall satisfaction with their life condition. A commonly expressed dissatisfaction (males 75 percent, females 35 percent) was with government officials. Respondents had confidence in both their physicians' diagnoses and the effectiveness of the drugs prescribed. The findings that women reported more chronic diseases and physical impairments, and were relatively more dissatisfied with their life condition than were men, may be associated with their greater acquiescence with self-disclosure.

Patterns of aspirin use among American youth.

The use of aspirin was ascertained in several population cohorts. In the college age samples, aspirin had been used in the previous 48-hour period by one of every 4 students. Females reported a higher rate (33.2%) than males (16.9%). In the 4th to 12th grade samples, aspirin use was higher than other drugs with 39.6% of the 3,306 students sampled indicating that they had ingested aspirin during the previous week. In a 9--11 year-old category, 25% of these 4th to 6th graders used aspirin without parental knowledge. The relationship of aspirin use and drug education is discussed.