A campus wellness program: accepting the challenge.

The federal government challenges universities to promote health and prevent illness by creating awareness of health issues and encouraging healthy practices. Establishing a wellness program on campus is a means to provide excellence in health care for students and a way to reach out to faculty and the community at large. In this paper, the authors explicate the process of a multidisciplinary, collaborative effort in a university to develop a wellness program. Various data supported the need for the program. Using a model center, the design and implementation of the program are addressed, as well as the benefits of the wellness program.

Perceptions of the prevalence of cigarette smoking by peers: a study of Taiwanese, Filipino, and Thai high school students.

Youth cigarette smoking is a major public health concern in Southeast Asia. A suspected determinant of youth smoking is perceived peer behavior. Previous research has suggested that the probability that a teenager will use substances increases when there is the perception that most peers engage in the substance use behavior. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of the prevalence of peer cigarette smoking in samples of high school students from three Southeast Asian countries and to examine the association of these perceptions to self-reported personal use of cigarettes. Perceptions of the prevalence of peer smoking were generally characterized by the perception that most students do not smoke. However, a significant percentage of students held the perception that most students were current smokers. Students who held this perception were at increased risk of being current smokers relative to those who believed most students were not current smokers. The results of this study imply that public health programs may benefit from health promotion interventions which focus on dispelling misconceptions that most youth smoke cigarettes.

The steroids/sports supplements connection: pragmatism and sensation-seeking in the attitudes and behavior of JHS and HS students on Long Island.

In this article we examine the importance of sensation seeking and pragmatism in the steroids and sports supplements behavior and attitudes of high school and junior high school students on Long Island, New York. Steroid use is much less acceptable than sports supplement use, although the reasons for use are similar. Respondents use supplements more than steroids, have a greater variety of attitudes toward their use, and have a high acceptance of their "energy" potential. There is a significant effect of current sports supplements use on future steroid use. Independent of measurement format (fixed choice questions and hypothetical situations), the steroids-sports supplement connection seems to exist within a pragmatic approach to cosmetic fitness, where the goal is improving physical ability and appearance.

Cigarette smoking and indicators of psychosocial distress in Southeast Asian and Central-Eastern European adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of cigarette smoking and 2 indicators of psychosocial distress (hopelessness and loneliness) among adolescents from 2 distinctly different regions of the world: Central-Eastern Europe (Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines). Among Southeast Asian boys and girls, smokers had elevated hopelessness in comparison to nonsmokers but among Central-Eastern European students, this relationship was true only for girls and there was no relationship for boys. Across the country samples, there was only association of smoking with loneliness among Southeast Asian girls and Central-Eastern European girls. While Southeast Asian girls who smoked scored higher on loneliness than nonsmokers, the opposite was true among Central-Eastern European girls, with smokers scoring lower on loneliness.

Perceptions of the prevalence of cigarette smoking by peers: a study of Taiwanese, Filipino, and Thai high school students.

Youth cigarette smoking is a major public health concern in Southeast Asia. A suspected determinant of youth smoking is perceived peer behavior. Previous research has suggested that the probability that a teenager will use substances increases when there is the perception that most peers engage in the substance use behavior. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of the prevalence of peer cigarette smoking in samples of high school students from three Southeast Asian countries and to examine the association of these perceptions to self-reported personal use of cigarettes. Perceptions of the prevalence of peer smoking were generally characterized by the perception that most students do not smoke. However, a significant percentage of students held the perception that most students were current smokers. Students who held this perception were at increased risk of being current smokers relative to those who believed most students were not current smokers. The results of this study imply that public health programs may benefit from health promotion interventions which focus on dispelling misconceptions that most youth smoke cigarettes.