The rapidly growing aging population highlights the need for social workers trained in gerontological practice and interested in work with older adults. This study, conducted in two southern states, examined recent social work graduates' perceptions of aging-related work and identified factors influencing their employment in aging related jobs.…

Early alcohol drinking onset (ADO) has been implicated as a cause of adult alcohol disorder inviting interventions that target the causes of ADO. This study explores the precursors of early ADO using variables measured before drinking onset, reaching back to the mothers of the respondents. The sample consists of children of the women respondents…

Differences in rates and predictors of mental health service use among 2,226 Black, Hispanic, and White adolescents (aged 12-17) who reported recent suicidal thoughts or an attempt were examined. Black adolescents were 65% (OR = 0.65, p less than 0.05), and Hispanic adolescents were 55% (OR = 0.55, p less than 0.001), as likely as White…

In this study we evaluated the effectiveness of telephone crisis services/hotlines, examining proximal outcomes as measured by changes in callers' suicide state from the beginning to the end of their calls to eight centers in the U.S. and again within 3 weeks of their calls. Between March 2003 and July 2004, 1,085 suicide callers were assessed…

Research studies have determined that proactive or instrumental aggression correlates with positive outcome expectancies for violence, whereas reactive aggression correlates with hostile attribution biases. It was hypothesized that the Problem Avoidance factor scale of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) would serve as…

The principal aim of the present study was to obtain a deeper understanding than hitherto of the concurrent correlates and prospective predictors of loneliness and poor peer acceptance, both falling under the umbrella term low social inclusion. Problematic and socially competent behaviours were investigated as possible predictors of low social…

Purpose: In an attempt to more thoroughly describe aggressive behavior in nursing home residents with dementia, we examined background and proximal factors as guided by the Need-Driven Dementia-Compromised Behavior model. Design and Methods: We used a multivariate cross-sectional survey with repeated measures; participants resided in nine randomly…

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scale has been shown to be a significant predictor of later cognitive outcomes in many cultures. Therefore identifying factors associated with HOME could be used to promote child development. Maternal psychological well-being is often overlooked although critical in the creation of…

Prevalence, frequency, and psychosocial predictors of Internet and computer game use were assessed with 803 male and 788 female adolescents across 2 time periods, 21 months apart. At Time 1, participants were in the 9th or 10th grade; at Time 2, they were in the 11th or 12th grade. Most girls (93.7%) and boys (94.7%) reported using the Internet at…

Some research has suggested that positive life events may interact with negative life events during periods of high stress to buffer the effects of negative events. The relationships among positive and negative life events and positive and negative psychological status were examined in an investigation of the direct and mediating effects of…

To systematically test previous assumptions about grief in widows and divorcing women, 410 separated, divorced, or widowed women, between the ages of 23 and 76, with at least one child, completed the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory--Form C, the Attachment Index, and the…

Surveyed 308 elderly persons to examine how young they feel and why. Results indicated feeling younger than one's age was associated with psychological health even when the effects of several confounding variables were statistically controlled. Purpose in life was the strongest correlate of identified age. (JAC)

Explored the effect of psychosocial attributes on the labor-force participation of 49 mothers of young children. Variables asessed included career orientation/salience, nurturance, response to stress, and concerns about infant fussiness and nonmaternal care for infants. Results showed psychosocial characteristics are potent predictors of maternal…

Study reaffirmed the central significance of the peer group's influence on adolescent behavior. (Authors)

Argues that the housewife role itself, which both housewives and employed wives share, is anomic. Data from the 1974 General Social Survey showed that although women in these categories do not differ on this measure once class is controlled, different variables predict anomia for women in each work-status category. (Author/JAC)