A survey of the effects of a Health Hazard Appraisal inventory on the behavior of college students indicates that the HHA is not an effective free-standing personal health behavior change tool with this population. (JMF)

Because the smoking behavior of African Americans differs considerably from that of other groups, researchers examined differences between African Americans who did and did not use the nicotine patch as an adjunct to counseling and education for smoking cessation. Results indicated the nicotine patch significantly improved six-month cessation…

Identifies several theoretical and methodological obstacles that limit understanding of the variable ways that men do or do not seek help from mental and physical health care professionals, noting sex differences in help-seeking behavior. Develops a contextual framework by exploring how the socialization and social construction of masculinities…

Discusses how mentoring in health promotion differs from other key support roles, noting what the underlying rationale is behind mentoring, how a mentoring program should be designed, what the historical and theoretical roots of mentoring are, and what strategies mentors can use to be more effective. A research agenda for the mentoring approach is…

Examines current health care literature on the microbiology of the home environment, summarizing evidence of transmission within the home and assessing the effectiveness of cleaning practices and products. The article focuses on the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room, then looks at routes of transmission of infection within the home and discusses…

Describes how college dining services are providing students with more nutrition information than ever, and finding much of it ignored in favor of pizza and french fries. (EV)

Used data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey to evaluate the relationship between physical activity, sports participation, and suicide among college students. Overall, selected physical activity patterns were associated in a non-systematic manner with decreased or increased odds of suicidal behavior among male and female…

Results from a study of 100 innercity adult Black diabetics indicate that perceived self-efficacy and age were strong predictors of adherence to an insulin regime. Additional psychosocial factors examined include perceived barriers to treatment, perceived severity of illness, and perceived social support. Results indicated gender differences. (IAH)

Administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure level of anxiety and health behavior among adolescents (n=238) in Northern Ireland. Analysis of the findings showed that these teenagers had no higher anxiety than a sample of North American teenagers. Anxiety was correlated with a variety of health complaints and with the use of the health…

Surveys of the relationship between female college students' exercise habits and their knowledge about osteoporosis and health beliefs indicated that age positively correlated with knowledge level, awareness of personal susceptibility, and motivation for general health behaviors. Older subjects believed the barriers to exercise were greater than…

A study compared police officers' physical fitness levels with workers' compensation (WC) claims. Officers who collected WC were predominantly female, younger, and lower ranking, with better physical fitness than officers not collecting WC. Officers in the second highest fitness level and older officers with greater cardiovascular fitness had…

Subjective life expectancy, death anxiety, and health behavior were assessed in college students (n=36) with at least one parent who died prematurely of illness (PD group) and students (n=36) with both parents alive (PA group). PD group estimated their life expectancy to be shorter than the PA; subgroup of PD reported poorer diet. (Author/ABL)

A study was made of snack selections from unrefrigerated vending machines in relation to increased availabilty of nutrient-dense snack options and provision of nutrient information at four college sites. When snack options included more nutrient-dense choices, sales dropped. When nutrition information was posted on the machines, sales increased…

Examines motivational foundations of exercise behavior, presenting a theoretical model in which motivation is the proximal precursor of exercise, which is determined by perceived constraints and situational facilitators. The paper explores the role of cognition versus automaticity in exercise behavior and examines habit versus routine, presenting…

Examined relation of possible selves to smoking and drinking for 1,606 sixth through ninth graders. Found that smoking and drinking were related negatively to number of positive expected selves and balance between expected selves and feared selves. When both possible-selves were entered in model simultaneously, only the number of positive expected…