The current study examined whether the association between the occurrence of negative events and increased engagement in risky behavior is moderated by maladaptive and/or adaptive coping strategies. At time 1, 411 adolescents (ages 14-19) from Yue Yang, Hunan, completed self-report measures assessing coping strategies, engagement in risky behaviors, and the occurrence of negative events. Once a...

Evaluating a trainee's performance on a simulated procedure involves determining whether a specified objective was met while avoiding certain "injurious" actions that damage vulnerable structures. However, it is also important to teach the stylistic behaviors that minimize overall risk to the patient, even though these criteria may be more difficult to explicitly specify and detect. In this pap...

The current study explored whether the wives of men entering alcoholism treatment are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) exposure as a result of their husbands' sexual risk behaviors. The extramarital relationships of married alcoholic men entering outpatient treatment (n = 125) were compared with those of a demographically matched community sample of nonalcoholic married men (n...

The recent supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine—Addressing Latino Childhood Obesity Through Research and Policy: Findings from the Salud America! Experience1—was exciting and interesting to read. It is a constant reminder of the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in health outcomes that can be seen early in life. It has become clear that treating obesity requires a mu...

Research has found that non-monosexual women report worse mental health than their heterosexual and lesbian counterparts. The reasons for these mental health discrepancies are unclear. This study investigated whether higher levels of child abuse and risky sexual behavior, and lower levels of sexual orientation disclosure, may help explain elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety among non-mo...

We all know that smoking is bad for our health and that eating vegetables is good for it. Yet how bad and how good are they? Without a clear notion of threat and reward, it is that much harder to avoid a cigarette or to choke down a serving of broccoli. “I hate when someone tells me that something is risky,” says David Spiegelhalter, a professor of risk assessment at the University of Cambridge...

This paper examines the impact of maternal employment during a child's first 3 years and during adolescence on his or her decisions to engage in a range of risky behaviors: smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, using marijuana and other drugs, engaging in sex and committing crimes. Using data from the NLSY79 and its young adult supplement, we do not find strong evidence that mother's employment...

Alcoholism can be described as a disorder characterized by impulsive decision-making processes, wherein potential short-term appetitive outcomes of drinking (e.g., intoxication) are deemed more important than potential long-term aversive consequences of drinking (e.g., drunk-driving arrests). Separate but interrelated neurocognitive pathways to impulsive decision making exist - one reflected by...

Some people prefer to make risky decisions in their live, such as for avocation or even everyday decision making. Since Bauer first presented the conception of perceived risk in the decision making of consumer behavior, the role of perceived risk in product choice has attracted much attention and decisions such as choosing unknown objects have been known to be risky. Here in this study, we focu...