Background: Despite a slight decline in the prevalence of substance use among adolescents in last years, there is a constant need for effective, available and well-targeted preventive interventions. Children of parents with substance use experiences are considered to be more endangered. Although the quality and availability of universal prevention programs has improved, their effectiveness is not usually systematically verified, moreover, the impact on children of parents with substance use experiences is unknown. The Unplugged preventive intervention was supplemented by nPrevention booster sessions in order to support its research-proven preventive impact. Aims: The main objective was to evaluate the effect of Unplugged and nPrevention programs combination (Un+nP) after 24 months in comparison with Unplugged program (Un) alone and control in respect of the substance use experience in parents. The secondary objective was to test the reliability of anonymous self-generated identification code (SGIC) and the process of matching children's questionnaires between waves of data collection and with parents' questionnaires. Methods: A cluster randomized, controlled, 3-arm, prospective, school-based prevention trial was conducted between years 2013 and 2017 to evaluate the Unplugged (implemented in the 6th...

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BACKGROUND: Weight misperception has been documented among children although the impact on health risk behaviors is less understood, particularly among middle school students. The goals of this study were to describe sociodemographic differences in actual and perceived weight, correspondence between actual and perceived weight, and weight-related health risk behaviors, as well as to examine weight misperception and interactions with sociodemographic variables in explaining weight-related health risk behaviors. METHODS: Participants were recruited at 11 public school districts participating in the Tennessee Coordinated School Health (CSH) pilot program. A total of 10,273 middle school students completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered by teachers in the school setting. RESULTS: Findings revealed sociodemographic differences in actual and perceived weight as well as weight misperception. Although overestimating one's weight was significantly related to greater likelihood of weight-related health risk behaviors, significant interactions showed this relationship to be especially pronounced in females. Additional distinctions based on sociodemographic variables are indicated. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the importance of screening for health risk behaviors including weight misperception among middle school students. The CSH program offers an opportunity to understand health risk behaviors among students while also informing and evaluating methods for intervention. © 2014, American School Health Association.

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Information on the overall health risk behaviors of college students is limited and it is unknown if being enrolled in an elective or a required health course affects behavior change among the students. There are mixed reports on whether or not health education courses affect behavior change. Factors that may affect change are self-efficacy and the constructs that build the Health Belief Model (i.e. perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers). A sample of convenience was gathered for the current study using two universities in the state of Virginia. Virginia Tech students within the sample were enrolled in an elective health course (n = 375) and James Madison University students within the sample were enrolled in a required health course (n = 202). The National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) and the Self-Efficacy Scale survey were used to gather information on overall health risk behaviors, health behavior changes, and self-efficacy levels of the students. To acquire health behavior change data, the NCHRBS was administered at the beginning of the Fall 2003 semester and again at the end of the semester. The results of the study indicated that, overall, the type of course a student was enrolled in and self-efficacy did not have a significant effect on health behavior change. However, possible trends were identified with alcohol use, tobacco use, and dietary behaviors, indicating that further research should be performed to analyze underlying factors, not analyzed in this study, which may be affecting health risk behaviors. / Ph. D.

Problem: Prevention Planning Teams are challenged with developing intervention programs designed to decrease youth risk behaviors. Literature indicates that by increasing the number of assets/protective factors within a child's external ecology it decreases the likelihood of the youth participating in risk behaviors. Information which explicitly focuses on the etiology (external ecology) of youth risk behaviors for Southwest Virginia Region (SWVAR) 6th grade youth had not been performed; therefore, this study investigated the reported external ecology present in the SWVAR 6th grade youth, whether there are differences in the reported external ecology by gender, and whether there are differences in the reported external ecology by race/ethnicity. Methods: The SWVAR 2009-2010 6th grade Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were analyzed and items extracted which pertained to the Search Institute Developmental Assets Framework. Twelve survey items were identified which fit into the External Asset Building Block areas of Support, Empowerment, and Boundaries and Expectations. Responses to these items by SWVAR 6th grade youth who participated in the 2009-2010 YRBS (n=2051) were analyzed via descriptive statistics for overall responses and Chi-Square in relation to gender and race/ethnicity. Results: Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square analysis indicated an overall positive external ecology. There were however statistically significant differences by gender and race/ethnicity in each of the represented External Asset Building Blocks. Conclusions: SWVAR 6th grade youth who participated in the 2009-2010 YRBS indicated an overall positive external ecology by overall responses, gender and race/ethnicity. There are however segments by gender and race/ethnicity which indicate a need for intervention and/or further investigation. / Ph. D.

The diploma thesis makes use of qualitative analytical methods of the Grounded Theory to explore the theme of "reflection of experience with school of boys from Diagnostic Institute for Youth". It sets a goal to understand the context of subjective meanings of adolescent boys. The result of the analysis is a description of the dynamic metamorphosis in relation to the school, using the description of internal and external factors affecting this phenomenon. Among the main discovered themes belong the role of the authority of educator and the usage of supervisory tools and the evaluation of their effectiveness by their addressee. Furthermore, the thesis devotes to description of the transformation of internal motivational dispositions of the individual (needs, interests, attitudes and values). The two main themes synthesize to the concept of transformation of the relationship to school. The thesis is a qualitative probe into the inner world of the adolescent subjects who, at the threshold of adulthood, are teetering on the edge of a risky behavior and a socially acceptable experimentation which naturally belongs to this developmental period. The thesis flows into a formulation of theory, which is valid for this very specific context. Research data were obtained via interviews led in accordance with...

In this research I examine the complexity of male sexuality and masculinity among male sex workers in New Orleans. Despite danger to their health and social standing, men engage in risky sexual behavior with other men for both business and pleasure. These behaviors may stem from the thrill of risk itself, or from other causes such as unexplored sexual inhibitions on the part of the male sex workers or their clients. Focusing on male sex workers, this ethnographic study explores why male sex workers engage in work that is high risk and potentially very dangerous. It examines the world of male sex work as one of the few places where men who adopt homosexual identity and those who refuse it are in intimate contact with one another. It offers us the opportunity to address questions about male sexual identity and homosexual desire, while attempting to understand the commodified spatial practices of a sexual culture in New Orleans.

Ce présent travail porte sur l’étude des conduites à risques et le Trouble Déficitaire de l’Attention/Hyperactivité chez l’enfant et l’adolescent. Les relations entre les conduites à risques, plus spécifiquement la consommation de substances psycho-actives, et le TDAH constituent un objet d’étude important. Parmi les conduites risques nous avons voulu nous centrer particulièrement sur les jeux dangereux (jeux de non-oxygénation et jeux violents), ces conduites sont encore peu documentées au niveau de la littérature. Toutefois, certaines études mettent en évidence un lien entre ces pratiques et les troubles externalisés. L’objectif de ce travail était d’identifier les facteurs associés voire de vulnérabilité aux conduites à risques, les jeux dangereux, chez les enfants et les adolescents. Nous avons étudié les liens entre les jeux dangereux et le TDAH, puis nous avons mis en évidence l’implication de variables psychologiques et psychopathologiques. Dans notre première étude, notre échantillon est constitué de 746 collégiens. Nous avons utilisé une méthodologie quantitative visant à évaluer : les conduites à risques, la symptomatologie anxieuse, dépressive et hyperactive, les styles motivationnels ainsi que la personnalité en référence au modèle de Cloninger. Notre deuxième étude, réalisée en milieu clinique auprès de 215 enfants présentant un TDAH, nous a permis d’étudier les variables psychologiques et psychopathologiques dans le TDAH. Puis, dans notre troisième étude, nous avons évalué chez les enfants TDAH les conduites à risques et nous avons mis en évidence l’implication de facteurs de vulnérabilité. Les résultats obtenus nous permettent de dégager des profils psychologiques et psychopathologiques distincts selon le type de jeux dangereux. De plus, selon la sévérité du TDAH, les facteurs de vulnérabilité sont différents. / Present study focuses on the risk behaviors and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adolescents. The relationship between risk behaviors, specifically substances use, and ADHD are commonly examined. Among risk behaviors we work particularly on the dangerous games (suffocation games and violent games). In the literature some studies show a link between these practices and externalized disorders. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated to risk behaviors, dangerous games specifically in children and adolescents. We studied the relationship between dangerous games and ADHD, and then we have highlighted the involvement of psychological and psychopathological variables. In the first study, sample consists to 746 schoolboys. We used a quantitative methodology to assess: risk behaviors, anxiety, depression and hyperactive disorder, the motivational styles and personality with reference to the model of Cloninger. In second study, conducted in psychiatric hospital with 215 children with ADHD, we examine the psychological and psychopathological variables in ADHD. Then in the third study, we evaluated ADHD and risks behaviors and we have highlighted the vulnerability factors. The results obtained allow us to identify different psychological and psychopathological profiles by type of dangerous games. Moreover, according to the severity of ADHD, vulnerability factors are different.