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Emergency medical services personnel work in a fast-paced, stressful environment requiring rapid, efficient response to critical situations, creating unique safety considerations within the workforce. With an occupational fatality rate notably higher than average, most of which are attributed to vehicular crashes, compounded by risks faced on rural roadways, rural EMS personnel face unique driving challenges that may be exacerbated by the very traits, self-efficacy and risk propensity, that may have initially drawn them to the profession. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which rural EMS personnel engage in off-duty, risky driving behaviors and to examine the relationship between these behaviors and their levels of risk propensity as well as their self-efficacy relative to driving. A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted to explore the relationship between the variables. A 63-item survey was completed by 227 rural EMS personnel. The statistical model resulting from this study identifies risky-driving self-efficacy and risk propensity as significant predictors of engaging in risky driving behaviors, with self-efficacy emerging as the strongest predictor. The predictive model fit well within the Social Cognitive Theory construct of triadic reciprocity, providing a platform from which to develop mitigating strategies to foster systemic as well as behavioral changes, while tailoring interventions to highly self-efficacious, risk-taking individuals who gravitate toward risky professions, including rural EMS personnel.

In 2005, the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported 21.9% of males and 26.1% of females were bullied in schools. Little research has been conducted into showing an association between childhood bully victimization and risky behaviors. In addition, knowledge is limited about the connection between victimization and risky behaviors among different ethnic groups. We propose to assess the association between victimization and risky behaviors, using the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey among 3,116 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2007. Data was obtained by self-administered questionnaire, and victimization was considered as a single dichotomous variable. Victimization was assessed as a dichotomous variable. Risky behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use, unprotected sex and weapon violence) were measured using several questions regarding frequency and initial age of use. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between bullying and risky behavior, and then the results were stratified with ethnic background (White, Hispanic and other) to assess possible effect modification. Results show that victims are more likely to have engaged in risky behaviors before the age of 13 and are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors while at school. Significant ethnic differences in the relation between bully victimization and risk behaviors were not generally observed; however, non-White bully victims were generally at greater risk for all risky behaviors than Whites. These findings will help provide information on factors that may be used to identify at-risk children, and to target adjust existing interventions with bullying and victims to improve efficacy.

Growing up in an adverse early environment is related to a number of negative health outcomes later in life, and dysregulation of the HPA axis may serve as the means by which this process occurs (Repetti et al., 2002). Indeed, early environment has been linked to altered physiological responses to general stressors in adulthood, but it remains unclear whether physiological responses to marital stress are also affected. Thus, the present work addresses two central questions in 129 newlywed couples: (1) How does growing up in an adverse early environment relate to physiological stress responses (assessed by cortisol) to a relationship conflict? (2) Does having a supportive spouse moderate this relation? The results provide some support for the link between early environment and cortisol reactivity among husbands, and marginal support for the moderating role of spousal support.

No description available.

Risky sexual behaviors (RSB) have the potential to negatively impact individuals by increasing the risk of mental health issues, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unwanted pregnancies. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health disorders, such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression, have been known to increase RSB. The purpose of this study was to see if these mental health disorders mediate the relationship between ACEs and RSB. Participants (n = 342, mean age = 32) were recruited through social media to complete an online questionnaire. While history of ACEs significantly predicted engagement in RSB as well as all three of the mental health measures, none of the three measures of mental health emerged as a significant mediator of the relationship between ACEs and engagement in RSB (depression: b = .0060, SE = .0568, 95% CI[-.1175, .1148]; anxiety: (b = -.0136, SE = .0565, 95% CI[-.1393, .0904]; PTSD: (b = .1131, SE = .0807, 95% CI[-.0313, .2867]. Ultimately, this research showed that the history of ACEs exerts a strong, direct effect on engaging in RSB, and that in this sample, mental health symptoms are not sufficient to explain this relationship. Therefore, other factors should be explored as possible mechanisms maintaining this relationship. Furthermore, future research efforts should extend this exploration to young participants that may be more likely to participate in RSB.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the lives of millions of individuals. Previous studies frequently cite family-of-origin aggression as a risk factor for later experiences with IPV. The current study sought to identify factors that explain and moderate risk for dating psychological aggression (DPA) in college adults, and gender differences in those associations. Participants (464 women, 142 men) aged 18 to 37 years, who were in a current romantic relationship lasting at least 3 months, completed measures of past psychological aggression in the family-of-origin (PAF), current emotion dysregulation, and DPA perpetrated in current intimate relationships. Emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between PAF and current DPA; however, differences among specific types of PAF and gender were noted. Results support an intergenerational transmission of family aggression and suggest that parent–child gender dyads influence this process. The findings also provide evidence that higher levels of drinking are associated with increased emotion dysregulation.

Adolescence is a unique developmental period where substantial brain development and social independence can result in higher risk-taking behavior. Researchers have spent the last several decades trying to understand at a neurological level why adolescents are more likely to take risks that often have extreme consequences (e.g., car accidents, drug use, etc.). The resulting research has found mixed and often inconsistent findings and scientists have posited that this could be due to differences in experimental tasks; where some are more description-based (e.g., Wheel of Fortune tasks) and others are more experience-based (e.g., Stop Signal tasks). Research examining the way adults learn about risk reveals that individuals make different decisions when information is learned via description or experience – a phenomenon known as the Description-Experience Gap. The present work aims to bridge research in adolescent development and judgement and decision-making to identify the neural processes associated with the Description-Experience gap in adolescents and adults. Across two studies, I examined the neural mechanisms associated with learning via description and experience in adolescents and adults and their subsequent impact on risky choice to find that adolescents and adults utilize information from description and experience differently. In adults, similar neural mechanisms involved with memory and deliberation are implicated at different points of the decision process. Adolescents displayed distinct neural activation associated with risk-taking and reward sensitivity when learning via experience. Both studies demonstrate the significance of memory and learning-relevant processes in risk-taking across development. / Psychology

This dissertation consists of three essays on firm finances and macroeconomics. In Chapter 1, I empirically investigate the relationship between firms' financial positions and asset tangibility by drawing on a CRSP/Compustat merged dataset of US public firms from 1987 to 2016. Intangible capital has grown in importance as the US economy has evolved towards service-based and technology-based industries with a decline in the physical capital share. Intangible capital spending is a type of capital expenditure that is not negligible compared to physical capital investment. The key finding of my empirical exercise is that industries and firms with lower average asset tangibility have lower average debt-to-sales ratios and higher average values of distance-to-default both in the long run and short run. Asset tangibility is a proxy for the recovery rate of capital since intangible capital is considered less valuable collateral, so the empirical evidence suggests that the recovery rate of capital is related to borrowing and default. Chapter 2 structurally estimates the recovery rate of capital, which is difficult to observe in the data, and quantitatively analyzes the aggregate implications of the empirical findings in the previous chapter. The recovery rate of capital determines lenders' credit supply and affects the demand and total credit amounts in equilibrium. Recent rising intangibles in the US may reduce recovery. I build a canonical quantitative general equilibrium heterogeneous firm model with risky debt, capital accumulation, and default. I estimate the model parameters by matching the covariance matrix of profit, investment, and debt, the average spread, and the average default rate in my data sample. The simulated method of moments (SMM) estimate of the recovery rate is 74% when targeting moments constructed with only physical capital. The counterfactuals reveal that declines in the recovery rate reduce aggregate output, credit, and welfare by constraining capital accumulation. Tackling intangibles by a broader notion of capital, I estimate a recovery rate of 46% with the same model structure, implying that rising intangibles could cause nontrivial output and welfare losses due to financial frictions. Chapter 3 examines the causal effect of immigration on local entrepreneurship in US counties. I use the immigration shock constructed in Burchardi et al. (2020) as an instrumental variable to predict the total number of migrants flowing into each US county from 1990 to 2010. I use the entrepreneurship indices from the Startup Cartography Project (Andrews et al., 2020) to measure the quantity and quality of US start-ups at the county-level. First, I find a strong and significant causal impact of immigration on the number of new business registrants per person. Second, I find a significant causal impact of immigration on the expected number of start-ups with growth per person. I also show that the influx of immigrants can increase the local average wage per capita. To interpret these empirical findings, I build a model of entrepreneurship which implies that if immigration shifts the distribution of entrepreneurial acumen to the right, it increases the wage rate, the fraction of entrepreneurs, and the mean quality of entrepreneurs. These results suggest that immigration is an essential driver of economic dynamism via entrepreneurship.

From previous experiences, different perceptions of risky play have been noticed. This study therefore aims to shed light on the early childhood education center (ECEC) teachers’ approach to and perceptions of risky play in ECEC outdoor environment. In order to make approaches and perceptions visible, nine semistructured interviews have been conducted with ECEC teachers. The semistructured interviews and the study are based on the socio-cultural perspectivewhere the concepts of proximal development zone, scaffolding and mediating tools are of importance.The result shows that risky play is seen from two different perspectives: risk of injury or as a chance for challenging the children. The risky plays occur in the ECEC’s outdoor environment; however, the possibility of scaffolding varies, though on the other hand, the children encourage each other to participation.Caregivers and the outdoor environment are the external factors that influence the children’s opportunities for risky play, though they do not influence the ECEC teachers’ attitude. Throughout the result, the risk of the play is an underlying focus, though despite this, several advantages are described.The conclusion is that risky play is significant for children’s development. The lack of risky play inhibits the children and can lead to negative consequences in the long term. / Från tidigare erfarenheter har olika uppfattningar om riskfylld lek uppmärksammats. Denna studie har därför som syfte att belysa förskollärares förhållningssätt till och uppfattning av riskfylld lek i förskolans utomhusmiljö. För att kunna synliggöra förhållningssättet och uppfattningarna har nio semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare. De semistrukturerade intervjuerna och studien i helhet utgår från det sociokulturella perspektivet där begreppen proximal utvecklingszon, stöttning och medierande redskap är av betydelse.I resultatet framkommer att riskfylld lek ses från två olika perspektiv; risk för skador eller chans till utmaning. De riskfyllda lekarna sker i förskolans utomhusmiljö, men möjligheten till stöttning varierar, däremot uppmuntrar barnen varandra till deltagande. Vårdnadshavare och utomhusmiljön är de yttre faktorer som påverkar barnens möjligheter till riskfylld lek, men de påverkar inte förskollärarnas inställning. Genom hela resultatet ligger lekens risk som ett underliggande fokus, men trots detta beskrivs flera fördelar. Den slutsats som kunde dras är hur betydelsefull den riskfyllda leken är för barnens utveckling då bristen av riskfylld lek hämmar barnen och kan leda till negativa konsekvenser på lång sikt.