The purpose of this study was to explore the association among risk behaviors, HIV/AIDS knowledge, and cognitive variables in high-risk adolescents. Subjects were 82 youth (50 males and 32 females) residing in a Midwest residential treatment facility for abused, neglected, or delinquent children and adolescents. The mean age of the adolescents was 14.6 years. Self-report measures of AIDS knowledge, invulnerability, self-efficacy, locus of control, sensation seeking, and risk involvement were administered in counterbalanced order. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression analysis to examine the relation between risk behaviors and scores on invulnerability, locus of control, self-efficacy, and sensation seeking measures once age and AIDS knowledge were controlled in the initial steps. Although age and knowledge of AIDS were related positively to the likelihood of behavioral risk taking, the combination of cognitive variables explained an additional 23% of the variance in risk behaviors and accounted for the largest proportion of shared variability. Therefore, adolescents' risk behaviors appeared to be determined by their cognitive beliefs to a greater degree than by their knowledge of the consequences of such behavior. The importance of cognitive factors in the apparent behavior choices that adolescents make suggests that educational prevention programs need to consider more than just the sharing of knowledge in addressing issues of risky behavior. Instead, the perceptions of adolescents toward sensation seeking and other cognitive characteristics also must be considered. / Department of Educational Psychology

The general aim of the study was to determine the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the perceived success of the pipeline gas company. This type of study has not been conducted previously for such a pipeline gas company and as such, a valuable contribution could be made to a more effective entrepreneurial orientation in the business environment. Two questionnaires were administered, which focused on entrepreneurial orientation and perceived success of business respectively. A response rate of 87.63% was obtained from a sample of 97 employees at management level in the pipeline gas company concerned. The results showed a statistically significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business development as variable of business success. The data also revealed correlations among the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, some with significant differences for various demographic groups and their level of entrepreneurial skills. Limitations within the study were discussed and recommendations were made for future research. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis is concerned with the relation between bank regulation and the risk-taking behaviour of banks. Two major instruments of regulatory intervention are considered: bank levy and bank bailouts. The major objective of this thesis is to provide an answer to the following questions: Do bank levies increase the risk-taking of banks in a competitive environment? When do bank bailouts decrease banks` risk-taking? Does the international coordination of bank bailouts affect the relation between bailouts and the risk-taking behaviour of banks? Who should rescue subsidiaries of multinational banks? How could an efficient bailout policy be designed and implemented? The bank levy and cooperation between national regulators play an important role in the recently adopted Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). This directive is a cornerstone of bank regulation in Europe. Although the conversion of debt into equity (bail-in) in emergencies is the key component of the current regulation, bailouts, or at least the assistance to struggling banks, should not be excluded. As the ordinary resolution tools, for instance, bail-in, have not yet been tested in a real crisis, and due to the fact that it will take time to prepare global institutions for such a tool, it may be useful to have an adequately designed tool of last resort available, such as an adequate bailout policy, in order to avoid the disruption of critical economic functions. We show that a bank levy may decrease banks`risk-taking behaviour. Bank bailouts can also decrease the risk-taking of banks. This depends on the regulator`s ability to condition his bailout policy in accordance with the macroeconomic environment, which has an impact on the banks` probability of success, or on his ability to condition the bailout policy on the banks` systemic relevance. Coordination of bailouts through a multinational regulator can improve welfare. The desirability of internationally coordinated bailouts depends on the dimension of the crisis. If the crisis is severe, it may be more efficient to delegate bank bailouts to a multinational regulator. However, such a delegation is not always feasible. Therefore, a predefined burden sharing of bank bailouts is necessary in order to achieve an efficient resolution of banks in distress.

A group of 21 HIV-positive gay or bisexual men was compared with a matched group of 22 HIV-negative individuals. All subjects were sexually active gay or bisexual males matched for age, as well as age at first intercourse with males. Subjects completed a detailed sexual history questionnaire as well as a series of standardized measures of psychosocial functioning. Results indicated that subjects engaged in a wide range of unsafe sexual behaviours, and frequently combined drugs with sex. Scores on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) were significantly correlated with lifetime condom use. Social support was also found to be significantly associated with the lifetime number of homosexual partners. Regression analysis revealed a significant negative association between MAST scores and social support and a positive relationship between social support and CD-4 cell count. The groups were found to be similar in terms of clinical levels of anxiety and depression, self-esteem in interpersonal situations, and risk-taking personality.

As we enter the third decade of a devastating worldwide epidemic, much has been done to stem the flow of HIV/AIDS, in particular within North American and Western European urban centres. Successful prevention campaigns in the 1980s had the immediate impact of lowering the rate of HIV infection among gay men, and anti-retroviral drug therapies in the mid-1990s have literally brought thousands of gay men back from the brink. However, by the middle to late 1990s, epidemiological and anecdotal evidence has strongly suggested that gay men have begun to move away from the safer sex orthodoxy of the 1980s. / Forty gay men ranging in age from 21 to 55 were interviewed for this study in order to determine if they have changed their approach to safer sex strategies implemented in the mid-1980s. In contrast to approaches to risk behaviour that emphasize the Health Belief Model, with its focus on the rational individual, this dissertation focused on the social contexts that shape gay men's decisions. / This study found a number of factors that influenced gay men's sexual choices, including age and the changing role of community. Younger gay men, those who have come of age during the 1990s, have taken a different approach to the AIDS epidemic. None of the younger participants in this study had lost anyone to HIV. Furthermore, they were now part of a group of men who no longer considers a HIV diagnosis to be immediately fatal. New medications have definitely shifted their approach to AIDS. Finally, this group of gay men no longer feels defined by a gay community like older gay men interviewed for this study. They believe they are coming of age in a time and place where they have more choices in how they will define themselves as gay men. For older gay men, those who lost many lovers, friends, and acquaintances during the HIV epidemic, changes in gay men's sexual risk-taking are both surprising and inevitable. These men are dealing with issues of ageism, loss and lack of visibility in a changing gay community. / Although there are different age-related arguments for abandoning safer sex strategies, this study helps to explain why there is a definite shift in risk-taking behavior underway as we enter the third decade of HIV/AIDS. It suggests new challenges and approaches for AIDS service organizations to deal with a substantive change in gay men's sexual behaviour.

Studies showed that prior outcomes do influence current decisions while we are interested in how prior performance affects individual investors’ risk taking behavior. Tracking 2,947 individual investors’ transaction in Taiwan Top50 Tracker Fund from June 2003 till December 2006, our empirical results indicate both the former risk taking and prior profits have significant influences on individual investors’ later risk taking behavior. We find a positive relation between later risk taking and prior gains but a negative relation between later risk taking and prior losses. Furthermore, according to the amount of prior gains and losses, we find those who experience large sum of gains or losses take far higher risks than those who have modest prior gains or losses.

Asthma affects over 2.2 million people in Australia. Asthma morbidity is increasing while mortality is decreasing. People with asthma experience shortness of breath as their airways narrow and become inflamed. After an episode of acute asthma many patients experience a relapse requiring further emergency department care. Numerous studies have been undertaken to identify the determinants of asthma morbidity and these studies have primarily used asthma oriented and co-morbidity scales such as anxiety and depression indices. Other studies in this area have indicated psychosocial factors such as coping, asthma attitudes and beliefs that may be linked to people with asthma who are non-compliant or adherent to treatment. Currently, there is no research available that has examined the link between general health promoting behaviours, an individual’s risk behaviour assessment and a brief asthma education encounter that is patient-centred. This study provides a description of the health promoting and risk taking behaviours of people who attend the emergency department with acute asthma. Secondly, it examines the effectiveness of patient-centred education compared with standard education. One hundred and forty-six people with acute asthma who attended the emergency departments of the Princess Alexandra and Mater Adult Public Hospitals were enrolled in this study. Participants self-reported health promoting and risk taking behaviours by completing the questionnaire that contained the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLPII) and the Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) instruments. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was also incorporated into the questionnaire to ascertain levels of anxiety and depression in this acute asthma group of people. The asthma education curriculum had the same topics for both the standard education and the patient-centred groups. However, the patient-centred group were able to prioritise the order of the topics according to their identified need. Secondly, the patient-centred group were asked two questions to ascertain the most important issue and asthma issue for them at that point in time. Both groups of participants were educated using the Asthma Foundation Leaflet “Asthma - Basic Facts” during the individual education session. There were 56% females and 44% males with a mean age (+SD) of 34 (13.8) years with 70.3% reported year 12 or above education and 49% of participants earned less that $20,000. Nearly half of the participants were admitted to a hospital ward following emergency department assessment and care. A large proportion of the participants had either moderate or severe asthma. The health behaviour findings from this study suggest people with acute asthma follow preventive health recommendations and safety guidelines more so than the wider community. However, they did not self-initiate home based health actions such as breast self-examination. At the time of attendance to the emergency department with acute asthma there were no statistical difference between the patient-centred education and standard format education groups for age, gender, education, income, asthma control and previous emergency department attendances. The patient-centred education group had fewer re-attendances in the four months after the education intervention when compared with prior emergency department attendances than the control group (p=0.057; p=0.486). In conclusion, people with acute asthma report undertaking a number of preventive health behaviours and actions according to national guidelines and safety recommendations. They report a lack of self-initiated home based health behaviours. Further research is required to investigate the impact on the National Asthma Council’s recommendations of the importance of asthma action plans on people who follow preventive health guidelines and who lack self-initiative abilities. In terms of asthma education, patient-centred education when compared to standard format education may be useful in reducing further emergency department attendances for acute asthma. More research is required to identify other key education issues for people with acute asthma.

This thesis explores some of the social factors that may affect individuals as they age. A lifespan developmental perspective is employed in investigating the effects of societal aging stereotypes on will-to-live and risk-taking skills. Results suggest negative aging stereotypes may have deleterious effects on the elderly, but not young individuals in terms of will-to-live, but have no effect on risk-taking abilities. Furthermore, a cross-cultural analysis of Americans and Japanese reveals robust differences in self-concept between countries, which in turn partially mediate the effects of culture and age on control strategies. It appears culture and age may play important roles in determining individuals’ self-concept, motivation, and regulation of behavior. The first part of Study 1 examined whether stereotypes of aging contribute to decisions the elderly make about when to die. Elderly and young participants (n = 64) were subliminally primed with either negative or positive stereotypes of old age using a computer, and then responded to hypothetical medical situations involving potentially fatal illnesses. Consistent with my prediction, the aged participants primed with negative stereotypes tended to refuse life-prolonging interventions, whereas those primed with positive age stereotypes tended to accept the interventions. This priming effect did not emerge among the young participants for whom the stereotypes were less relevant. The results suggest that sociallytransmitted negative stereotypes of aging can weaken elderly will-to-live, or at the very least, willingness to pursue medical intervention. The second part of Study 1 examined whether the older adults demonstrate similar risk-taking skills to the younger adults, and whether this ability is preserved, even after exposure to age stereotypes. Sixteen young and 16 older participants were tested on a risk-taking decision task following exposure to subliminal aging stereotypes. In all conditions, both the old and young participants systematically and equivalently increased their willingness to take risks as risk level decreased. Furthermore, response times were an inverted U shape curve with slower response times recorded at the medium risk level and faster times as risk levels shifted up or down. The findings suggest the ability to make decisions based on risk level is maintained into old age. Study 2 investigated results reported by a number of studies finding that primary control remains stable in old age, is lower in Asian countries, and that secondary control increases in old age and is higher in Asian countries. I examined whether these patterns may be due to the mediating influence of an interdependent self-concept. In a sample of 557 young and older adults in Japan and the United States, primary and secondary control, age, and interdependence were studied. I found that interdependence partially mediated the influence of culture on secondary control and interdependence partially mediated the influence of age on both primary and secondary control. Findings suggest that interdependence is an important factor that should be considered in trying to understand the determinants of control crossculturally and developmentally.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Feb. 29, 2008). Directed by Cheryl Buehler; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-127).

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-56).