Despite adolescence and emerging adulthood being a time of peak physical ability, it is marked by a dramatic increase in morbidity and mortality, primarily driven by poor behavioral and emotional control (Dahl, 2004). Multiple lines of recent research are now focusing on how maturation of decision-making impacts risk-taking, and more specifically, what role emotion regulation plays (Weinberger et al., 2005; Steinberg, 2007). Rather than avoiding risk factors, a call is made for strength and skills-based approaches to risk-taking interventions. The purpose of the current exploratory study was to assess the efficacy of an experiential learning (EL) intervention designed to increase participants’ emotion regulation skills and decrease risk-taking. Twenty-eight emerging adults participated; 15 were assigned to the experimental group and presented with two separate sessions on emotional regulation and risk-taking using EL methodology (low and high element activities). The control group’s 13 participants were presented with two separate powerpoint lectures on emotion regulation and risk-taking. Participants’ difficulty with emotion regulation and risk-taking were assessed prior to the first session, between sessions, and one week following the second session. Qualitative interviews assessed participants’ understanding of how emotions and risk-taking are connected and process measures assessed the emotional impact of the intervention activities. While hypotheses were not confirmed, results revealed a significant decline in difficulty with emotion regulation across time for all participants. Unexpectedly, however, there were no significant differences between the groups on emotional regulation and the group x time interaction was also not significant. Additionally, risk-taking significantly increased across time. The control group reported more risk-taking across the three time periods than the experimental group. The time x group interaction approached significance [F(2,56) =2.68, p =.07], showing consistent increases for the control group but relatively low levels for the experimental group. Qualitative data revealed that participants had clear notions of how emotions drive risk-taking, how the thrill of risk- taking can be used to displace negative feelings, and how one’s need to connect to others can lead to risk-taking. Experimental group participants demonstrated a shift from global thinking about emotions and risk-taking to more specific thoughts about emotional awareness as a key skill. / text

Background: Adolescent risk behaviors are important public health problems worldwide. They can lead to significant mortalities and morbidities. Common and important adolescent risk behaviors include tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, drug abuse, dating, sexual activity, suicide, participation in fighting and gambling. Various factors were studied on the association with youth risk behaviors. Families, schools and communities play important roles. Having meals with families have been shown to be associated with less risk behaviors in youths in other studies. However, there is no study on the association between family dinner and youth risk behaviors in Hong Kong. Objectives: The objectives of the current study are to test for any association between the frequency of family dinner and youth risk behaviors and to raise the public awareness of the importance of youth risk behaviors and the associated factors. Methods: The data in the current study was extracted from the Child Health Survey (CHS) conducted in 2005/2006. The CHS was commissioned by the Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch Centre for Health Protection under Department of Health. Children in the age group of 11 to 14 years old were included in this study. In CHS, self-administered questionnaires including Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) which were validated were completed by the parent. For children of 11 to 14 years of age, except those who were mentally handicapped, data on quality of life, psychological assessment and risk behaviors were collected through a separate face-to-face interview and a self- administered questionnaire in Chinese. The association between number of family dinners per week and youth problems including smoking, alcohol drinking, drug abuse, dating, sexual experience, suicidal ideation, participation in fighting and gambling were tested using univariate analysis. Risk behaviors found to be significantly associated with frequency of family dinner were further tested by adjustment of possible confounders using logistic regression. Results: Family dinner of 3 times or more per week was associated with less alcohol drinking, dating and participation in fighting. Alcohol drinking, sexual experience and peer smoking were significantly associated with youth smoking. Youth alcohol drinking was found to be associated with smoking, dating, gambling and externalization problem. Smoking and alcohol drinking were significantly associated with dating. Alcohol drinking, drug abuse, participation in fighting, anxiety and depression problem were associated with suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation, gambling, anxiety and depression problem, and externalization problem were significantly associated with participation in fighting. Factors associated with youth gambling included alcohol drinking, suicidal ideation and participation in fighting. Conclusion: Family dinner is likely to be a protective factor against certain youth risk behaviors, including alcohol drinking, youth dating and participation in fighting. It should be promoted to all families in Hong Kong. Youth risk behaviors were inter-related. Detection of one youth risk problem should prompt the detection of other risk problems. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Individual variation and limited plasticity in behavior are factors that have been shown to shape populations and determine how well individuals are doing in different stages of life. When salmon transform from parr to smolt and start the migration out to sea many factors together make an individual successful. The hypothesis of this study was that the boldness of individual smolt (1 and 2 year olds) is correlated to their inclination to migrate downstream. The study also investigated difference in boldness and migration tendency between 1- and two year old smolt. Today, some hatcheries release smolt as both one and two year old and it is important to know whether there is any difference in behavior and migration intensity between age classes in order to make stocking programs more effective. To determine if the individuals differed in boldness, and/or displayed a bold behavioral type, two assays were performed in different contexts (novel environment and simulated predatory attack). Downstream migratory intensity was, after behavior assays, quantified in an artificial stream. I found that: i) the one year old smolts tended to be bolder in a predatory response assay than two year old smolt, ii) one year old smolts migrated less in the artificial stream compared to two year old smolt. Being bolder can have an effect on several aspects connected to fitness in the salmon life cycle and could affect the survival of a smolt migrating out to sea, even though no correlations to inclination to downstream migration were found in this study.

Adolescence is a time associated with increased risk taking and peer relations. Research has shown that adolescents are more vulnerable to peer pressure compared to adults, leading to exacerbated risk taking. Preclinical research suggests that these findings may also be applicable to adolescent rodents, which find social interaction rewarding and are prone to risky behavior. There is, however, little research on the effect of social interaction on rodent models of risky decision-making. This thesis utilized social chambers, which consisted of adjacent operant chambers separated by wire mesh. Adolescent rats performed a risky decision-making task in which they had a choice between a small and large reward (associated with a mild footshock, which increased in probability across the session). Experiment 1 determined if the presence of peer altered performance on the task after stability. Experiment 2 determined if the presence of a peer altered performance on the task during acquisition. Results of Experiment 1 revealed no significant changes. Results from Experiment 2 revealed a significant increase in preference for the risky reward in the group of rats that had daily exposure to a social peer. These results provide evidence that social influence on risk taking can be modeled in rodents.

Using a novel setting, I examine the relation between a CEO's career concerns and the provision of an annual earnings forecast. Specifically, I exploit staggered changes in non-compete enforcement laws in three U.S. states as a source of exogenous variation in a CEO’s career concerns. Consistent with theory suggesting that career concerns increase a manager's aversion to risk, I find that a CEO is less likely to issue an earnings forecast in periods of stricter non-compete enforcement. Further, cross-sectional analyses indicate that the lower probability of forecast issuance is more pronounced for a CEO who has greater concern for his reputation, faces more risk in forecasting, and is more vulnerable to dismissal.

No description available.

Over 50 years of research on prejudice has identified dozens of strategies that effectively reduce stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. However, very few studies have examined if any of these strategies reduce bias when used directly by a stigmatized target. A few studies show that when stigmatized targets attempt to reduce bias by blatantly confronting people, or by presenting counter-stereotypic attributes, outgroup perceivers are threatened and motivated to retaliate against the target (Czopp & Montieth, 2003; Rudman & Glick, 2001). The Target Empowerment Model (or TEM) provides a framework for addressing these problems. The TEM proposes that targets can blatantly challenge bias in others if they first use strategies that diffuse perceptions of threat, like asking self-affirming questions (Stone et al., 2010). Using a social networking paradigm, three experiments tested the effects of asking self-affirming questions, confronting through perspective taking, and the combination of these strategies, on the biases expressed toward an Arab American target individual. Experiment 1 showed that when an Arab American target challenged perceivers by asking them to take their perspective, highly prejudiced participants showed increased dislike and distancing relative to a neutral question control condition. Experiment 2 showed that as predicted by the TEM, distancing in high prejudiced individuals was significantly reduced if the target first asked questions designed to affirm the perceiver's sense of fairness prior to insisting on perspective taking. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when the target affirmed prejudiced perceivers on values related to creativity prior to implementing a perspective taking strategy, perceivers showed less dislike and distancing compared to using either affirmation or perspective-taking strategies alone. In addition, reductions in the negative emotions directed at the target partially mediated the relationship between the use of different TEM strategies and distancing from the target. Taken together, these studies support the TEM predictions that stigmatized targets can effectively challenge prejudiced perceivers to reduce their biases if they first use a subtle bias reduction strategy that reduces perceptions of threat.

The three reported studies examine the possible etiology of gambling behavior and its correlates in adolescents with respect to motivational factors, predisposing factors as assessed by personality, depression and risk-taking traits, and by testing Jacobs' (1986) General Theory of Addictions which specifies a path toward the development of an addiction. Furthermore, the validity of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) (Arnett, 1994) as a sensitive measure for assessing risk-taking in adolescent gamblers is assessed. Findings offer support for the premise of an addictive personality with problem and pathological gamblers differing from the norm on several personality dimensions including Excitability, Conformity, Self-Discipline, and Cheerfulness as assessed by the High School Personality Questionnaire. Furthermore, this group of adolescent problem gamblers was characterized by depression, high risk-taking, and tendencies toward dissociation. Support for Jacobs' General Theory of Addictions was ascertained, and the AISS was found to be a useful instrument for evaluating risk-taking among adolescents as it pertains to gambling behavior.

No description available.

Positive and negative outcome expectancies have been found to play a significant role in adolescents' decisions to engage in drug and alcohol use. In light of the parallel risk and protective factors among high-risk behaviors, youth gambling outcome expectancies were explored through the development of the 23-item Gambling Expectancy Questionnaire (GEQ) using a sample of 1,013 students aged 12-18. The final GEQ consists of three positive expectancy scales (i.e., Enjoyment/Arousal, Self-Enhancement, Money) and two negative expectancy scales (i.e., Over-Involvement, Emotional Impact). Significant gender, age and DSM-IV-MR-J gambling group differences were identified on the scales of the GEQ. Stepwise logistic regression among gamblers was performed separately for males and females to predict group membership into either social or problem gambling categories. The results of this study suggest that non-gamblers, social gamblers, at-risk gamblers and PPGs differ in their expectancies of the positive and negative outcomes of gambling behavior. In particular, PPGs highly anticipate both the positive and negative outcomes of gambling. Among males, these perceptions differentiate those who gamble excessively and those who do not. For females, on the other hand, outcome expectancies may have less predictive value. These findings were interpreted in terms of their implications for prevention, treatment and future research.