Journal of Printing Prevention, 7(2), Winter 1986

Primary Prevention Program Clearinghouse Prevention Issue: Journal of Pediatric Psychology PATTI SUNDERLAND

Psychology Department--Dewey Hall University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 The Clearinghouse has been redesigned so that whenever possible abstracts are focused on one theme rather than on an assortment of topics. In this Clearinghouse we are pleased to provide the authors' abstracts of articles published in the Journal ofPediatric Psychology special issue on Health Promotion and Problem Prevention in Pediatric Psychology (Vol. 11, No. 2). The articles demonstrate general and specific approaches to health promotion and prevention of injury, death, and disease in children. In addition, we have included a list of the books reviewed in the special issue. Addresses for requesting individual reprints are provided with each abstract. Alternatively you can order the entire special issue from Plenum Press, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013.

Articles Health Promotion and Problem Prevention in Pediatric Psychology: A n Overview (Roberts, M.C.) This p a p e r provides a n overview to the special issue on h e a l t h prom o t i o n a n d p r o b l e m p r e v e n t i o n in pediatric psychology. K e y t e r m s are defined a n d critical concepts outlined for topics of active v e r s u s passive i n t e r v e n t i o n , i n d i v i d u a l v e r s u s p o p u l a t i o n approaches, d e v e l o p m e n t a l perspectives, p r e v e n t i v e medicine, and m o t i v a t i n g b e h a v i o r change. I n f o r m a t i o n resources are noted. (Reprints: M.C. Roberts, Dept. of Psych., Box 2968, Univ. of A l a b a m a , U n i v e r s i t y , A L 35486.)

Prev'ention of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse." An Elementary School Program (Dielman, T.E., Shope, J.T., B u t c h a r t , A.L., & C a m p a n e l l i , P.C.) 108

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An alcohol misuse prevention study (AMPS) program was developed, implemented, and evaluated in 213 fifth and sixth grade classrooms in six school districts (N = 5,635 students). The AMPS program consisted of four sessions which focused on the immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. Social skills to resist peer pressure to misuse alcohol were emphasized. Schools were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups with half of each group pretested and all posttested. Measures focused on awareness of curriculum content, alcohol use, and alcohol misuse. As hypothesized, a significant t r e a t m e n t by occasion interaction effect was found with respect to the curriculum. The t r e a t m e n t subjects were significantly higher t h a n the controls on mean curriculum scores. Also as hypothesized, there were no treatment by occasion interactions at the first posttest occasion on alcohol use and misuse due to the low prevalence in both groups at both occasions. The significant t r e a t m e n t by occasion interaction effects with respect to alcohol use and misuse are expected to appear at later posttest occasions as use and misuse of alcohol among control group students increase at greater rates t h a n among the t r e a t m e n t groups students. (Reprints: T.E. Dielman, Dept. of Postgrad. Med., G1210 Towsley, Univ. of Michigan Med. Sch., Ann Arbor, MI 48109.)

Adverse Drug Experiences and Drug Use Behaviors: A One-Year Longitudinal Study of Adolescents. (Huba, G. J., Newcomb, M. D., & Bentler, P. M.) Adverse or negative consequences of drug use are frequently emphasized in drug prevention programs for adolescents. However, it has not been established whether the experience of such negative effects actually reduces the use of various drug substances. In this study, data from a large group of adolescents are used in three interrelated series of analyses regarding the nature of acute adverse reactions to drug use. In the first analysis, the interrelationships of acute adverse reactions to alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens, and PCP were examined. There is a non-stepwise progression in the lifetime experience ofnegarive drug reactions, suggesting t h a t acute adverse reactions to marij u a n a are not a necessary precondition to having such experiences with hard drugs. Second, drug use patterns and the presence of acute adverse drug reactions over a period of one year were studied. Although there were strong within-occasion relationships, there was little evidence for across-time effects of a presumably causal nature. In a third analysis, acute adverse reactions were not linked to feelings of

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psychological distress, although high distress was a precursor to later drug use. Implications for drug abuse prevention programs are discussed. (Reprints: G. J. Huba, Western Psychological Services, 12031 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.)

Developing Anticipatory Guidance Programs Based on Early Assessment of Infant Temperament: Two Tests of a Prevention Model (Cameron, J.R. & Rice, D.C.) The effectiveness of temperament-based anticipatory guidance for parents of infants aged 4-12 months was tested in two clinical situations. The model consisted of the Carey-McDevitt Infant Temperament Questionnaire provided to parents at 4 months of infant age, a selection of written guidance tailored to the child's temperament, and subsequent questionnaire follow-up at 8 or 12 months of age. Comparison of the 4-month temperament questionnaire results to the follow-up measures indicated that the Carey ITQ had significant discriminant predictability; infants with different temperament patterns at 4 months had different patterns of issue and problem occurrence during the time period covered. In addition, the anticipatory guidance program showed significant degrees of differential utility; parents of infants with more reported problems, or who received more accurate anticipatory guidance, rated the guidance materials as generally more useful. The results indicate that further enhancements and testing of this temperament-based anticipatory guidance model, with more objective outcome measures, are warranted. (Reprints: J.R. Cameron, The Preventive Ounce, 354 63rd Str., Oakland, CA 94618.) Injuries Among Toddlers: Contributions from Child, Mother, and Family (Matheny, A.P.) Mothers' reports of injuries among 115 toddlers followed longitudinally from 1 to 3 years were used to designate one group (N = 32) as having higher injury liability and one group (N = 84) as having lower injury liability. The self-reported temperament of the mothers, directly appraised aspects of the toddlers' homes, and directly observed characteristics of the toddlers were correlated with injury liability. Higher injury liability was signified by features from all three sources: The mothers tended to be less educated and depicted themselves as more emotionally overwhelmed and less energetic; the homes tended to be less optimal for child development, of lower socioeconomic status, and marked by higher levels of noise and disorder; and the toddlers, who were likely to be males, were observed to be less tractable and

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manageable. Regression analyses indicated that a combination of characteristics of the mother and home provided a moderately strong multiple R with toddler's injury liability, and the toddler's characteristics made no additional significant contributions. The results are interpreted as indicating that the injury liability of toddlers can be better established by considering foremost those social and environmental conditions extrinsic to the child. However, that same emphasis m a y not apply to older children and adolescents. It is suggested that pediatric psychologists take a developmental perspective when evaluating factors pertaining to children's injuries. (Reprints: A. Matheny, Dept of Pediatrics, Univ. of Louisville Sch. of Med., Louisville, KY 40292.)

Educating Children A bout Sexual Abuse: Implications for Pediatric Intervention and Possible Prevention (Saslawsky, D.A. & Wurtele, S.K.) This study evaluated the effectiveness of a commercially produced film, "Touch" (Illusion Theater Co. & Media Ventures, Inc., 1984), designed to teach children self-protection skills in an effort to prevent sexual abuse. Sixty-seven children from four grades (K, 1, 5, 6) were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group. Measures included a paper-pencil questionnaire to assess children's knowledge about sexual abuse, and individual interviews designed to elicit selfreport of verbal and behavioral responses to potentially abusive encounters. No support for a sensitizing effect of pretesting was found. Children who viewed the film demonstrated significantly greater knowledge about sexual abuse and enhanced personal safety skills when compared to controls, and older children achieved higher scores on both assessments compared to younger children. These gains were maintained at the three-month follow-up assessment. (Reprints: D.A. Saslawsky, Dept. of Psych., Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131.) The Acquisition and Maintenance of Fire Emergency Skills: Effects of Rationale and Behavioral Practice (Hillman, H.S., Jones, R.T., & Farmer, L.) Within the context of a behavioral training strategy the relative effectiveness of two training procedures (rationale vs. no-rationale) was assessed in the development and maintenance of fire emergency skills. Additionally, the impact of behavioral practice vs. verbal practice across each type of rationale was examined. A total of sixty 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treat-

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merit groups. The four groups were rationale/behavioral practice, rationale/verbal practice, no-rationale/behavioral practice, and norationale/verbal practice. Within this 2 x 2 factorial design all subjects were taught to respond correctly in three simulated fire emergency situations. Subjects' behavioral performance was assessed prior to and immediately after training and at 2-week, l-month, 2-month, and 3-month intervals. Significant gains in desired performance from pretest to posttest were found for all four groups. During follow-up, subjects in the rationale groups performed significantly better than did subjects in the no-rationale groups. Although no main effects were found for the verbal vs behavioral conditions, a t test revealed that subjects exposed to behavioral practice performed better than did subjects exposed to verbal practice. The results are discussed with regard to the potential roles of rationale in producing persistence of responding. (Reprints: R.T. Jones, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Dept. of Psych., Blacksburg,VA 24061.)

Mom or Dad Says I Shouldn't: Supervised and Unsupervised Children's Knowledge of Their Parents" R ules for Home Safety (Peterson, L., Mori, L., & Scissors, C.) Parents and their 8 to 10-year-old children completed matched questionnaires which inquired about what at-home problems were important and worrisome, asked about what rules parents had generated concerning potential problem situations, and suggested several rules which parents and children might or might not adhere to, asking for acceptance or rejection of these rules. The parents' responses to a written questionnaire showed that the parents rated emergency situations, encounters with strangers, play location, etc., as presenting important and worrisome problems, that they had formulated multiple rules concerning their children's behavior in these situations, and that they believed their children were aware of these rules. However, the children's oral responses to the questionnaire clearly indicated that children who were left unsupervised once, two to three times, or more than four times a week, as well as children who were never left alone, were largely unaware of their parents' rules. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for child accident prevention, child health, and child home security. (Reprints: L. Peterson, Psych. Dept., 210 McAlester Hall, Univ. of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MD, 65211.)

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Books Reviewed Child Health Behavior: A Behavioral Pediatrics Perspective (Krasnegor, Arasteh, & Cataldo) Health, Illness and Families (Turk & Kerns) Health Psychology (Zeiner, Bendell, & Walker) Health Promotion in the Schools (Zins et al.) Helping Children Cope with Stress (Brenner) Infant Intervention Program (Frank) Injuries (Robertson) The Injury Fact Book (Baker, O'Neill, & Karpf) Innovations in Prevention (Hess & Hermalin) Marketing Health Behavior: Principles, Techniques, and Applications (Fredericksen, Solomon, & Brehony) Strategies for Needs Assessment in Prevention (Zautra, Bachrach, & Hess) Pediatric Clinics of North America: Injuries and Injury Prevention Prevention in Health Psychology (Rosen & Solomon) Prevention of Problems in Childhood (Roberts & Peterson) Behavioral Health (Matarazzo et al.) Future Clearinghouses The Clearinghouse welcomes all copies of published and unpublished prevention materials. For a future issue on international approaches to prevention, we are especially interested in collecting papers on prevention topics or programs in countries other than the U.S. If you would like to submit a copy of a p a p e r - - p u b l i s h e d or unpublished - - s e n d one copy together with a signed copy of this statement: "I am the author of the paper entitled _ _ and hereby grant VCPP Inc. permission to reproduce this document and to make it available on request for a charge to be determined by them. I further grant permission for them to publish the document title, author's name(s), and an abstract of its contents in The Journal of Prevention." If the right to grant permission to reproduce the material is held by someone other than the author, please provide the appropriate name and address. (This is usually the journal editor in the case of published material.) A very brief abstract (less than 50 words) should be provided with each item submitted. For write-ups of prevention programs, the first sentence should include an indication of the population served by, and the purpose of, the program. The Clearinghouse will publish the ab-

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stracts and make copies of the papers available on request for a nominal fee to cover copying costs. Send all materials to the Clearinghouse address listed at the beginning of this section. Copies of previous Clearinghouse abstracts are also available without cost from the same address.

A n n o u n c e m e n t of a Special Issue of the J o u r n a l of P r i m a r y P r e v e n t i o n Primary Prevention and Women: Effective Solutions for Persistent Concerns The Fall 1987 issue of the Journal of Primary Prevention will focus on the unique concerns women face in contemporary American society, problems as basic as unwanted teenage pregnancy, status-related stress and depression, and the feminization of poverty. But this special issue will also address the potentials and strengths of women, such as their sensitivity and concern for h u m a n beings, h u m a n rights, and human survival; their creative potential; and their new-found power in support groups for all ages. Manuscripts on these and other topics are solicited that present effective solutions to the persistent problems and potentials of women. All types of papers will be considered, but empirical studies of wellconceptualized projects are particularly encourage d . All submissions should be prepared to the 1983 APA Style Manual specifications and should be between 12 and 15 pages in length. Editors for this special issue are Sheila Akabas (Columbia University), Martin Bloom (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Kristine Siefert (University of Michigan). Manuscripts in triplicate should be sent to: Martin Bloom School of Social Work Box 2027 Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Va. 23284-0001