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Alcohol use ranks as one of the most prevalent health-risk behaviors among Taiwanese adolescents. Possible selves—personalized future-oriented cognitions about the self—are significant motivators of one's actions, which may potentially influence adolescent drinking behavior. This study aimed to estimate the content domain-specific possible selves and their associations with drinking behaviors among Taiwanese adolescents. A total of 225 Taiwanese seventh and eighth graders from a public junior high school were recruited. An anonymous self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data during two time-points at six-month intervals. Results showed that having a "physical appearance" related hoped-for possible self and a "friendship" related feared possible self was associated with adolescent alcohol use after six months. Whereas, having the "physical appearance" related hoped-for and feared possible selves were associated with alcohol problems, at both, baseline and six months later. Future studies could clarify the meaning behind "physical appearance" related possible selves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is on the rise among young adults, with higher public acceptance than traditional tobacco. A study in Taiwan employed concept mapping to explore risk and benefit perceptions of e-cigarette use among college students. The study involved 100 college students from 11 Taiwanese universities, with 50 being e-cigarette users and 50 non-users. Data collection and analysis were done with the GroupWisdom™ platform. Participants engaged in brainstorming, rating and sorting their perceptions, which were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses. The participants' mean age was 19.24 years, and 55% were male. This process resulted in the identification of 10 clusters encompassing 64 statements, with 3 clusters focused on risk perceptions, 6 on benefit perceptions, and 1 dealing with e-cigarette regulations. Notably, risk perceptions were rated higher than benefit perceptions. Non-users held significantly higher risk perceptions and lower benefit perceptions across the nine clusters related to e-cigarette use. Concept mapping proved to be an effective tool for understanding college students' perceptions. These findings can assist health educators in comprehending college students' viewpoints on e-cigarette use and in developing targeted interventions. Additionally, exploring benefit perceptions may enhance students' critical thinking skills regarding e-cigarette advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent alcohol use continues to be a critical public health problem with both short- and long-term negative health consequences. Defining oneself in terms of alcohol, a drinking-related identity, has been shown to predict high levels of alcohol use. Because adolescence is the developmental period during which identity development is most salient, preventing the development of the drinker identity and early identification of youth who have a developing drinker identity may be important for prevention and early intervention. Methods: We review the theory- and evidence-based literature about identity development and the effects of a drinker identity on alcohol use behaviors in adolescents, discuss potential determinants of the drinker identity, and discuss future implications for practice and research. Results: There is some evidence that the drinker identity forms in early adolescence and becomes more well-developed during adolescence. The drinker identity predicts alcohol use behaviors both concurrently and over time in adolescence and young adulthood. There is also some evidence that early exposure to alcohol may contribute to formation of the drinker identity. Conclusions: Identity-based approaches may be promising strategies to identify adolescents who are at risk for alcohol use and to intervene with early prevention or treatment within the school setting.

Most people start experimenting with and/or initiating health-compromising behaviors and establishing behavioral patterns during adolescence. Possible selves and episodic future thinking have been used to foster behavioral changes. In this study, we aimed to (1) develop a program incorporating possible selves and episodic future thinking to decrease the risks associated with health-compromising behaviors, and (2) examine the feasibility and fidelity of implementing this intervention among Taiwanese adolescents. A novel combination of existing intervention approaches tailored for the Taiwanese context was applied to develop a school-based intervention, which we named the Future Mapping Master program. This program contains four core units: exploring the self, setting goals, developing strategies and problem solving, and understanding the threats of health-compromising behaviors. It includes daily episodic future thinking visualization exercises. The feasibility evaluation was conducted with 88 adolescents aged 12–14 years. Feedback from teachers and students supported the proposed program's feasibility and revealed favorable reactions to the intervention. The Future Mapping Master program is feasible and offers promising strategies for implementation in Taiwanese school settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unhealthy food advertising is an important contributor to childhood obesity. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of a food advertising literacy program that incorporated components of health-promoting media literacy education on fifth-grade children. Participants were 140 fifth-graders (10 and 11 years old) from one school who were randomly divided into three groups. Experimental Group A received a food advertising literacy program, experimental Group B received a comparable knowledge-based nutrition education program and the control group did not receive any nutrition education. Repeated measures analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance were used to test mean changes between pretest, posttest and follow-up on participants' nutritional knowledge, food advertising literacy and food purchasing behavior. Results showed that, as compared with Group B and the control groups, Group A showed higher nutritional knowledge, food advertising literacy and food purchasing behavior at post-intervention, but had no significant improvements in nutritional knowledge and food purchasing behavior at the 1-month follow-up. Although some improvements were observed, future studies should consider a long-term, settings-based approach that is closely connected with children's daily lives, as this might be helpful to solidify children's skills in recognizing, evaluating and understanding unhealthy food advertising.

We conducted a systematic review of studies focused on the influence of possible selves on health-risk and health-promoting behaviors in adolescents. Fourteen studies were reviewed. Most studies focused on health-risk behaviors, with substance use the most frequently addressed outcome. Drawing firm conclusions based on study findings was hampered by the lack of convergence in possible self properties addressed and inconsistencies in methodology. However, possible self properties that show the most promise are likelihood of achieving a possible self in a target domain and presence of a possible self in a target domain. Findings have important implications for guiding future research on health behaviors in adolescents and indicate that possible selves may be an important target for designing health-promoting and risk-reduction interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is not only associated with one's adverse health outcomes in adulthood but also increases the risk of child developmental problems in offspring. However, the mechanisms involved in the transmission of the effects of maternal ACEs to the offspring largely remain unexplored. This study sought to identify possible psychosocial pathways of intergenerational effects of maternal ACEs on child development at 6 months. Data from a longitudinal study on maternal childhood adversity and maternal psychosocial risk during pregnancy as well as maternal mental health problems and child development at 6 months postnatal were used. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to estimate the indirect effects of maternal ACEs on child development at 6 months. The model showed that maternal ACEs indirectly influenced offspring's development via maternal stressful events during pregnancy and pre- and postnatal mental health problems. This finding highlights the possible interventions at the prenatal and postnatal periods. Early identification of women who have ACEs or who are at psychosocial risk during pre- and postnatal periods is critical to provide interventions to buffer those negative effects on offspring's development. Future studies are needed to longitudinally assess the effects of maternal ACEs on child development over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child hospitalization has a negative impact on both children and parents' psychological well-being. Although prior studies in the general context demonstrated a favorable link between parental psychological distress and child behavior problems, research in the hospital situation was restricted. The purpose of this study was to see if parental psychological distress has an effect on child behavior problems in hospitalized children in Indonesia. This cross-sectional study included 156 parents who were recruited from four pediatric wards using a convenience sampling method between August 17 and December 25, 2020. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 and 6-18 were utilized. Parental anxiety was found to be a significant predictor of increased total behavior issue, internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, anxious/ depressed, somatic complaints, and violent conduct in hospitalized children. Parental depression, on the other hand, was not related with any of the child behavior issue syndrome measures. The findings imply that identifying and treating parent anxiety early on is critical for preventing or reducing child behavior problems during hospitalization.

Recent technological developments in newborn screening (NBS) allow many genetic/metabolic disorders to be detected pre-symptomatically even though they may be untreatable. Thus, current NBS faces ethical, legal, and social challenges. Obtaining parental consent for NBS demonstrates respect for and educates parents. The purpose of this study was to explore current practices in obtaining parental consent to conduct NBS in Taiwan. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to obstetric clinicslhospitals (N=339) and 204 questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 60.2%. Parental consent processes for NBS were divided into three categories-informed consent, informed refusal, and no informedlconsent. Between 66.7-67.6% clinics/hospitals used an "informed consent" model for all NBS items. Although most clinics/hospitals frequently informed parents before screening was conducted, the information given was often incomplete. Moreover, a "no informedl consent" model was used for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and rare geneticlmetabolic disorders in between 22.5% and 25.1% of the clinics/hospitals, respectively. A total of 23.1% of clinics/hospitals chose an "informed refusal" model for the five traditional genetic/metabolic disorders. Using logistic regression analysis, the parental consent process for the five traditional disorders was found to have significant associations with the classification of the hospitals and the contracted NBS center (p < 0.01). Regional hospitals less frequently used the "informed consent" model than local clinics, and the clinics/hospitals that contracted with National Taiwan University Hospital were more likely to follow an "informed consent" model rather than those contracted with Taipei Institute Pathology. Establishing specific guidelines to regulate the parental consent process and educate medical personnel is crucial.