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This preliminary study examined the feasibility of using home videotape vignettes in the process of diagnosing young children's behavioral problems. It assessed whether recurrent symptomatic behaviors would appear spontaneously on home videotape. Twenty-eight mental health providers-in-training competed symptom checklists after viewing tapes of two children without diagnoses and two children already diagnosed with mild attachment disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Evaluators were able to detect a behavior difference between the diagnosed and undiagnosed children on the attachment scale, the hyperactivity and oppositional behavior scale, and the attention and social skills scale. Across diagnosis groups, male children were perceived as showing more hyperactive and oppositional symptoms than females. (DB)

Seventy-two nonsmoker and four smoker college faculty/staff members and 160 nonsmoker and 52 smoker college students from a small liberal arts college in a suburban area in the Northeast United States completed a 15-item survey concerning views of smoking. Participants were asked to rate "when you watch someone else smoke, how do they appear?" on the following dimensions: inadequate, relaxed, anxious, physically fit, alert, energized, jittery, confident, inconsiderate, attractive, sophisticated, secure, immature, content, and intelligent. Significant generation main effects were found on 10 of the 15 characteristic dimensions. On all of these variables, faculty/staff perceptions were more critical than student perceptions. Significant smoking history main effects were found on several variables. Ratings of perceived alertness, confidence, and physical fitness revealed former smokers to be more critical of smokers than those who had never smoked. In contrast, former smokers were less critical when evaluating the dimensions of anxiety, adequacy, jitteriness, and consideration of smokers. Significant generation by smoking status interactions were observed on three variables. On ratings of smokers' alertness and physical fitness, the faculty who had never smoked were more critical than their former smoking peers, whereas the most critical of all groups were those students who had quit smoking. This pattern was reversed for perceptions of smokers' maturity, for which former smoker faculty and those students who had never smoked were more critical than their respective peers. (Contains 4 tables and 19 references.) (MKA)

Several personal and social factors thought to influence college students' smoking were investigated by surveying a sample of college students who smoke (n=56) and do not smoke (n=160). Personal motivating factors examined were relaxation effects, image effects, competence effects, and stimulant effects. These personal reasons for smoking were indirectly assessed by measuring subjective feeling states that accompany smoking behavior. It was assumed that many of these states were desirable and that they played a role in shaping the smoker's motivation to use tobacco. The social factors investigated in this study were family income and parental smoking status. Results show that relaxation effects were rated more highly than image effects; image effects were higher than competence effects; and competence effects were higher than ratings of stimulant effects. Smokers reported almost never feeling intelligent while smoking, yet reported that they quite frequently felt adequate during the process. No gender differences were found. Correlation was found between family income and student smoking status. In high-income families, 61.5% of fathers and 81.5% of mothers were nonsmokers, meaning that twice as many fathers as mothers were smokers. In low-income families, comparable numbers of mothers and fathers smoked; 66.7% of the fathers and 71.4% of the mothers were nonsmokers. (Contains 6 tables and 47 references.) (MKA)

College faculty/staff members (n=76) and college students (n=212) from a small liberal arts college in a suburban area in the Northeast United States participated in this study. Participants completed a survey consisting of items pertaining to features and determinants of college students' smoking that measured their feeling associated with smoking behavior and perceptions of college-age smokers. Questions regarding smoking history were used to determine the participants' smoking status of never, former, or current. Across these three smoking status groups, no significant group differences were found on ratings of attractiveness, contentment, and sophistication. Attractiveness was rated similarly by all groups; raters generally perceived smokers as unattractive. Likewise, smokers were viewed as generally unsophisticated and all groups perceived smokers as rarely appearing content. Overall ratings indicated that smokers were generally seen as rarely secure, intelligent, physically fit, or energized. On these variables, significant differences emerged among the three smoking status groups. However, although ratings of these characteristics were found to differ significantly across groups, no group gave these favorable characteristics a mean rating of rarely or higher, therefore indicating a pervasive negative view of smokers. On each of these four characteristics, current smokers gave the lowest ratings, which indicates that they hold the most negative views of smokers. Current and former smokers also gave more negative ratings of smokers' perceived confidence and perceived alertness than those who never smoked. In contrast, on the remaining five characteristics, current smokers gave more favorable ratings than did the other two groups. Current smokers perceived smokers as appearing significantly less anxious, less jittery, more mature, more adequate, and more considerate than did the other two smoking groups. (Contains 4 tables and 25 references.) (MKA)

This study utilizes college student volunteers in a three-week smoking cessation program. The volunteers were given two American Cancer Society brochures about smoking cessation, a guide for a comprehensive plan to quit smoking developed by Glaxo Wellcome, the American Lung Association's Quit Smoking Action Plan, a list of common nicotine withdrawal symptoms and coping strategies, and a smoke-intake weekly monitoring chart. Participants also took part in a discussion of information gleaned from a literature review. Smokers were asked to limit their smoking to every four to five hours and meetings were held for follow-up. Despite the limited number of participants, results show significant reductions in smoking. This type of cessation program appears to be very effective in helping college students reduce their smoking or to quit smoking. The small number of students volunteering indicates that there is little desire for college students to quit smoking. (Contains 29 references and 2 tables.) (Author/MKA)

Although there has been a substantial decline in cigarette consumption among the adult population in the United States, use of cigarettes among the adolescent population has continued to grow. Since 1993, a disturbing increase in smoking among college students has been observed. This study attempts to reduce public smoking outside classroom buildings by posting paper signs reading "Think...Why Smoke?", designed to make smokers more conscious of their behavior. A paired sample t-test showed that the mean amount of cigarettes smoked on baseline days was significantly higher than the amount of cigarettes consumed on experimental days. Comparison of the number of whole cigarettes smoked outside the buildings during the baseline and experimental weeks showed a 35% reduction. Factors promoting smoking behavior are also discussed. Future research should examine the effects of longer interventions, assess displacement of smoking more completely, and monitor the long-term impact of these types of interventions on student attitudes and smoking behavior. (Contains 3 tables and 34 references.) (Author/MKA)

This study provides comparative data describing the quality of 1,175 psychological sites currently available on the Internet. A rating scale was used to assess six dimensions of site quality including accuracy, practicality, normalization and sense of belonging, referral, and feedback mechanisms. One-way ANOVA on the six separate quality items and summary scores revealed significant differences in the quality of ratings across the different topic categories. These categories were parenting problems, health problems, common emotional disorders, and severe mental illnesses. Sites addressing the needs of parents and those with health-related concerns received higher ratings; sites targeting the "worried well" and those with personality disorders received the least strong endorsements. Sites addressing the needs of those affected by severe mental illnesses received moderate ratings. The prevalence of commercial motivation affecting sites targeting the worried well appears to have compromised the quality of many of the sites. Overall, the ratings suggest that the average quality of the current sites was not impressive. Appendixes are "The Explosion of Psychological Help on the Net: Electronic Behavioral Healthcare," the original and revised evaluation form used in the study, and evaluation descriptions. (Contains 1 table and 114 references.) (MKA)

An earlier study found it very difficult to attract large numbers of college-age smokers to a traditional counseling center based smoking cessation program, despite repeated efforts at advertising the availability of a free program. This study utilizes the program from the earlier study but tailors it more specifically to the needs of the target college age population. Weekly one-on-one intensive smoking cessation sessions replaced the original three one-hour sessions over a three-week period. Participants (N=13) were monitored through administration of logs which they maintained tracking their smoking behavior, and with regular telephone calls from the staff involved in the treatment program. The researchers also abandoned the group-administered smoking cessation program in favor of home-based individualized treatment methods to afford increased confidentiality and sustain students' motivation. Participants experienced significant reductions in their smoking, both during the scheduled and reduced phases of the treatment. This type of cessation program appears to be a promising way of addressing the needs of young adult and adult smokers, many of whom are reluctant to participate in large, group-format, counseling center-based programs. Discusses implication for future research. (Contains 2 tables and 34 references.) (MKA)