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Although the overall crime rate dropped between 1993 and 2000, both adolescent violence and violent crime in rural areas has been on the rise. However, little research has been conducted on the determinants of rural violence using targeted regional samples of rural youth. This study examines the applicability of lifestyle/routine activities (RA) theory to a large sample of rural adolescents from Alabama. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that: (1) social guardianship reduces the risk of assault and robbery victimization; (2) blacks are less likely to be assault and robbery victims; and (3) males are less likely to be robbery victims. Social isolation at the individual level is also a strong risk factor for both robbery and assault victimization. The theoretical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

PURPOSE: This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a 2-day conference designed to examine the factors related to the participation of African Americans in cancer clinical trials. METHODS: Pre-conference formative evaluations (e.g., focus group discussions and key informant interviews with community leaders and health providers) were conducted in several rural and urban counties in the state of Alabama to determine African Americans' perceptions of participation in clinical research. The findings from these evaluations were used to develop a conference format and agenda. The 2-day conference included: (i) a pretest of African Americans' perceptions of cancer research, participation factors, and communication and recruitment issues; (ii) individual presentations highlighting community leaders, church leaders, and researchers' perspectives regarding minority participation in research; (iii) working group discussions regarding the barriers and solutions to minority participation in research; and (iv) a posttest evaluation to measure changes in African Americans' perceptions of research. RESULTS: Several recruitment barriers and solutions were identified and reported by the working groups. Comparisons of the pretest and posttest measures showed significant (p > .05) and favorable shifts in the areas of perceptions of cancer research, participation factors, communication issues, and recruitment issues. Participation in the conference reflected a positive change in attitudes on these measures. However, the theme, “barriers that contributed to nonparticipation,” did not show any significant changes during the two testing periods. The most critical lesson that resulted from this conference was the need for researchers and community members to have open dialogue about participation in research. CONCLUSIONS: This conference demonstrated that progress can be made when all parties are at the “table” and can be heard. In this model, community members proved to be valuable resources in providing researchers with information that was vital to the success of recruitment and retention studies and trials.

The present study examined mood states of aerobic exercisers before and after completing a 15-wk. program. The subjects (ages 18 to 36 yr.) were 86 women enrolled in activity classes at a large state school in the southeast. Subjects were initially classified according to previous exercise habits. Analysis indicated both groups of frequent and infrequent exercisers were similar in mood states. Participation in regular exercise did not significantly change or enhance the mood states from pre-treatment measures. Pretest measures of mood states provided poor prediction of posttest measures, indicating extreme variability in subjects' scores.