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BackgroundPolicies protecting children from exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) may help prevent SHS-related negative health outcomes in children and discourage them from intending to smoke in the future. In this study, we assess the impact of California's 2007 smoke-free vehicle law on changes in middle and high school students' reported exposure to smoking in cars. Secondary aims included assessing the association of student-reported exposure to smoking in vehicles and lifetime asthma diagnosis and future intentions to smoke.MethodsPopulation-weighted data from the California Student Tobacco Survey and the National Youth Tobacco Survey were used to evaluate California and national trends, respectively. Weighted logistic regression models using California Student Tobacco Survey 2011 data assessed the association between the number of days of exposure to smoking in cars and student-reported lifetime asthma diagnosis as well as intention to smoke in the future.ResultsThe proportion of California students reporting exposure to smoking in cars in the last 7 days declined

Introduction: Climate change poses one of the most pervasive threats to the planet today. Intervention is required to promote pro-environmental behaviors among individuals to curb its effects. Borrowing several constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior, we designed and evaluated a campaign, delivered primarily through Instagram, to shift sustainability-related cognitions and behaviors among university students. Methods: An online survey was distributed to undergraduate students at a Northern California university and collected responses from 1,552 participants. Results: Comparing students who self-reported exposure to the campaign with those who were not exposed, students who observed the campaign materials had more knowledge about (p < .001), greater perceived social norms about (p < .001), and greater intentions to perform sustainable behaviors (p < .001). There were also increases in sustainable behaviors during the campaign, compared to the previous academic term. Discussion: Implementing campaigns inspired by behavior change theories may be one viable strategy to increase individual sustainable behaviors for climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cigarette smokers make multiple attempts to quit before they are successful. Implicit theories of smoking (ITS)-beliefs about whether smoking behavior is something that is changeable (incremental belief) or fixed (entity belief)-may play a role in quitting. Four iterations of the cross-sectional, nationally-representative Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) were used in logistic regression analyses to examine how smokers' ITS relates to (1) attempts to quit in the past 12 months; (2) considering quitting in the next 6 months; and (3) the interaction between ITS and past quit attempts on considering quitting. Greater incremental beliefs were not significantly associated with having tried to quit in the past year ([beta] = .27, p = .055); however, greater incremental beliefs were associated with greater likelihood of considering quitting in the next 6 months ([beta] = .22, p = .04). Past quit attempts did not moderate the association between ITS and considering quitting ([beta] = .59, p = .10). Results suggest that incremental beliefs are associated with increased intentions to quit., Author(s): Chan L. Thai [sup.1] , Elise L. Rice [sup.2] , Jennifer M. Taber [sup.3] , Annette R. Kaufman [sup.4] , William M. P. Klein [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.263156.5, [...]

Death is an inevitable event that marks the end of one's life. Whether it is one's own life or the life of someone else that ends, the loss undoubtedly elicits [...]

Background: Obesity among US children has increased in recent years. Although increased fruit and vegetable consumption has not been directly linked to obesity prevalence, it has been posited that more fruits and vegetables (FV) could reduce the consumption of high-fat, energy-dense foods and may protect against childhood illnesses including asthma and other respiratory diseases. The purpose of this current research was to assess the impact of a large public school district's hybrid approach to nutrition education programming on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to fruit and vegetable consumption. Methods: A total of 12 elementary schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District (9 intervention schools, 3 control schools) were randomly selected to participate in a "hybrid" school-based nutrition education program. Data were collected at baseline (beginning of school year) and postintervention data (end of school year 9 months later). Linear mixed models were developed to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: The intervention resulted in a significant change in teacher influence on students' attitudes toward FV (p less than 0.05) and students' attitudes toward vegetables (p less than 0.01), even after adjusting for gender, grade, and race/ethnicity. Although not statistically significant, there was a slight increase in fruit and vegetable consumption from pretest to posttest for both the intervention and control schools. Conclusion: The hybrid model reflects a more accurate representation of school-based interventions. More research is needed to identify the specific components of this model that are most successful in impacting fruit and vegetable consumption among US children. (Contains 5 tables.)

Grief touches everyone. The experience of death and loss forms one of those things common to all people, no matter our culture, our occupation, our socioeconomic status, our religion, or--in [...]

Implicit theories of smoking refer to people’s beliefs about whether smoking behavior is something that is changeable (incremental belief) or fixed (entity belief). This study examines implicit theories of smoking and its association with smoking behavior in a nationally representative sample of US adults using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey. The current results show that implicit theories of smoking are associated with smoking. Among former smokers, 90 percent endorsed an incremental belief about smoking compared to 70 percent of current smokers. Our study provides initial evidence for the role of implicit theories of smoking as a psychological factor associated with smoking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]