The Relationship between Recent Stressful Life Events,Personality Traits,Perceived Family Functioning and Internet Addiction among College Students

Internet addiction (IA) is an emerging social and mental health issue among youths. Analysis of risk factors, as well as their interactions, is crucial for understanding the development of IA. This study investigated the relationship between recent stressful life events, personality traits, perceived family functioning and IA in 892 college students. Subjects were classified into categories (non‐addicted, mild IA or severe IA) using the Chen Internet Addiction Scale. Stressful life events, personality traits and family functioning were assessed using the Adolescent Self‐Rating Life Events Checklist, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale, respectively. The results indicated that compared with non‐addicted subjects, subjects with severe IA (9.98%) had lower family functioning, lower extraversion, higher neuroticism and psychoticism, and more stressful life events, and subjects with mild IA (11.21%) had higher neuroticism and more health and adaptation problems. Neuroticism and health and adaptation problems were potential predictors of IA. An interaction effect between psychoticism and total life stress on IA was also found. These findings highlight the role of personality traits and life stress and their interactions in college students' IA. Further research should explore the mechanisms underlying the interaction effect of psychoticism with life stress on IA. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Young adults who smoke cigarettes and marijuana: Analysis of thoughts and behaviors

Introduction

Smoking both cigarettes and marijuana is increasingly common among young adults, yet little is known about use patterns, motivations, or thoughts about abstinence. In a U.S. sample, this study explored young adults' severity of cigarette and marijuana co-use, quit attempts, and thoughts about use.

Methods

Young adults age 18-to-25 who had smoked at least one cigarette in the past 30 days completed an anonymous online survey.

Results

Of 1987 completed surveys, 972 participants reported both past-month cigarette and marijuana use (68% male, 71% Caucasian, mean age 20.4 years [SD = 2.0]). Frequency of use, temptations to use, measures of dependence, decisional balance, and past-year quit attempts were associated across the two substances (all p < .05), but not motivation to quit. Relative to marijuana, participants reported greater desire and a later stage of change for quitting cigarettes and were more likely to endorse a cigarette abstinence goal, yet they had lower expectancy of success with quitting cigarettes and with staying quit (all p < .001).

Conclusions

Cigarette and marijuana use, temptations to use, and pros/cons of using were related in this young adult sample. Differences in motivation and thoughts about abstinence, however, suggest that young adults may be more receptive to interventions for tobacco than marijuana use. Use patterns and cognitions for both substances should be considered in prevention and intervention efforts.     

Mediators of a successful web-based smokeless tobacco cessation program

Aim To examine self‐efficacy and program exposure as possible mediators observed treatment effects for a web‐based tobacco cessation intervention. Design The ChewFree trial used a two‐arm design to compare tobacco abstinence at both the 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up for participants randomized to either an enhanced intervention condition or a basic information‐only control condition. Setting Internet in US and Canada. Participants Our secondary analyses focused upon 402 participants who visited the web‐based program at least once, whose baseline self‐efficacy rating showed room for improvement, who reported that they were still using tobacco at the 6‐week assessment, and for whom both 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up data were available. Intervention An enhanced web‐based behavioral smokeless tobacco cessation intervention delivered program content using text, interactive activities, testimonial videos and an ask‐an‐expert forum and a peer forum. The basic control condition delivered tobacco cessation content using static text only. Measurements Change in self‐efficacy and program exposure from baseline to 6 weeks were tested as simple and multiple mediators on the effect of treatment condition on point‐prevalence tobacco abstinence measured at 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up. Findings While both participant self‐efficacy and program exposure satisfied the requirements for simple mediation, only self‐efficacy emerged as a mediator when we used the more robust test of multiple mediation. Conclusions Results confirm the importance of self‐efficacy change as a probable underlying mechanism in a successful web‐based behavioral intervention. While program exposure was found to be a simple mediator of tobacco abstinence, it failed to emerge as a mediator when tested with self‐efficacy change in a multiple mediator test suggesting that self‐efficacy and program exposure share a complex, possibly reciprocal relationship with the tobacco abstinence outcome. Our results underscore the utility of searching for mediators in research on web‐based interventions.     

青少年网络使用卷入度与心理动机的关系研究及量表编制

目的 探讨青少年网络使用卷入度的有效测量指标;分析青少年网络使用心理动机的特征及与网络使用卷入度间的关系.方法 结合已有文献和深度访谈编制问卷,对青少年进行调查,对数据进行信度和效度检验、探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析.结果 网络使用卷入度的测量模型与数据拟合符合统计要求(x2=3.58,P =0.311,x2/df=1.192 ＜3,RSMEA =0.014);青少年网络使用心理动机分为情感获取性和信息获取性动机两个维度,均与网络使用卷入度各项指标存在正相关;心理动机和网络使用卷入度的关系模型与数据拟合达到统计学要求(x2=11.32,P=0.333＞0.05,x2/df=1.33 ＜3,RSMEA =0.011),情感获取性动机路径系数(0.875)大于信息获取性动机(0.640).结论 上网广度、上网时长、上网方式多样性、上网地点多样性和网络技能等5项指标对青少年网络使用卷入度具有较好的预测作用;情感获取性动机对网络使用卷入度的影响更大.     

IgG Against Dengue Virus in Healthy Blood Donors,Zanzibar, Tanzania

We conducted a seroprevalence survey among 500 healthy adult donors at Zanzibar National Blood Transfusion Services. Dengue virus IgG seroprevalence was 50.6% and independently associated with age and urban residence. These data will aid in building a surveillance, preparedness, and response plan for dengue virus infections in the Zanzibar Archipelago.Key words: dengue, seroprevalence, Zanzibar, viruses, vector-borne infections     

Discrete Choice Experiment to Estimate Breast Cancer Patients’ Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Prophylactic Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factors

ObjectivesRising out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients have increased shared decision making. Clinical guidelines recommend prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for patients receiving chemotherapy with a 20% or greater risk of febrile neutropenia. A discrete choice experiment was conducted to explore breast cancer patients’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for prophylactic G-CSF to decrease the risk of chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia.MethodsAn online discrete choice experiment questionnaire survey of a national US convenience sample of self-reported breast cancer patients with prior chemotherapy treatment was conducted. Sixteen paired G-CSF treatment scenarios, each with four attributes (risk of disruption to chemotherapy schedule due to low white blood cell counts, risk of developing an infection requiring hospitalization, frequency of administration, and total out-of-pocket cost) were presented with a follow-up “no treatment” option. Participant preferences and WTP out of pocket were estimated by logistic regression.ResultsParticipants (n = 296) preferred G-CSF regimens with lower out-of-pocket costs, lower risk of chemotherapy disruption, lower risk of infection, and greater convenience (one G-CSF injection per chemotherapy cycle). Participants’ WTP was $1076 out of pocket per cycle to reduce the risk (high to low) of disrupting their chemotherapy schedule, $884 per cycle to reduce the risk (24% [high] to 7% [low]) of infection, and $851 per cycle to decrease the number of G-CSF injections (11 to 1) per cycle.ConclusionsParticipants highly valued specific features of prophylactic G-CSF treatment including maintaining their chemotherapy schedule, lowering their risk of infection, and reducing the number of injections. Physicians should consider patient preferences to inform the best treatment choices for individual patients.     

温州市鹿城区中学生网络成瘾情况调查及其影响因素分析

目的了解温州市鹿城区中学生网络使用情况,探讨中学生网络成瘾相关行为,为制定预防网络成瘾措施提供依据。方法整群分层分别抽取温州市鹿城区中学生1 023名(2009年),599名(2013年),采用自制中学生危险行为调查表进行问卷调查。结果 2013年中学生网络成瘾倾向率(20.5%)明显高于2009年5.6%(P0.01)。单因素分析显示,调查时间为2013年、高中学生、男性、父母分居、非独生子女、学生住在亲戚家、家里有电脑、过去12个月内有电脑上网经历、上网场所在网吧和家里、以聊天和玩游戏为主要上网目的、过去12月内曾经遇到过由于18周岁以下而被网吧管理拒绝入内经历、以玩游戏为上网主要目的学生网络成瘾倾向率较高,差异有统计学意义(P0.05),多因素分析显示上网场所在家里和网吧、过去12月内曾经遇到过由于18周岁以下而被网吧管理拒绝入内经历为网络成瘾的危险因素,没有去过网吧是网络成瘾的保护因素。结论 2013年较2009年,温州市鹿城区中学生网络成瘾倾向率增高,社会各界应高度重视,合理引导学生使用网络,远离网络游戏,禁止学生去网吧上网,合理做好家庭电脑管理,预防学生网络成瘾。