Development Of Risk Behaviors Research Articles

Riscos & Desafios (Risk & Challenges) Program in pandemic times: the students’ voice

Background: Preventive interventions are important to delay the onset of high-risk behaviors for young people's health. Regarding emerging adulthood, successful preventive programs are important to avoid high-risk alcohol consumption among university students. Riscos & Desafios (Risk & Challenges) Program is an extracurricular, comprehensive, and multi-component competence enhancement-based preventive intervention designed for students attending the first year of higher education. Goals: This paper aims to give voice to the procedural assessment made by students and to describe the implementation of the Program at the Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto in the second semester of the 2019/2020 school year. This implementation of a previous validated program was innovative twofold, since it has a curriculum infusion format through an optional curricular unit, and because it was developed during the period of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This is a mixed-method study that focus on the implementation of the Riscos & Desafios Program during the second semester of 2019/20 academic year. This evaluation of the Riscos & Desafios Program was done with a post-program survey, followed by univariate analysis of frequency. Complementary, an inductive analysis of qualitative data of student’s reflexive reports was carried out, using the QSR-NVIVO 12®.Results: Twenty-three first-year students who participated in the Riscos & Desafios Program constituted the target group of the intervention. Most of the participants were male (n=16) aging between 17 to 21 years. Most attended all the eight sessions and 96% of them participated in seven or more sessions. At the end of the implementation, 23 post-program filled-in questionnaires, and 18 structured reflection reports, were obtained. Most of the students rated the program as very good. Several categories emerged from the thematic analysis of the 18 reports, namely (1) perceived competencies, developed in the program, including the promotion of the social support network, interpersonal and communication skills, problem-solving skills, and their importance, as factors to protect against the development of risk behaviors, (2) personal positive impacts of the program attendance and (3) gains and losses with the transition to online learning format.Discussion: Students’ considerations about the experience with the Riscos & Desafios Program not only reinforced the importance and pertinence of this experience in their life trajectory, but also brought to light its relevance at this pandemic moment.

Drinking water consumption and association between actual and perceived risks of endocrine disrupting compounds

Drinking water contains emerging contaminants, i.e., endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). However, the extent to which it is publicly viewed as a potential risk that requires attention (public awareness, political obligation, and regulatory efforts) is substantially underrated. Thus, this study investigated drinking water consumption patterns among consumers of different life stages, evaluated household practices using tap water as daily drinking water, and examined the actual risk as well as consumers’ perception of tap water quality for drinking with the potential EDCs contamination. Collectively, the present study is of great concern for regional database profiling and supporting human health risk assessment in regulating contamination and exposure of EDCs. It also provides an empirical and theoretical contribution to current public risk perception of EDCs in tap water, and promoted the formulation of risk communication and governance strategies for the development of risk behaviors in adopting public participation in the drinking water supply system monitoring and management framework.

The influence of pre-college behaviors and parenting practices on alcohol misuse, sexual risk-taking, and adverse outcomes among first-year college women

Objective Although numerous reports document college students’ risk-taking behaviors, few examine these behaviors in a developmental context. The purpose of this study was to examine female freshmen college students’ pre-college experiences and parenting influences on first semester experiences with alcohol misuse, sexual risk-taking, and adverse outcomes, including violence. Methods We surveyed 229 female freshman residential college students at the end of their first semester in college. Results Participants who drank frequently in high school were more likely to binge drink in college and regret doing something while drinking. Mother–daughter closeness and parental discussions of sexual risks, personal safety and danger avoidance were associated with a reduced likelihood of regretting doing something while drinking, experiencing sexual violence, and having sex without a condom. Parental provision of alcohol was associated with alcohol misuse. Conclusion These findings provide a life course perspective on the development of risk behaviors and adverse outcomes during emerging adulthood.

Experimental modeling of behavioral disorders accompanying hashimoto’s thyroiditis by means of specific immunoglobulins

Among the manifestations of Hashimotos autoimmune thyroiditis, there are various psychoneurological disorders. For more than a century, it has been known about psycho-neurological disorders associated with hypothyroidism, but along with that, there are also mental disorders in patients with thyropathies in euthyroid state. In 1966, Hashimotos encephalopathy was described, the pathogenesis and clear differential diagnostic criteria of which have not yet been determined. This article describes an experimental study in laboratory mice with intracisternal stereotaxic injection of IgG isolated from patients with autoimmune thyroiditis and comorbid depression or schizophrenia. A control group included animals receiving polyclonal IgG from healthy donors. Then behavioral tests were carried out, which revealed the characteristics and changes in behavior in the operated animals. Thus, animals that received immunoglobulins from patients with autoimmune thyroiditis and depression were less active in relation to the development of risk behavior. Porsolts tests on the 4th and 15th days after surgery showed that, regardless of the kind of the injected solutions, there was a change in the temporal relationships between the behavior patterns. In mice received IgG from patients with autoimmune thyroiditis and schizophrenia during the delayed Porsolt test, the ratio of the forms of motor activity shifted towards passive swimming. The mice received IgG from healthy donors did not demonstrate this change.

Impacto do videogame ativo na autopercepção da imagem corporal e no desenvolvimento de comportamentos de risco para compulsão alimentar em adolescentes com excesso de peso

Objetivo: este estudo buscou avaliar o impacto do uso de videogame ativo na autopercepção da imagem corporal e no desenvolvimento de comportamentos de risco para compulsão alimentar em adolescentes com excesso de peso. Métodos: estudo quase-experimental com intervenção através do uso de exergame durante 50 minutos, 3 vezes por semana, por 8 semanas. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre abril e dezembro de 2016, com 55 adolescentes estudantes de escolas públicas de 15 a 19 anos. Os dados foram coletados através de formulário para caracterização dos adolescentes, questionários BSQ-34 e ECAP e realizada a aferição de peso, estatura e circunferência abdominal. No SPSS 22.0 foram realizados os testes t de Student pareado e McNemar para avaliar o efeito do exercício sobre as variáveis estudadas. Adotou-se intervalo de confiança de 95%. Resultados: 58,2% dos participantes era do sexo feminino, 74,5% apresentavam sobrepeso, e 56,4% relatou preocupação com a imagem corporal no início do estudo. Após intervenção, 38,2% (p=0,028) relatou preocupação e houve uma redução de 8 pontos na média do escore para autopercepção da imagem corporal. Conclusão: Diante dos efeitos positivos da intervenção ressalta-se a importância da implementação do uso de videogame ativo na infância e adolescência.

Parents-adolescent Relationship and Drug Abuse

Quality of the parent-adolescent relationship significantly affects the development of risk behaviors in adolescent health. Research shows strong relationship between adolescent’s risk behaviors related to drug and alcohol abuse and parenting styles. The studies supports the substantial influence of parenting style on adolescent development. There is also considerable evidence to show that parenting styles and behaviors related to alcohol and tobacco smoking The main objective of the research was to show parent’s behavior related to drug abuse of their children, and to describe if there is parental support to such kind of behavior. Methods This study covers 368 adolescents: male 170, female 198, aged 12-17, with equal urban and rural distribution. The research tool used was Q 2004 (K.B. Kelly 2000). EPI info was used for statistical analyses. Research is epidemiological and was done in urban and rural areas of Sarajevo Canton Results Out of total number of individuals involved in the study 25.8% was found to be cigarette smokers, 39.4% consumed alcohol, and 2.2% consumed marijuana. Alcohol abuse is more present in urban rather than in rural types of communities. (56.6%; 43.4%; p=0, 0001). Of all age groups examined, alcohol abuse is most frequent in males (53.1%; 46.9%) and high school age group, 69.0%; 31.0%). Passive parental support to alcohol consumers is surprisingly high, > 50%. Conclusion It is determined that parents (particularly father) use tobacco and alcohol, and support passively similar behavior their children.

Trajectories of Parenting Processes and Adolescent Substance Use: Reciprocal Effects

Drawing on transactional theories of child development, we assessed bidirectional links between trajectories of adolescent substance use and parenting processes from early through mid adolescence. Hierarchical generalized models estimated trajectories for 3,317 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, exploring both between- and within-individual effects. Between individuals, adolescents reporting more regular family activities and greater father and mother knowledge of friends and teachers experienced lower levels of substance use through mid adolescence. Similarly, adolescents with more frequent substance use reported lower family activities, father knowledge, and mother knowledge, though these differences dissipated over time. More conservative within-individual differences indicated a prospective protective effect of family activities, with increases in adolescent participation in family activities predicting later declines in substance use. Results support the central importance of engagement in regular family activities, and suggest the need for further exploration of transactional processes between parents and children in the development of risk behaviors.