Peer Models Research Articles

Study of Risky Behaviors in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders Attending a Mental Health Department

Background: Risky behaviors can have damaging consequences in physical or mental health in adolescents, even more causing the majority of adolescent morbidity and mortality. In line with the Problem behavior theory, the balance between protective and risk factors will define the proneness for problem behaviors. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of risky behaviors in adolescents with psychiatric disorders and to assess the possible predictive role of the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis, age and gender. Methods: A questionnaire was developed, to assess environmental factors and risky behaviors in adolescents with psychiatric disorders who attended the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology in a general public hospital in Barcelona. Results: It was observed that almost half of the sample presented at least a second diagnose. It should be noted that more than half of the sample had had feelings of hopelessness and that almost half presented suicidal thoughts. A logistic regression analysis showed that, except for going on a restrictive diet and doing physical exercise to control or lose weight, all problem behaviors were predicted by constitutional and environmental factors, rather than by having a psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusion: Most of the risky behaviors were mainly predicted by environmental factors, such as having both parents present, restructured family, friends consume marijuana, peers’ opinion more valued than parents’ opinion or retaking a school year, and diagnostic categories had a low influence on the different risky behaviors. Out of these findings, it is evident that the Problem behavior theory was confirmed in a clinical sample and that there is need for screening tools on a regular base, to detect problem behaviors, protective and risk factors in each adolescent’s case,to do an improved prevention and intervention, promoting protective factors related to adolescent’s values and expectations, encouraging parental controls and support and boosting peer models of healthy behaviors.

Models, experts and mutants: Exploring the relationships between peer educators and injecting drug user clients, in Delhi’s harm reduction programs

The article, based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork, explores the relationships between peer educators and their clients, under the harm reduction paradigm in Delhi, India. The study examines the way peer workers engage with their clients and manage their own recovery at the same time. The article argues three key points. First, peer educators came to be considered as harm reduction’s most crucial link, they were models for the clients and their expertise about street life was invaluable for the success of the program. They adapted and expanded their roles based on client needs, despite structural and resource limitations. Second, peer educators’ own struggles with addiction threatened their position within the program; it raised questions of efficacy, ethics and empowerment with regard to the peer model. Lastly, the tensions around the peer educators’ role and their continued drug use, revealed larger contradictions within the Indian harm reduction model. These findings more broadly highlight the issues of peer-client relationship dynamics and peer participation in service delivery within social work.

Prejudice‐reduction in Culturally Mixed Classrooms: The Development and Assessment of a Theory‐driven Intervention Among Majority and Minority Youth in Finland

ABSTRACTThe aim of this field experiment was to develop and assess an intervention promoting positive intergroup relations in culturally diverse schools. The intervention was based on extended contact and social learning and utilized behavioural journalism as its method. Intervention effects were assessed on out‐group attitudes, perceived importance of future contact, perceived peer norms and intergroup anxiety among ethnic majority (N = 583) and minority (N = 214) youth in grades 7–9 in Finnish secondary schools (total Nexperimental = 388; total Ncontrol = 409). As a result of the intervention, both groups showed a tendency to perceive future intergroup contact as more important, and this effect was most notable for younger participants and girls. Prototypicality of in‐group and out‐group peer models contributed positively to intervention effects. However, unexpectedly, the intervention also increased experiences of intergroup anxiety among the oldest participants. The results are discussed taking into account the developmental stage of the youth studied. Besides critically assessing the effectiveness of the intervention, recommendations for improving theory‐driven prejudice‐reduction and for the development of future interventions in culturally diverse contexts are given. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effects of a Peer Modeling Intervention on Cardiorespiratory Fitness Parameters and Self-Efficacy in Obese Adolescents

Inconsistencies exist in the assessment and interpretation of peak VO2 in the pediatric obese population, as cardiorespiratory fitness assessments are effort-dependent and psychological variables prevalent in this population must be addressed. This study examined the effect of a peer modeling intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness performance and task self-efficacy in obese youth completing a maximal treadmill test. Forty-nine obese (BMI ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex) youth were randomized to an experimental (received an intervention) or to a control group. The outcome variables were mean and variability cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2, heart rate, duration, respiratory exchange ratio), rating of perceived exertion, and task self-efficacy scores. Irrespective of whether a mean or variability score was used, receiving the intervention was associated with non-significant trends in fitness parameters and task self-efficacy over time, favoring the experimental group. Cardiorespiratory fitness and task self-efficacy were moderately correlated at both time points. To elucidate the aforementioned findings, psychosocial factors affecting obese youth and opportunities to modify the peer modeling intervention should be considered. Addressing these factors has the potential to improve standard of care in a clinical setting regarding pretest patient education.

Modeling analysis of server loading in large-scale P2P-VoD systems with actively collaborative helpers

Through moving a significant fraction of uploading from the servers to the peers, using P2P approach can effectively alleviate server loading in VoD deployments. However, users' asynchronism dilutes their ability to assist each other. We develop a theoretical model to conduct an in-depth study of average server loading in large-scale P2P-VoD systems. This model captures many of the essential features of average server loading in large-scale P2P-VoD systems. Based on the in-depth study on average server loading, we introduce actively collaborative helpers into systems for alleviating server loading. The model of peers is further developed to a hybrid model for studying the optimal download amount of helpers from perspective of the entire network including peers and helpers. We show there exactly exists the sweet point of download amount of homogeneous helpers. With downloading the sweet amount, helpers can contribute the bandwidth around twice than they consume, when they do not assist each other, and even approximately 4 times when they assist each other.

The Role of Explicit and Implicit Self-Esteem in Peer Modeling of Palatable Food Intake: A Study on Social Media Interaction among Youngsters

ObjectiveThis experimental study investigated the impact of peers on palatable food intake of youngsters within a social media setting. To determine whether this effect was moderated by self-esteem, the present study examined the roles of global explicit self-esteem (ESE), body esteem (BE) and implicit self-esteem (ISE).MethodsParticipants (N = 118; 38.1% boys; M age 11.14±.79) were asked to play a computer game while they believed to interact online with a same-sex normal-weight remote confederate (i.e., instructed peer) who ate either nothing, a small or large amount of candy.ResultsParticipants modeled the candy intake of peers via a social media interaction, but this was qualified by their self-esteem. Participants with higher ISE adjusted their candy intake to that of a peer more closely than those with lower ISE when the confederate ate nothing compared to when eating a modest (β = .26, p = .05) or considerable amount of candy (kcal) (β = .32, p = .001). In contrast, participants with lower BE modeled peer intake more than those with higher BE when eating nothing compared to a considerable amount of candy (kcal) (β = .21, p = .02); ESE did not moderate social modeling behavior. In addition, participants with higher discrepant or “damaged” self-esteem (i.e., high ISE and low ESE) modeled peer intake more when the peer ate nothing or a modest amount compared to a substantial amount of candy (kcal) (β = −.24, p = .004; β = −.26, p<.0001, respectively).ConclusionYoungsters conform to the amount of palatable food eaten by peers through social media interaction. Those with lower body esteem or damaged self-esteem may be more at risk to peer influences on food intake.

Integrated Care: Wellness-Oriented Peer Approaches: A Key Ingredient for Integrated Care

People with lived experience of mental illness have become leaders of an influential movement to help the mental health system embrace the notion of whole health and wellness in the areas of advocacy, policy, and care delivery. Wellness-oriented peer approaches delivered by peer-support whole-health specialists and wellness coaches can play an important role in integrated care models. This column examines the wellness definitions and peer models and some specific benefits and tensions between the peer-oriented wellness approach and the medical model. These models can work in unison to improve health and wellness among people with mental and substance use disorders.

Peer and Friend Influences on Children's Eating

AbstractPeers and friends are perceived as important role models for the formation of children's attitudes and behaviours. A wealth of research has aimed to establish the contribution of peers and friends to children's developing eating behaviours, and their attitudes towards eating. This review describes and evaluates such research. Experimental research examining peer modelling of food consumption and liking is reviewed, and several individual child factors that are suggested to make children more or less receptive to peer and friend influences are discussed. The influence of children's perceptions of their peers’ and friends’ eating behaviours upon their own eating practices is also explored. The benefits of future longitudinal research to improve understanding of peer and friend influences on children's eating are emphasized.

Peer-mediation of the adoption of efficient software interaction methods: A model based on priming

Our peers are an important source from which we glean new information or are reminded of old information that influences our behavior (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961; Osman, 2008; Rieman, 1996). One important domain in which this phenomenon functions is the adoption of efficient means of accomplishing our work (Peres, Tamborello, Fleetwood, Chung, & Paige-Smith, 2004). Using a novel peer mediation paradigm, we performed an empirical study of efficient method adoption in a software usage task and observed a causal effect of peer behavior modeling. Our computational cognitive model explains the peer modeling effect in terms of priming the memory of the efficient method. We conclude that behavior changes do result from peer interactions that prime memories for the targeted behaviors.

The effect of an intervention on schoolchildren’s susceptibility to a peer’s candy intake

The aim of the study was to pilot test two interventions designed to reduce children's susceptibility to peers' candy intake and to determine if interventions had different effects on boys and girls. In the standard intervention, peer modeling was explained while communicating the importance of not following other's food intake by means of photos, video clips and interactive tasks. A second animated intervention was similar but added a monkey puppet as a (cue) reminder. A social modeling component was conducted 1 day after the intervention to test whether the interventions affected the extent to which children model their peers' eating. During the modeling session, the participants' (N = 141; 78% boys, mean age = 7.84 ± 0.72 years) solved a puzzle with a same-sex 'confederate' who was instructed to eat chocolate candy when he/she was covertly signaled. The monkey puppet was put in sight to test whether the monkey served as a cue reminder in the animated intervention. Candy intake was compared across control and intervention conditions. The standard intervention reduced candy intake in boys but not girls. Nevertheless, children still remained susceptible to a peer's eating. There was no significant effect of the animated intervention on consumption. There are gender differences when children are exposed to an (over)eating peer. Although interventions are effective, social norms can be powerful. Social networks should be leveraged when possible.

Peer Modeling of Academic and Social Behaviors during Small-Group Direct Instruction

The authors describe an intervention for 3 preschoolers with disabilities who had low peer-related social competence. The intervention taught academic skills tailored to the need of each target student in small groups (triads) with two typically developing peers, using a progressive time delay procedure. Prior to instruction and separate from the students with disabilities, typical peers learned to provide reinforcers for correct responses, and to say “thank you” when a group mate shared. The authors assessed the acquisition of sharing and thanking behaviors during instructional sessions by the preschoolers with disabilities and generalization of these social behaviors to contexts similar to classroom activities for all participants. Results were (a) all participants learned targeted academic behaviors; (b) all participants learned some academic behaviors taught to their peers; (c) participants without disabilities modeled sharing with high fidelity but modeled thanking with lower fidelity; (d) all participants with disabilities shared and less frequently said “thank you” during instructional sessions (although they were never prompted to do so); and (e) participants with and without disabilities shared in art and picnic activities and said “thank you” to a lesser extent, although they were not prompted to share or thank in these contexts.

A Collaborative Filtering Recommendation Mechanism for Peer-to-Peer Video Sharing

Almost all collaborative filtering recommendation systems based on C/S mode have to face the problems of one-point-failure and unscalable. This study proposes a scalable collaborative filtering recommendation mechanism for video sharing in unstructured Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. The mechanism is named as CFRPV, which can recommend videos in distributed way. The CFRPV mechanism includes four parts: peer model definition, neighbor peer set construction, CF-based recommendation for videos and neighbor peer set update. In CFRPV, peer users rank all the videos that they had watched. Then a video can be represented as a point in video vector space and its rank is the value of this point. One peer’s preference also can be represented by a vector of the ranked videos in the video vector space. All the peers construct and dynamic reconstruct neighbor peer set in real time through calculating preference similarity between each other. From their neighbor peer sets, peers receive video recommendations that had been filtered. Finally, simulation results are discussed.

Practical Anarchism

The article considers several working anarchies in the networked environment, and whether they offer a model for improving on the persistent imperfections of markets and states. I explore whether these efforts of peer mutualism in fact offer a sufficient range of capabilities to present a meaningful degree of freedom to those who rely on the capabilities it affords, and whether these practices in fact remain sufficiently nonhierarchical to offer a meaningful space of noncoercive interactions. The real utopias I observe here are perfect on neither dimension. Internally, hierarchy and power reappear, to some extent and in some projects, although they are quite different than the hierarchy of government or corporate organization. Externally, there are some spectacular successes, some failures to thrive, and many ambiguous successes. In all, present experience supports neither triumphalism nor defeatism in the utopian project. Peer models do work, and they do provide a degree of freedom in the capabilities they provide. But there is no inexorable path to greater freedom through voluntary open collaboration. There is a good deal of uncertainty and muddling through. The last part of the article suggests a theory of freedom that supports the significance of even these obviously imperfect peer systems with incomplete coverage of necessary human capabilities, and explains why expanding the domain of mutualism improves freedom and well-being under conditions of persistent market imperfection and an inevitably fallible state. Peer mutualism doesn’t have to be perfect; it merely needs to offer a new dimension or sufficient diversity in how it instantiates capabilities and transmits power to offer us, who inhabit the systems that these peer systems perturb, a degree of freedom.

The effects of an academic environment intervention on science identification among women in STEM

Academic environments can feel unwelcoming for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Two studies examined academic environments of female undergraduates majoring in STEM fields at a university in the United States. In Study 1, we compared women in STEM who are in a welcoming environment to those in a traditional STEM environment in order to identify factors that may make environments seem welcoming to women. Women in the welcoming environment received more messages about women in STEM, were more likely to wear or carry markers of their major, and had more peer role models in STEM. In Study 2, we developed an intervention based on these factors to improve women’s implicit beliefs about their participation in STEM. In a sample of women in traditional STEM environments, we manipulated exposure to the intervention and the self-relevance of the intervention. The intervention decreased stereotyping concerns and indirect STEM stereotyping, and it increased implicit STEM identification when the intervention was made self-relevant. This research demonstrates the importance of a welcoming academic environment for women in STEM, and it also provides a model for how key elements of intensive university programs targeting women can be translated into a more general approach that reaches a wider audience.

Learning About After Action Reporting From the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic

To analyze key variations in the after action report/improvement plan (AAR/IP) process used by state and local health departments following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and identify ideas for improving that process. Workshop participants discussed their AAR findings and the methods used to prepare their reports and implications for improving the AAR/IP process in future events. Workshop participants included state and local health department personnel who had submitted AAR/IPs to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for review. Workshop participants were asked to consider the question: On the basis of what you heard in this workshop, what would you do differently if you could redo your 2009 H1N1 AAR/IP? Workshop discussions revealed wide differences in the participants' understanding of the intended uses and users of the AAR/IPs, their scope, timing, and format, and the use of external consultants in their preparation, and on the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. The AAR/IPs also varied in the extent to which they sought to identify root causes and the methods they used to do so. The AAR/IPs can be useful for both accountability and quality improvement, but these objectives require different foci and methodological approaches. Notably, the AAR/IPs can also be used as an opportunity to hold health departments accountable for conducting root cause analyses and making the improvements that follow from them. Federal agencies requiring the AAR/IPs should clarify the purpose and issues of scope and timing; develop training materials and exemplary cases of effective AAR/IPs, particularly of root cause analysis applied to public health emergency preparedness, professional guidelines, and standards for consultants; and consider developing a peer model for preparing AAR/IPs.

Effectiveness of audiovisual modeling on the behavioral change toward oral and dental care in children with autism

Background/aimThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of audiovisual modeling on behavioral change of Autistic children toward oral and dental care. MethodThis prospective study was performed on 36 autistic children aged from 6 to 12 years old attending The “Egyptian Autistic Society (EAS).” Children participated in tooth brushing intervention program. They were randomly divided in to 3 different groups according to modeling methods of tooth brushing. Children in the first group were subjected to demonstration of tooth brushing steps using model representing upper and lower jaws, children in the second group were subjected to specific colored pictures explaining tooth brushing steps (pictorial Activity schedule (PAS)) and children in the third group were subjected to video modeling (Peer model brushing his teeth). Behavior of the children toward tooth brushing before and after running the program and the dental health knowledge and attitudes of parents toward dental care were assessed using a special questionnaire completed by parents and teachers of the children. Final evaluation was done after one month. ResultsThe result of the study showed that: no statistically significant change in behavior of the children after the program in group A there was a statistically significant change in behavior of the children after program in Group B (PAS model) and Group C (video model). ConclusionVisual pedagogy and Technology-based intervention is useful tool for helping Autistic children to improve their oral hygiene.

Why don’t they like that? And can I do anything about it? The nature and correlates of parents’ attributions and self-efficacy beliefs about preschool children’s food preferences

Children’s food preferences influence their food intakes, which then have important effects on their health status. Presently little is understood about the aetiology of children’s food preferences within families. Parental beliefs are important in many domains of socialisation although their role in the development of children’s food preferences has seldom been investigated. Parents of 2–5year old children participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, which were analysed with content analysis. The parents either had children with healthy food preferences (i.e. closely aligned with dietary guidelines) (N=20), unhealthy food preferences (i.e. not closely aligned with dietary guidelines) (N=18), or high levels of food neophobia (N=19). Parents described their beliefs about why children like and dislike foods (their attributions) and their ability to influence children’s food preferences (their self-efficacy). Children’s food preferences were attributed to (a) the influence of children’s characteristics (e.g. food neophobia level and personality), (b) sensory attributes of foods (e.g. texture and appearance), and (c) socialisation experiences (e.g. peer modelling and parental feeding behaviours). Results provide preliminary evidence of differences in parents’ attributions and self-efficacy beliefs in the feeding domain and highlight the need for greater understanding of the ways in which parents’ beliefs affect children’s food preferences.

Intrinsic and extrinsic influences on children's acceptance of new foods

The foods that tend to be rejected by children include those which may have greatest importance for later health. This paper reviews some of the intrinsic and extrinsic influences on preschool children's eating behavior, with particular reference to their acceptance of new foods into their diet. Factors conceptualized as intrinsic to the child in this review include sensory processing, taste perception, neophobia, and temperament. The important extrinsic determinants of children's food acceptance which are reviewed include parental and peer modeling, the family food environment, infant feeding practices including breastfeeding and age at weaning, concurrent feeding practices including restriction, pressure to eat, prompting and reward, and the taste & energy content of foods. Children's willingness to accept new foods is influenced by a wide range of factors that likely have individual and also interactive effects on children's willingness to taste, and then continue to eat, new foods. The literature lacks longitudinal and experimental studies, which will be particularly important in determining interventions most likely to be effective in facilitating children's acceptance of healthy foods.

Critical literacy, self-protection and delinquency: the challenges of participatory media for youths at-risk

While pedagogy is predominantly viewed from the perspective of classroom instruction, educators worldwide invariably play a critical pastoral role of shaping the personal development of their students and nurturing in them life skills. With the avid use of participatory media by young people in peer interaction, educators need to be aware of the attendant risks and opportunities so that they may offer counsel and render appropriate advice. To this end, through interviews with 36 Singaporean male juvenile delinquents and youths-at-risk, this study explores how these youths utilise participatory media in their peer interaction. The findings indicate that for this vulnerable youth population, participatory media such as social networking sites can become a platform through which they are unwittingly drawn into criminal behaviour and post-rehabilitation, participatory media may offer an insidious route to recidivism. Participatory media complicates peer interaction by presenting risk factors such as network transparency, negative peer modelling, network seepage and network persistence, all of which have implications for these youths sliding further into delinquency and criminal activity. This article concludes with recommendations on the strategies which youths-at-risk can employ to avoid the risks of participatory media.

A Multilevel Analysis of Classroom Goal Structures’ Effects on Intrinsic Motivation and Peer Modeling: Teachers’ Promoting Interaction as a Classroom Level Mediator

This study investigated how classroom goal structures (mastery and performance goal structures) related to intrinsic motivation and peer modeling focusing on teachers’ promoting interaction as a classroom level mediator. Authors tested multilevel mediational models with a sample of 1212 Japanese elementary and junior high school students from 43 classrooms. Results provided support for classroom level mediational process in mastery goal structures. Specifically, mastery goal structures related to promoting interaction, and promoting interactions related to both intrinsic motivation and peer modeling. Limitations and future directions of the study were discussed.