Biomedical subjects

H Landrine

Publications and source records attributed to H Landrine.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

An experimental analysis of sociocultural variables in sales of cigarettes to minors.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the role of age, racial/ethnic group, and gender, as well as that of other sociocultural variables, in minors' access to tobacco. METHODS: Thirty-six minors attempted to purchase cigarettes once in each of 72 stores (2592 purchase attempts). The minors represented equal numbers of girls and boys; 10-year-olds, 14-year-olds, and 16-year-olds; and Whites, Blacks, and Latinos. Equal numbers of stores were in Black, White, and Latino neighborhoods. RESULTS: Older children were more likely than younger ones to be sold cigarettes, and Latino children were more likely than Whites to be sold cigarettes. Older Black children (irrespective of gender) were the single most likely group to be sold cigarettes. Cigarettes were significantly more likely to be sold to children by male than female clerks and in specific sociocultural contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions with retailers must address sociocultural variables to improve effectiveness in reducing minors' access to tobacco.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Acculturation and cigarette smoking among African American adults.

The relationship between acculturation and cigarette smoking among African Americans was examined with 444 adults. Results revealed that African American smokers were more traditional (less acculturated) than their nonsmoking counterparts, irrespective of gender, and that acculturation was a better predictor of smoking than status variables such as income and education. The prevalence of smoking among traditional African Americans was 33.6% and similar to the national data (33.2%), whereas the prevalence of smoking among acculturated African Americans was 15.3%; 68.49% of African American smokers were highly traditional. These findings suggest that acculturation is a factor in smoking among African Americans and highlight the need for further exploration of the role of acculturation in African American health and health-related behavior.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1994

The problem and sociocultural context of single-cigarette sales.

OBJECTIVE: To provide data on the sale of single cigarettes to adults and minors and to examine the sociocultural context in which these sales occur. DESIGN: A naturalistic observation study using repeated measures. Two hundred six stores in a convenience sample were visited by one minor and one adult who each attempted to purchase a single cigarette. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Single-cigarette sales to an adult and/or minor. Data were obtained on type of store and, if a sale occurred, on the price, brand, and packaging of the cigarette. The ethnic composition of the neighborhood surrounding each store was determined. RESULTS: One hundred one (49.1%) of the stores sold single cigarettes. Singles were sold significantly more often to minors than to adults, and when both could make a purchase, minors paid more for these singles than did adults. Singles were least likely to be sold in white neighborhoods, more likely to be sold in integrated neighborhoods, and most likely to be sold in minority neighborhoods. Minors were able to purchase single cigarettes during 34.4% of the visits to white neighborhoods but could do so during 71.2% of the visits to minority neighborhoods; adults were able to make similar purchases during 24% of the visits to white neighborhoods and 37.3% of the visits to minority neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS: The illegal sale of single cigarettes involves complex sociocultural factors heretofore unexamined. An understanding of such factors may be useful in planning merchant education programs and drafting policy to control illegal sales.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Predicting exercise adherence in women: the role of psychological and physiological factors.

BACKGROUND: A large percentage of the normal population does not adhere to a regular exercise program. Little is known about the factors that predict exercise initiation or adherence. This study provides data on the role of psychological, physical, and biological factors in exercise adherence among women. METHODS: Twenty-three women participated in a free aerobics program in which they could attend as many exercise sessions as they chose. Psychological and physical measures as well as serum beta-endorphin levels pre- and post-exercise were taken and used to predict total number of exercise sessions attended. RESULTS: Endorphin levels did not change as a function of exercise and did not predict the number of sessions attended. Rather, women who were overweight, shorter, had several physical complaints, and felt somewhat anxious were most likely to attend the exercise sessions, and these variables accounted for 73% of the variance in sessions attended. CONCLUSIONS: Because psychological and physical discomfort predicted exercise adherence, these results suggest that emphasizing the immediate symptom-relief benefits of exercise might increase initiation and adherence in the general population.

Affect↗

PubMed1994

Preventing cigarette sales to minors: the need for contextual, sociocultural analysis.

BACKGROUND. Interventions designed to stop retailers from selling cigarettes to minors have been based on the untested and implicit hypothesis that the sole purpose of these sales is to maximize profits. Interventions have proceeded in the absence of clear empirical evidence that this profit motive alone actually predicts sales; there is no theoretical model regarding when, where, how, and why some retailers decide to sell cigarettes to minors while others do not. We present the first theoretical model of the retailer's decision to sell cigarettes to minors and argue that a variety of contextual and sociocultural variables enter into that decision. We discuss the manner in which this model might be used to improve the effectiveness of future preventive interventions with retailers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Cultural diversity in the predictors of adolescent cigarette smoking: the relative influence of peers.

A culturally diverse sample of 4375 adolescents completed a self-report inventory assessing their current amount of smoking, and several psychosocial predictors of smoking (e.g., depression, anger, stress, smoking among peers, etc). Results revealed that Whites smoke more than Blacks, Asians, and less acculturated Latinos but not more than highly acculturated Latinos. Stepwise regression analyses of the predictors of smoking found significant ethnic and acculturation differences in the relative predictive power of 18 well-known risk factors. Smoking among peers was the best predictor of smoking for White adolescents (accounting for 23.5% of the variance) but accounted for only 15% of the variance for Latino youth, 9.6% of the variance for Asian youth, and none of the variance for Black youth. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for smoking prevention programs that focus on resisting peer influences.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1994

Culture and gender diversity in commonsense beliefs about the causes of six illnesses.

One hundred seventy-eight subjects attributed a variety of causes to six illnesses/diseases: AIDS, the common cold, diabetes, hypertension, lung cancer, and headaches. Factor analysis of these causal attributions yielded four factors which were more complex than those in the existing literature. Each of the six illnesses was seen as caused by different factors. Ethnic and gender differences in causal attributions also were assessed. Although there were no differences between minorities and whites in the perceived causes of the six illnesses, a number of gender differences did emerge. Women were more likely than men to view illness as caused by Sin and Sex and as a form of punishment. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for ethnic and gender differences in health behavior, health service utilization, and somatic symptoms, and suggestions for future research are offered.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Cultural diversity in causal attributions for illness: the role of the supernatural.

We investigated cultural diversity in beliefs about the causes of illness and assessed the possibility that popular free-form methodologies (asking subjects to generate causes) inhibit minorities from expressing their belief in supernatural causes. As predicted, when asked to generate causes of illness and rate these in terms of their importance, whites and minorities did not differ in the number or type (natural vs supernatural) of causes they generated or in the importance rating they assigned to these. However, when these same subjects were provided with natural and supernatural causes to rate in terms of importance, minorities rated supernatural causes significantly more important than did whites, and more minorities than whites endorsed such causes. Cultural differences in causal attributions for illness are examined, and the role of methodology in determining such attributions is highlighted.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Cognitive representations of bodily parts and products: implications for health behavior.

This study investigated the unexplored hypothesis that people may have cognitive representations of the body's parts and products (body schema) and that these may be relevant to illness behavior. Factor and MANOVA analyses revealed that body parts are viewed as differing in the Stigma attached to them and in the extent to which they are seen as Important, Vulnerable, Sexual, and Private, with these five dimensions found to be independent of age and health history. Seeking help for dysfunction varied across body parts, with subjects reluctant to seek help for highly stigmatized and private parts but likely to seek help for parts viewed as important and vulnerable. Significant gender and ethnic differences in representations of body parts also emerged.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Appraisal and response to pain may be a function of its bodily location.

This study explored the hypothesis that appraisals of and responses to pain may in part be a function of where the pain is located. Results revealed that appraising pain as life-threatening, seeking help, disclosing pain to others and emotional distress in response to pain were contingent on the pain's bodily location. Significant ethnic differences in appraisal of pain, and significant gender differences in disclosure of and emotional response to pain also were found.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Sex roles, occupational roles, and symptom-reporting: a test of competing hypotheses on sex differences.

The sick-role, fixed-role obligations, symptom-reporting, and nurturant-role hypotheses of sex differences in utilization of health services and symptom-reporting were tested against each other. Fifty-one nontraditional college students completed the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and questions regarding their employment status. Employment status and feminine characteristics emerged as the best predictors of symptom-reporting on the CMI and suggested that the sick-role hypothesis may be empirically superior to the others.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Culture and health-related schemas: a review and proposal for interdisciplinary integration.

We present a comprehensive review of anthropological, sociological, and psychological theory and data on the structure, content, and function of health-related schemas. Health psychology's need to integrate specific variables and principles from the other disciplines is highlighted. Suggestions for future research are offered, and the importance of cultural factors in health beliefs is emphasized.

Anthropology↗

PubMed1987

On the politics of madness: a preliminary analysis of the relationship between social roles and psychotherapy.

This study presents a brief account of a theory that argues that diagnostic categories of madness and their prototypes are equivalent to the fulfillment of the roles and role stereotypes of the status groups that tend to receive the diagnoses most often. Two studies provided tentative support for the theory. The results of the first study revealed that clinicians attributed to the stereotypes of various status groups precisely those diagnoses that the groups tend to receive. The second study revealed that undergraduates who were given diagnostic prototypes from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition (1980) (DSM-III) and were asked to predict the status characteristics of the persons described therein correctly reproduced well known epidemiological data. These results imply an intimate relationship between social and psychiatric taxonomies, and thus raise questions about the meaning of madness in our society.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Asking age and identification may decrease minors' access to tobacco.

BACKGROUND: Many merchant education programs entail efforts to increase cashiers' requests for minors' age and/or identification (proving themselves old enough to purchase cigarettes) as a means of decreasing minors' access to tobacco. However, whether such questions are actually associated with decreased sales to minors has never been investigated. We present the first investigation of the role of such questions in sales of tobacco to minors. METHODS: Thirty-six minors, representing equal numbers of girls, boys, whites, blacks, and Latinos and of 10-, 14-, and 16-year-olds, each attempted to purchase cigarettes once in each of 72 stores, for a total of 2,567 purchase attempts. The frequency of asking the children their age and/or for identification (ID) was analyzed along with the role of these questions in subsequent sales. RESULTS: The data revealed that requesting age/ID was rare (occurring 17% of the time) despite the laws in California requiring clerks to do so. When age was asked, however, minors were refused cigarettes 95.8% of the time, and when ID was requested, they were refused cigarettes 99.0% of the time. Asking for ID may be more strongly associated with decreased sales than asking age. For example, for 16-year-olds, asking age decreased sales from 57.2% (when no questions were asked) to 8.5% of the time, and asking ID decreased sales to 2.4% of the time. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide empirical support for the widespread belief that the success of interventions with retailers can be improved by enhancing efforts to increase merchants' requests for children's ID.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The effects on children of participating in studies of minors' access to tobacco.

BACKGROUND: Ethical concerns about the effect on children of participating in studies of minors' access to tobacco are frequently raised by human subjects' committees but have not been assessed empirically. Data on the effects of such participation on the smoking-related behavior of minors are needed. METHOD: Forty-eight children were screened and selected in 1993 to participate in a study of minors' access to tobacco. All 48 attended tobacco-education workshops, none were smokers, and all denied an intention to smoke in the future. Thirty-six of them were (randomly) assigned to the experimental group who made 2,567 purchase attempts (PAs) between 1993 and 1994, and 11 were assigned to a control group who made no PAs. Two years after screening (1 year after completion of the study) all were sent a follow-up questionnaire assessing current intentions to smoke and other smoking-related behaviors. RESULTS: Minors who made PAs were significantly less likely than those who did not to indicate an intention to smoke in the future; only 12.5% of experimental vs 71.4% of control group minors intended to (or might) smoke in the future. Minors who made PAs also were significantly more likely than those who had not to discuss smoking with peers and to encourage peers and family to quit smoking or to avoid initiating smoking. In 2,567 PAs, minors were never physically threatened, touched, or harmed, and they were treated with verbal hostility in only 73 (2.8%) of their PAs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that participating in a study of minors' access to tobacco does not increase smoking or intentions to smoke among the minors. Rather, such participation may be associated with low intentions to smoke and with increased tobacco-control efforts on the part of the minors. The effects of participating in such studies may be positive for the minors, their families, and their peers. Participating in such studies does not place minors at risk for physical harm, and their risk for verbal abuse is low.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Minors' access to single cigarettes in California.

OBJECTIVE: As the cost of a pack of cigarettes continues to increase, minors may resort to purchasing single cigarettes ("loosies"), but no clear data on their rate of access to singles are available. This study examined the availability of singles to minors by gender, age, and ethnicity. DESIGN: In a factorial experiment, 36 minors of different sexes, ages, and ethnic groups each attempted to purchase a single cigarette once in half of a group of 72 randomly selected stores in middle-class California communities, for a total of 1,271 single cigarette purchase attempts. RESULTS: Minors were able to purchase singles 7.9% of the time, with this access rate being significantly higher (16.2%) for older (16-year-old) minors. Minors were typically charged 15 cents for the single, and singles were sold by 28 of the 72 (38.9%) stores. CONCLUSIONS: Minors have considerable access to single cigarettes in middle-class, California communities, despite California laws banning their sale. Minors' rate of access to singles in poorer communities and in states that lack legislation against selling them is probably significantly higher. Because singles facilitate cigarette purchases by minors who lack money, any legislation that increases the cost of a pack of cigarettes must also explicitly ban the sale of singles.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An instrument for assessing the quality of tobacco-control policies: the ACT-L scale.

BACKGROUND: Efforts to prevent and decrease tobacco use and tobacco-related disease include improving the quality of tobacco-control laws to make them more stringent in controlling tobacco advertising, youth access, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). However, because there are no instruments to empirically evaluate the quality of such laws, it has been difficult to demonstrate that their quality is associated with decreased youth access or tobacco-related morbidity. We present the first instrument for empirically assessing the quality of tobacco-control policies. METHODS: Recommendations for the content of an ideal, comprehensive tobacco-control policy were used as the 55 items in the Assessment of the Comprehensiveness of Tobacco Laws Scale (ACT-L Scale). Raters evaluated 71 tobacco-control laws with the scale; 70 of these were actual California laws and 1 was a model law from Americans for Non-smokers' Rights (ANR). RESULTS: Interrater (r = 0.64-0.89) and internal-consistency (r = 0.63-0.88) reliability of the scale and subscales were high, and validity was established by demonstrating that the ANR model law received a significantly higher total score (mean = 18.75) than all actual laws (mean = 2.04). California tobacco-control laws were poor in all areas (youth access, ETS, tobacco advertising). CONCLUSIONS: The ACT-L scale can be used to compare and evaluate the quality of tobacco-control laws, highlight areas in which further policy efforts are needed, quantify improvement in such policies, and empirically demonstrate the positive health impact of high-quality tobacco-control laws.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Introduction: the state of research on black women in health psychology and behavioral medicine.

In this article we briefly review data on the poor state of Black women's health and then analyze the nature of research on their health in health psychology and behavioral medicine. We demonstrate that health psychology and behavioral medicine not only exclude Black women as participants in empirical studies, but also fail to thoroughly investigate the problems that are most prevalent among and accountable for the poor health of Black women. We conclude that this special issue devoted to Black women's health is crucial and long overdue.

Black or African American↗