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Biomedical subjects

J H Pleck

Publications and source records attributed to J H Pleck.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Gender attitudes and health risk behaviors in urban African American and Latino early adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the association of beliefs about gender differences (frequently termed gender attitudes or attitudes about women in other research) and of beliefs specifically about masculinity to health risk behaviors in minority, urban, early adolescents, in light of the "gender conventionality" hypothesis. METHODS: Data from a self-administered questionnaire assessing gender attitudes and violence-related, substance use, and heterosexual health risk behaviors administered to 587 African American and Latino early adolescents are analyzed. RESULTS: With sociodemographic and family variables controlled, in males violence-related behaviors and substance use are associated with traditional beliefs about masculinity, and heterosexual activity is associated with traditional beliefs about gender differences. In females, being sexually active is positively associated with traditional beliefs about masculinity. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to reduce health risk behaviors in minority, urban, early adolescents may be more effective if they include greater attention to ways in which gender-related attitudes may play a role in health risk taking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Adolescent sexual behavior, drug use, and violence: increased reporting with computer survey technology.

Surveys of risk behaviors have been hobbled by their reliance on respondents to report accurately about engaging in behaviors that are highly sensitive and may be illegal. An audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) technology for measuring those behaviors was tested with 1690 respondents in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. The respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions using either audio-CASI or a more traditional self-administered questionnaire. Estimates of the prevalence of male-male sex, injection drug use, and sexual contact with intravenous drug users were higher by factors of 3 or more when audio-CASI was used. Increased reporting was also found for several other risk behaviors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Changes in sexual behavior and condom use among teenaged males: 1988 to 1995.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines shifts in sexual experience and condom use among US teenaged males. METHODS: Results from the 1988 and 1995 National Surveys of Adolescent Males were compared. RESULTS: The proportion of never-married 15- to 19-year-old males who had had sex with a female declined from 60% to 55% (P = .06). The share of those sexually active using a condom at last intercourse rose from 57% to 67% (P < .01). Overall, the proportion of males who had sex without condoms last year declined from 37% to 27% (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Although protective behaviors among teenagers have increased, significant proportions of teenagers--especially Black and Hispanic males--remain unprotected.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Change in job and marital experiences and change in psychological distress: a longitudinal study of dual-earner couples.

Are changes in job quality more closely linked to changes in distress for men than for women? Conversely, are changes in marital quality more closely linked to changes in distress for women than for men? These questions were addressed in a longitudinal analysis of a random sample of 210 full-time employed dual-earner couples. Change over time in job role quality was significantly associated with change over time in distress, and the magnitude of the relationship differed little, if at all, by gender. In contrast, change over time in marital role quality was also associated with change in distress, but the magnitude of the association depended on gender. Among full-time employed married women, change in marital experience was more closely linked to change in distress than among their husbands.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Young men's risk behaviors for HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases, 1988 through 1991.

OBJECTIVES: This paper analyzes age- and period-related changes in risk behaviors for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and sexually transmitted diseases among young men in the United States between 1988 and 1991. METHODS: Data were from the 1988 and 1991 waves of the National Survey of Adolescent Males. The 1988 survey was a nationally representative survey of 1880 males aged 15 through 19 years. The 1991 survey was a longitudinal follow-up of 1676 males aged 17 through 22 years. RESULTS: As they aged, the young men increased their levels of sexual activity and decreased their condom use. Period-related changes between 1988 and 1991 were examined by comparing similar cohorts of 17.5- through 19-year-old men: there were signs that sexual activity and intravenous drug injection increased, but condom use did not change significantly. In 1991 51% of the young men said they were occasionally "high" during sex, a state that is related to reduced condom use. CONCLUSIONS: Early progress in fostering safer behaviors among young men slowed and possibly stopped as the nation entered the 1990s. Prevention efforts need to be renewed and should focus on older youth and young adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Men's changing social roles in the 1990s: emerging issues in the psychiatric treatment of men.

In the last two decades, men's social roles have changed to incorporate the increasing time they spend with their families, their greater concern about adult children's leaving or returning home, and alternative sexual preferences and life-styles. One related development is the increased amounts of psychiatric distress reported by men in recent years. Mental health professionals should be familiar with these and other complex issues specific to men and with how such issues might manifest themselves in psychotherapy.

Double Bind Interaction↗
PubMed1988

AIDS-phobia, contact with AIDS, and AIDS-related job stress in hospital workers.

In a survey of 237 hospital workers involved in the care of AIDS patients at a major AIDS inpatient-care facility, negative attitudes toward AIDS and AIDS patients (AIDS-phobia) and AIDS-related job stress (AIDS-stress) were common. In multivariate analyses, AIDS-phobia is significantly higher among older staff, those having low contact with AIDS patients (AIDS-contact), and those holding homophobic attitudes. AIDS-phobic attitudes and low AIDS-contact can be interpreted as predicting each other. Finally, AIDS-stress is predicted by low contact with AIDS and AIDS-phobic attitudes.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The association of AIDS education and sex education with sexual behavior and condom use among teenage men.

According to a 1988 nationally representative survey, most 15-19--year-old men in the United States have received formal instruction about AIDS (73%), birth control (79%) and resisting sexual activity (58%). Results of multivariate analyses show the receipt of AIDS education and sex education to be associated with modest but significant decreases in the number of partners and the frequency of intercourse in the year prior to the survey. Having received instruction in these topics was also associated with more consistent condom use. Instruction in some topics was associated with increases in knowledge and attitudes about AIDS, but these increases were not always correlated with safer behavior.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Patterns of HIV risk and preventive behaviors among teenage men.

Analyses of the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate the prevalence of risk behaviors related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, including sexual, contraceptive, and drug use behaviors, among 15- to 19-year-old men. About three-fifths had sexual intercourse, indicating that a majority of teenage men have at least some potential exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sexually transmitted disease. From a behavioral perspective, the average sexually active teenage man used a condom more than half the time in the 12 months before the interview. Those with most experience with sexual intercourse, however, used condoms least frequently. More important from an epidemiologic perspective, a third of all acts of intercourse in the prior year were protected using condoms. Further, behaviors with the greatest direct risks for HIV infection, such as homosexual intercourse, use of intravenous drugs, and sex with intravenous drug users or prostitutes, appear to be relatively uncommon. Teenage men who demonstrate high-risk behavior, including both sexual and substance abuse, compound their risks, because risks generally are correlated. Condom use is a preventive behavior that is negatively correlated with most risk behaviors; those who have multiple partners, or who are substance abusers, tend to use condoms least. The convergence of risks for multi-problem teenage men indicates the relevance of interventions directed to high-risk youths.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Levels of sexual activity among adolescent males in the United States.

Although three-fifths of adolescent males aged 15-19 say they have had sexual intercourse, analyses of data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate that their level of sexual activity is relatively moderate. The data show that among sexually experienced young men the mean number of partners in the last 12 months is 1.9, and the mean frequency of intercourse in the last four weeks is 2.7 times. Black males have had more partners than white or Hispanic males; however, after the number of years since first intercourse are controlled for, these differences disappear. On average, sexually experienced youth spent six out of the last 12 months with no sexual partner, and only 21 percent of sexually active males had more than one partner in any month in the last year. Comparisons with 1979 data suggest that proportionately more adolescents were sexually experienced in 1988, but fewer non-black males had first intercourse before their 15th birthday. The number of partners since first intercourse and in the past four weeks appears to have decreased, as has the frequency of intercourse in the last four weeks.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sexual activity, condom use and AIDS awareness among adolescent males.

New data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate that 60 percent of never-married young men ages 15-19 are sexually active. Among 17-19-year-old males living in metropolitan areas, the rate of sexual activity reported in 1988 was 15 percent higher than that reported in 1979. This increase encompasses a rise of 23 percent among black males and 13 percent among nonblack males. Slightly more than half of the sexually active males in the 1988 survey reported that they had used a condom the last time they had had intercourse. Among both black and nonblack youths aged 17-19 living in metropolitan areas, rates of reported condom use at last intercourse more than doubled between 1979 and 1988. Conversely, reported reliance on ineffective methods of contraception or use of no method at last intercourse was 60 percent lower. When first intercourse occurred within two years of the 1988 survey, the odds of using a condom were increased by 110 percent over the odds when intercourse occurred between 1975 and 1982, after controlling for the effects of age at first intercourse, race and ethnicity. The young men in the sample were very knowledgeable about how the human immunodeficiency virus is transmitted, and over three-quarters of the sample did not dismiss the disease as uncommon, nor did they think that using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS was too much trouble. The rates of condom use were significantly lower than average, however, among young men who had ever used drugs intravenously or whose partners had done so, young men who had ever had sex with a prostitute and those who had had five sexual partners or more in the past year.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗