Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Peer Groups”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

How measures of perception from survey data lead to inconsistent regression results: evidence from adolescent and peer substance use.

In studies of peer group behavior, the direct measure of peer group behavior is often not available, and so is replaced by perceptions from survey respondents. This study shows that regression estimators are inconsistent when the correctly measured independent variable of group behavior is replaced with perceived measures from survey respondents. The inconsistency is due to three sources: projection of own behavior onto the group, rescaling the marginal effect of the group, and simple random measurement error. We discuss why each effect may cause inconsistency, derive formulas for the probability limit to quantify their effects, and illustrate with three examples of adolescent smoking and drinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Female adolescent friendship and delinquent behavior.

Young female offenders (n = 29) and female high school students (n = 47) were compared in terms of delinquent behavior and relationships with their best female friend and peer group. Young offenders exhibited significantly more delinquent behavior than did high school students in the past year. Delinquents and nondelinquents did not significantly differ in amount of companionship, conflict, help, security, and closeness with their best female friend, and amount of trust, alienation, and perceived intimacy in their peer group. Less communication and more perceived peer pressure in the peer group distinguished delinquent females from nondelinquent females. Perceived peer pressure significantly predicted delinquent behavior in female adolescents. In short, friendships of delinquent and nondelinquent female adolescents are essentially similar despite higher levels of peer pressure among delinquents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Matrix effects and the accuracy of cholesterol analysis.

We found evidence of bias due to matrix effect in 70% of 37 instrument/reagent-specific systems analyzing the total cholesterol content of a lyophilized proficiency testing material. We used a computational method to remove bias due to matrix effect from the proficiency testing database. After correction for matrix effect bias and when compared with the reference method, 92% to 93% of results for three lyophilized proficiency testing samples analyzed in 1989 and 1990 met the 1992 National Cholesterol Education Program total error goal of 8.9%, and 94% to 95% met the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA '88) goal of 10%. However, compared with the definitive method for total cholesterol, the calibration bias of 41% of 37 peer groups exceeded the 1992 National Cholesterol Education Program goal for bias of 3%. Because the calibration bias of the method is incorporated into the peer group mean, use of peer group means as target values to assess result acceptability hinders advancement of the state of the art in interlaboratory comparability and the clinical effectiveness of laboratory testing. The prevalence of matrix effects has prevented successful application of accuracy-based evaluation of cholesterol test proficiency. The establishment of predictable recovery, preferably complete recovery, of cholesterol from reference materials is an important priority for cholesterol test methods. However, adjustment of proficiency testing results to remove the average bias due to matrix effects can help assess the actual state of the art in cholesterol test accuracy.

Bias↗
PubMed2001

Study of perceived norms, beliefs and intended sexual behaviour among higher secondary school students in India.

The objective of this paper is to understand the intended sexual and condom behaviour patterns among teenage higher secondary school students in India. To achieve this, variables including perceived norms, perceived peer group norms, risk behaviour patterns, perceived chances of getting AIDS and relevant sociodemographic variables were regressed on intended sexual behaviour. Regression of actual sexual behaviour was carried out with perceived norms, perceived peer group norms and intended sexual behaviour as the independent variables. In this paper a conceptual model has been framed based on the theory of reasoned action, health belief model and self-efficacy theory. Cumulative scores are computed for perceived norms, perceived peer group norms, risk behaviour patterns, opinion on handling condoms and perceived chances of getting AIDS. Along with these variables, possible confounding variables such as age, gender, type of family, mother's education and father's education were considered for their effect on intended sexual and condom behaviour. The results revealed that perceived norms and perceived peer group norms showed significant association with intended sexual behaviour and actual sexual behaviour and that children of more highly educated parents are less likely to engage in sexual activities in their adolescent years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Adolescent vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder.

This study found that men who developed posttraumatic stress disorder after combat in Vietnam tended to have been adolescents while in combat. They had formed an intense attachment to other men in their combat unit, which had been disrupted by the death of a buddy. This loss generally was followed by acts of revenge and subsequent feelings of a profound lack of control over their destiny. Adolescents use their peer group as an intermediary stage between dependency on their family and emotional maturity, and the army, particularly under battlefield conditions, maximizes the impact of peer group cohesion. For these younger men, the death of a friend was experienced as the dissolution of the once omnipotent group and as a narcissistic injury. Group psychotherapy for Vietnam veterans allows the partial re-creation of the peer group in the context in which the trauma occurred. The sharing and reliving of common experiences may facilitate entrance into the world of adult relationships, a process that was arrested by the trauma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Long-term effects of educational and peer discussion group interventions on adjustment to breast cancer.

The authors report a 3-year follow-up of the effects of 8-week support group interventions on the quality of life of women with early stage breast cancer. Shortly after diagnosis, women were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: control, education, peer discussion, and education plus peer discussion. The education group intervention focused on providing information to enhance control over the illness experience, whereas the peer discussion group intervention focused on providing emotional support through the expression of feelings. Consistent with the results that emerged 6 months after the interventions (V. S. Helgeson, S. Cohen, R. Schulz, & J. Yasko, 1999), the authors found that the benefits of the education intervention were maintained over a 3-year period (N=252), although effects dissipated with time. The authors continued to find no benefits of the peer discussion intervention, either alone or in combination with education.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

The role of peer affiliations, social, family and individual factors in continuities in cigarette smoking between childhood and adolescence.

The continuity between early smoking experimentation and smoking at age 16 years was analysed for a birth cohort of New Zealand children. This analysis suggested that when due allowance was made for errors in reports of smoking behaviours, there was evidence of relatively strong continuity (r = 0.60) between early smoking experimentation and cigarette smoking at age 16 years. Further analysis suggested that the continuities between early smoking experimentation and later smoking arose from three pathways that linked early smoking experimentation to later smoking. First there was evidence to suggest that children who engaged in early smoking experimentation tended to affiliate with adolescent peer groups whose members smoked. In turn, these peer group affiliations reinforced pre-existing tendencies to cigarette smoking. Secondly, a small component of the apparent continuity between early smoking experimentation and later smoking arose because of common social, individual and contextual factors that were associated with both smoking experimentation and later smoking. Finally, there was evidence of moderate direct continuity in cigarette smoking behaviour over time. The implications of these findings for the development of smoking prevention programmes are discussed and it is concluded that effective programmes need to be embedded in a developmental approach which attempts to reduce both early smoking experimentation and the effects of peer pressure in adolescence on the development of cigarette smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

The design of a stress-management programme for nursing personnel.

This study identifies the stressors and coping strategies of nursing staff (students, trained staff and those who had left the profession before qualification) in a variety of ward specialisms. The research instruments included an open-ended interview concerning pre-nursing experience, perceived stressors and satisfactions, and ways of coping, and psychometric tests of self-esteem, assertion, ways of coping and personality. The five most frequently cited stressors were understaffing, conflict with nurses, dealing with death and dying, overwork and conflict with doctors. Experience of stressors was related to role and seniority of respondents, with different aspects of the same stressor differentially affecting nurses at different levels of experience. Coping strategies also depended on experience. Trained staff showed more use of problem-focused ways of coping, whilst students and leavers relied more on emotion-focused strategies to deal with stressful situations. These differences were related to personality characteristics of respondents and to self-esteem as well as to situational characteristics of the stressful episode. Social support was important in times of work-related stress, with students in particular making good use of peer group support. Respondents were generally lacking in assertiveness and high in anxiety. Although self-esteem was generally high, leavers scored markedly less than other subject groups in the areas of personal and social self-esteem. Leavers had little prior knowledge or experience of nursing before entering training and knew few nurses or doctors: consequently, nursing failed to meet their expectations. Stress was identified as the major cause of attrition and the sources of stress are identified. This study informed a major programme of stress-management training for student nurses which began in 1988 at the North Wales School of Nursing and which is currently under evaluation. It includes relaxation therapy, assertiveness training, and on-going group discussions which foster peer-group support and which explore the stressors and coping strategies relevant to different stages of training and ward specialisms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2001

Theorising the social within physician decision making.

Explores the underlying behavioral processes influencing the clinical behavior of physicians toward their patients. Utilizing educational and social influence explanatory models as a baseline, we sought how each, through peer group settings, would affect clinical specific practice decisions. Focusing on family physicians in Israel who were engaged in ongoing professional peer group meetings, it is suggested that health decisions affecting clinical practice are not universal but particularistic and depend a great deal on the transfer of clinical knowledge through selective social networks. Health managers, utilizing these findings, can therefore intervene in the formation of clinical practice decisions. This can be done primarily through management policy to induce the formation of specific types of peer group social networks.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1989

Prevention of alcohol use and abuse in adolescence: teacher- vs peer-led intervention.

The use of peer leaders as facilitators for smoking and alcohol abuse prevention with adolescents is one component of recently successful programs. Peer leaders are unique in their abilities to influence peer group behavior because they are members of the peer group, are credible role models and disseminators of social information, and utilize the same language as their peers. Peer leaders can be trained to modify environmental, personality, and behavioral factors that are predictive of alcohol use among adolescents, and become a viable alternative to teachers and adult leaders. The WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol Education and Young People compared a peer-led alcohol educational program to a teacher-led program to no program in 25 schools in Australia, Chile, Norway, and Swaziland. The educational program emphasized refusal skills for alcohol use among 8th and 9th graders in the four countries. The peer-led educational program appears to be efficacious in reducing adolescent involvement with alcohol across a variety of settings, economies, and cultures. Peer leadership may be a particularly promising approach to prevention, theoretically and empirically.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

"Direct" and total bilirubin tests: contemporary problems.

In eight unique challenges mailed by The College of American Pathologists Comprehensive Chemistry Survey to participating laboratories within 3 years, results for direct-reacting bilirubin (DBIL) were highly variable among the 12 largest peer groups, and most of the results differed greatly from the values obtained by a referred method. Peer-group mean values for total bilirubin (TBIL) were in much better agreement with each other and with those obtained by the Reference Method for TBIL. From a review of the information on the assay of DBIL provided to us by the manufacturers, we conclude that among the major causes of the large variability and bias in DBIL assays are problems with calibration, lack of a serum blank measurement, inadequate concentrations of HCl in the reaction mixture, inappropriate use of bichromatic correction methods, and possibly the use of wetting agents or surfactants in the reagent. Within-group SDs were small and generally acceptable. The among-peer-group variability in DBIL values is attributable to bias, not imprecision. We recommend several simple changes that could improve the accuracy of DBIL determinations in clinical laboratories.

Bilirubin↗
PubMed2004

Assessment of competencies in physicians-in-training through the delivery of a community-based health curriculum using distance learning.

Academic physicians must master the elements of curriculum development and evaluation specific to defined competencies in postgraduate medical education. Six fellows in primary care medicine, working as a peer group with a faculty mentor, designed and evaluated a distance-learning project that included resident physicians. Professionalism, interpersonal skills and systems-based medical practice skills were measured with original instruments designed by the peer group. By the process of evaluation and revision in a peer-group setting and with mentorship from program faculty, experiential learning enhanced the training of future academic physicians. This paper describes the background, process and statistical results of their work.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2005

Peer-to-peer psychoeducation in schizophrenia: a new approach.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of the first peer-to-peer psychoeducation program in schizophrenia. METHOD: We developed a 5-step curriculum for structured training of peer moderators. In step 1, peer moderators participate in regular psychoeducation, and in step 2, they participate in workshops on knowledge about schizophrenia and moderation techniques. In step 3, peer moderators conduct peer-to-peer groups in the presence of a mental health professional, and in step 4, they conduct the groups independently with regular supervision. Further peer moderators are recruited in step 5. Psychoeducation by trained peer moderators comprises 8 60-minute group sessions (warm-up, symptoms, diagnosis, causes, medication, psychosocial therapy, warning signs, coping with schizophrenia) with 6 to 10 patients per group. The feasibility of the 5-step curriculum was evaluated by conducting a pilot study of 7 peer groups with 2 peer moderators. Evaluation of peer-moderated groups was done from January 2003 to July 2004 using inpatients of a university hospital who had schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder according to ICD-10. The primary outcomes of interest were change in knowledge and concept of illness from baseline to endpoint. RESULTS: Two peer moderators conducted psychoeducational groups with a total of 49 patients in the presence of a physician (step 3). On the whole, conduction of peer-moderated groups worked well. Knowledge of illness increased significantly (N = 44, p < .001), and concept of illness changed significantly in 3 subscales: trust in physician (N = 40, p = .002) and trust in medication (N = 40, p = .001) increased, and negative treatment expectations decreased (N = 40, p = .001). Subjective assessments of peer moderators by participating patients were positive. CONCLUSION: First results suggest that peer-to-peer psychoeducation in schizophrenia according to the 5-step curriculum is feasible and may be comparable to professional psychoeducation in regard to short-term outcomes.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Individual-group behavioral similarity and peer status in experimental play groups of boys: the social misfit revisited.

This study evaluated individual-group similarity and dissimilarity hypotheses generally stipulating that the behavioral correlates of status are moderated by the peer group context in which they are displayed. Thirty play groups of 5 or 6 unacquainted same-age boys participated in five 45-min sessions. Five behaviors described group and individual characteristics: reactive aggression, proactive aggression, solitary play, rough-and-tumble play, and positive interactive behavior. Individual social preference scores were computed following a variant of the J. D. Coie and K. A. Dodge (1983) procedure. The behavioral correlates of emerging peer status were examined as a function of the group's behavioral norms. Evidence of a dissimilarity effect was found for solitary play and reactive aggression whereas positive interactive behavior followed a rule of similarity.

Child↗