IBS Newsletter
June 1999
Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado
Rogers, Richard
, Robert A. Hummer, Charles B. Nam, and Christopher G. Ellison. May, 1999. "Religious Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality." Demography, 36(2), pp. 273-285. The authors use data from the National Health Interview Survey--Multiple Cause of Death linked file to model the association of religious attendance and sociodemographic, health, and behavioral correlates with overall and cause-specific mortality. Religious attendance is associated with US adult mortality in a graded fashion: People who never attend exhibit 1.87 times the risk of death in the follow-up period compared with people who attend more than once a week. This translates into a seven-year difference in life expectancy at age 20 between those who never attend and those who attend more than once a week. Health selectivity is responsible for a portion of the religious attendance effect: People who do not attend church or religious services are also more likely to be unhealthy and, consequently, to die. However, religious attendance also works though increased social ties and behavioral factors to decrease the risks of death. Although the magnitude of the association between religious attendance and mortality varies by cause of death, the direction of the association is consistent across causes.Keith E. Maskus
attended the Joint Sino-US Conference on Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development organized jointly by Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and National Bureau of Asian Research on May 10-12, in Shanghai, China. His invited paper, "Evidence on Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development: A Broader Policy Perspective on China," discusses new evidence on how Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) influence economic development, noting that their benefits and costs depend on the broader structure of competition in the economy. The paper also suggests a number of policy conclusions for China in implementing its stronger IPRs regime.Richard Jessor
was an invited participant in the Conference on Economic Analysis of Risky Behavior Among Youths held at MIT in Cambridge, MA on April 29- May 1. The purpose of the conference was to present economic models analyzing levels and time trends in a variety of adolescent risk behaviors, including crime, substance use, early sexual initiation, depression and suicide, etc., and to have their assumptions and findings critiqued by non-economist behavioral scientists. On May 13-14, Jessor was an invited speaker at a Workshop on Residential Academies for At-Risk Youth organized by the Life Course Center in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Under the previous Governor of Minnesota, Arne Carlson, the legislature allocated $12,000,000 to establish residential academies across the state. The workshop was designed to consider the pros and cons of such an approach to at-risk youth and to advise about how to maximize their potential contributions. Jessor's talk was titled, "Risk and Protective Factors in Adolescent Development."Donovan, John E., Richard Jessor, and Frances M. Costa. 1999. "Adolescent Problem Drinking: Stability of Psychosocial and Behavioral Correlates Across a Generation," Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 60, pp. 352-361. Research conducted in the 1970s demonstrated that Problem Behavior Theory could account for approximately 40% of the variance in problem drinking in both local and national sample studies. The present analyses sought to determine whether the personality, perceived environment, and behavior variables of the framework continue to contribute to the explanation of problem drinking among contemporary American youth. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were performed on six separate databases collected at different times between 1972 and 1992. Due to sociodemographic differences among the samples, separate analyses were performed for male and female adolescents, and age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status were statistically controlled. There was considerable consistency across the samples in both the partial correlations and the partial multiple correlations, and this result held for both genders. Not only did the framework account for the same percentage of the variance (40%) in problem drinking in the 1992 data as it did in the 1972 data, but the results for the intervening years were consistent as well. The consistency of results over a 20-year period confirms that the social-psychological meaning of adolescent involvement in problem drinking has remained stable despite changes in the larger sociohistorical context.
Tonya Aultman-Bettridge
conducted a workshop on Youth Violence Trends and Risks Prevalence at the 12th Annual Crossroads Conference held May 2 in Vail. She also participated in the Colorado Trust's Violence Prevention Initiative Statewide Network meeting held April 28-29 at Copper Mountain Resorts.Tonya Aultman-Bettridge
and Tiffany Shaw traveled to Montrose, Colorado as representatives of both the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence and the University's Outreach Program, "CU in Residence." Aultman-Bettridge was the guest speaker for the joint service clubs luncheon on April 27. She delivered a presentation on the Trends and Patterns of Youth Violence. Shaw hosted a CSPV exhibit at the community's violence prevention conference, "A Safe Community for All Ages," on April 28. Shaw also conducted a workshop on program evaluation.In mid-May, Charles W. Howe was a participant in the workshop "Designing Effective Assessments of Global Environmental Issues: What is Being Learned?" sponsored by Harvard University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. The workshop's objective was to share experiences with regional and global assessment projects such as the European acid rain project and follow-up to the Montreal protocol. John Wiener attended the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Investigators' Meeting, Economic and Human Dimensions Program in Tucson, AZ on April 25-29. He gave a presentation of his research proposal for exploratory assessment of potential for improved water management by increased use of climate information in three western states.
Mary Fran Myers
met with the International Joint Commission's Red River Basin Task Force on May 4, in Grand Forks, ND, to present the findings of a six-month study to assess the impact of recovery assistance provided in the wake of 1997 floods on long-term flood resilience in the Basin. She was joined by her colleague, Robert Tait, Director of the University of Manitoba's Disaster Research Institute. The bi-lateral study concluded that while some recovery assistance did contribute to long-term resiliency to a certain extent, there was much more opportunity for using recovery assistance to foster future flood resiliency than was used after the 1997 floods.If you have computing problems, questions, or comments send e-mail to SSDAC@Colorado.EDU.
The recent shootings at Columbine High School have generated
front-page headlines as have other sensational episodes of youth
violence over the past few years. There is a louder outcry among the
public for investments in youth programs that might prevent such
tragedies in the future. The Center for the Study and Prevention of
Violence (CSPV), part of IBS's Problem Behavior Program, has been
working on a project for the last 3-1/2 years to design and launch a
national violence prevention initiative to identify and replicate
violence prevention programs that are effective.
The project, called Blueprints for Violence Prevention, identifies ten exemplary violence prevention programs based upon a review and recommendation from a distinguished Advisory Board, comprised of six experts in the field of violence prevention. These programs meet a strict scientific standard of program effectiveness, including experimental or quasi-experimental designs with matched control groups, evidence of significant deterrent effects on violence, delinquency, or substance use with a sustained effect at least one year beyond treatment, and multiple site replication. To date, more than 450 programs have been reviewed, and the Center continues to look for programs which meet the selection criteria.
A book has been developed by CSPV, in collaboration with each
program designer, for each of the Blueprints programs. Each book
describes the core elements of the Blueprints program, theoretical
rationale, targeted populations, risk and protective factors affected,
planning and implementation issues, evaluation findings, and
replication issues. The books, in essence, provide important
information for an agency to determine if they have the organizational
capacity to implement the program successfully.
CSPV, through two Cooperative Agreements with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is offering training and technical assistance to sites nationwide that desire to implement the Blueprints programs. Under the first Cooperative Agreement, training and technical assistance will be provided to 50 sites for nine of the Blueprints programs. Site selection is currently underway. Applications for technical assistance may be submitted to CSPV through September 30, 1999. While working with the program designers to deliver training and technical assistance, CSPV will conduct a process evaluation at each site to determine the integrity of program delivery.
The second Cooperative Agreement between CSPV and OJJDP will provide training and technical assistance, as well as program materials, to approximately 70 schools/ school districts that desire to implement Life Skills Training (LST), a drug prevention program that targets middle/junior high students. CSPV has already begun 15 implementations of this program through a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by OJJDP in December, 1998. A second RFP has recently been issued to identify additional sites. CSPV is working with Dr. Gilbert Botvin at Cornell University to deliver this program to the selected sites. CSPV will conduct a process evaluation at each site. Additionally, the sites selected under the second RFP will become part of a national evaluation of LST, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
In addition to the Blueprints programs, 15 other programs have been identified as "Promising." There has been a great deal of interest from several of the federal agencies to conduct the type of evaluations that might provide the evidence necessary to elevate these programs to the status of "Blueprints." The Centers for Disease Control and OJJDP are committed to this goal and have promised funding for replication and evaluation of several of the Promising programs.
As the demand for research-based programs gains momentum, more and more states, agencies, and schools are seeking effective alternatives for their youth violence problems. Blueprints for Violence Prevention offers a core set of programs that target ages spanning from infancy through the high school years. Five of the programs are school based, one is a community mentoring program, one a prenatal and infancy home visitation program, and three programs are designed to treat chronic and serious juvenile offenders.
For more information contact: Sharon Mihalic (Project Director), Abigail Fagan, Diane Hansen, Katie Irwin (Program Managers), at 303-492-1032 or email blueprints@colorado.edu. Their Web site is http://www:colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints.
The Women's Forum of Colorado Foundation, Inc. is proud to announce nine $1000 scholarship grants for the Fall of 1999 to women in graduate studies at a Colorado institute. The scholarships are intended for such items as tuition, educational materials, laboratory fees, and research costs based on the demonstrated need of the applicant. Applicants must be citizens of the United States and be accepted in a graduate program at an accredited Colorado college or university. Applicants may be in their final year. Information and application form are available on IBS #1 bulletin board or contact Ruth Edwards, 955 Bungalow Court, Fort Collins, 80521, phone: 970-490-1894, email: redwards@lamar.colostate.edu. The application deadline is June 30, 1999.
(Not Problem Behavior Program as stated in printed May 1999 IBS Newsletter)
J.V. O'Loughlin, E.S. Greenberg, R. Jessor, J. Menken, and L.A. Staeheli