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Natural disasters increase nicotine dependence and cigarette consumption, but the exact mechanisms and conditions responsible for this increase are relatively unclear. This study explored whether posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms were pathways to increased nicotine dependence and cigarette consumption after disaster exposure using a representative sample of current smokers who were living in New Orleans at the time Hurricane Katrina struck (n = 175), and a comparison sample of smokers from Memphis (n = 222) who were not directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina. We assessed whether nicotine dependence and daily cigarette consumption differed by city and evaluated potential mediators and moderators of this association using conditional process analysis. Results showed that though nicotine dependence (B = 0.46, SE = 0.20, p = .02) and average daily cigarette consumption (B = 2.19, SE = 0.80, p = .01) were higher among New Orleans than Memphis smokers 27 months after Hurricane Katrina, hurricane exposure did not indirectly affect nicotine dependence and average daily cigarette consumption through increases in posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms. Smokers who are exposed to disasters may not be increasing their cigarette use and their dependency on nicotine because of post-disaster psychological distress. Future studies should investigate other mechanisms and conditions to explain post-disaster changes in smoking behavior.

Utilizing a sample of 400 homeless street youth, the study draws on the social schematic theory of crime to examine if childhood trauma (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, and sex...

OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether racial disparities in depression were present after Hurricane Katrina. METHOD Data were gathered from 932 New Orleans residents who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and who returned to New Orleans the following year. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated racial differences in screening positive for depression (a score ≥16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), and explored whether differential vulnerability (prehurricane physical and mental health functioning and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support moderated and/or reduced the association of race with depression. RESULTS A univariate logistic regression analysis showed the odds for screening positive for depression were 86% higher for African Americans than for Caucasians (odds ratio [OR] = 1.86 [1.28-2.71], p = .0012). However, after controlling simultaneously for sociodemographic characteristics, preexisting vulnerabilities, social support, and trauma-specific factors, race was no longer a significant correlate for screening positive for depression (OR = 1.54 [0.95-2.48], p = .0771). CONCLUSIONS The racial disparity in postdisaster depression seems to be confounded by sociodemographic characteristics, preexisting vulnerabilities, social support, and trauma-specific factors. Nonetheless, even after adjusting for these factors, there was a nonsignificant trend effect for race, which could suggest race played an important role in depression outcomes following Hurricane Katrina. Future studies should examine these associations prospectively, using stronger assessments for depression, and incorporate measures for discrimination and segregation, to further understand possible racial disparities in depression after Hurricane Katrina. (PsycINFO Database Record

As a supplemental component of a larger confidential analysis of police sexual misconduct (PSM) in “Central City”, this study examines news accounts of PSM events in seven comparable metropolitan cities in the United States. Google search was used to identify media news reports to estimate PSM, standardized for city population and size of police force. Findings indicate that PSM rates vary by city, events typically implicate a male officer and a female victim, and most media reports involved an arrest that may signal under-reporting. Observation of commonalities across the sample cities informs discussion of the need for transparency and preventative measures.

Public policy on violence prevention has increasingly focused on early childhood interventions to reduce violence over the life course. This paper examines public attitudes toward funding of programs in schools to enhance learning and to reduce violence. The data come from telephone surveys in a large Southern US City collected from 2004 to 2007. The paper explores the relationship between public funding of programs and increased taxes for programs. PLUM Ordinal Regression models were used to predict attitudes toward prevention programs controlling for demographic variables and political affiliation. Implications of these findings are discussed for understanding of attitudes toward school-based programs and their funding.

Background Smoking relapse is rarely examined in disaster research. Thus, this study investigated smoking relapse nine and eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina and identified pathways and conditions for this outcome. Methods The data came from a prospective study of adult ever smokers who were living in New Orleans at the time Hurricane Katrina struck (n = 1003), and a comparison sample of Memphis residents (n = 1001) who were not directly impacted by the hurricane. Participants from both cities were recruited using random digit dialing and were surveyed nine and eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina. We assessed whether smoking relapse rates differed by city and evaluated potential mediators and moderators of this association using conditional process analysis. Results Though the probabilities of smoking relapse, posttraumatic stress, and depressive symptoms were higher among New Orleans than Memphis participants, hurricane exposure did not indirectly affect smoking relapse through increases in posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms. Instead, as the number of hurricane-related events increased so to did the probability of smoking relapse through increases in depressive (β = 0.08, SE = 0.03, p = .02) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (β=0.08, SE=0.04, p = .04). Social support lowered the probability of smoking relapse by protecting against increases in depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Conclusions Posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms mediated the effects of disaster exposure on smoking relapse, and this effect was most pronounced among survivors who reported disaster-related stressors. Former smokers heavily exposed to disasters may benefit from postdisaster interventions that reduce depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms, which may prevent smoking relapse.

Student plagiarism is a rampant practice and major concern in higher education. How students perceive the overarching American cultural values and their impact on the practice will inform educators and help them to better combat the practice. It is also valuable for educators to know whether the students perceive the practice to be part of the dominant culture, currently, on college campuses. This study reports perceptions of plagiarism by students in an introductory sociology course. Open-ended questions explored perceptions of extent, justifications, and American values affecting plagiarism. Participants were clear on definitions and seriousness, but most were able to justify the behavior and identify American values contributing to or deterring the practice. Findings were consistent across gender, course grade, class standing, and college major. The authors discuss the cultural values students use as justifications for plagiarizing and the larger implications for higher education.

Growth in large courses, particularly in public higher education institutions, poses a number of critical challenges within the context of dramatic increases in Internet use in the larger society. Now students find it easy to copy others’ work without citation, extension, or application of critical thinking skills. If not appropriately addressed, such plagiarism threatens the very authenticity of the educational experience, with such concerns as quality and effectiveness of instruction seeming almost irrelevant. This research focuses on the design of writing assignments to detect and prevent plagiarism. Three types of writing assignments were examined using the “Turnitin” detection system to gauge potential plagiarism. The conclusion is that faculty can design assignments to mitigate plagiarism.

Prisons in the Southern United States are among the most underfunded, understaffed, and crowded in the nation. This study seeks to identify how Alabama state correctional officers experienced crowding related to their mental and physical health and safety. A total of 66 correctional officers at 3 Alabama men’s prisons are surveyed about crowding in relation to job performance, health and safety, and inmate control. Respondents at all facilities, which had occupancy rates between 154% and 206% of capacity, report high levels of stress and impaired job performance due to understaffing and overwork. Officers at the most crowded prison are most stressed and fearful of inmates. In the absence of policies to reduce density or increase staffing in prisons, new strategies are urgently needed to reduce occupational stress among officers in crowded correctional facilities.

Criminologists have shown much interest in the distribution, causes, and consequences of fear of crime, but few studies have examined trends in fear. Using data from the Winnipeg Area Study from 1984, 1994, and 2004, and official crime data from the Winnipeg Police Service, we examine trends in fear of crime and compare them to reported crime. Fear of crime is evaluated by using an index compiled from five offence-specific indicators that asks how worried people are about becoming victims of theft, burglary, armed robbery, fraud, and sexual assault. Bonferonni procedures and regression methods are used to assess differences in fear of crime. The results show that respondents report low levels of fear of crime over the 20-year period. The results also indicate a lack of correspondence between fear of crime and official measures of crime. These findings challenge the use of fear of crime measures by policy makers seeking to evaluate criminal justice initiatives.

Utilizing a sample of 125 male street youths, the article examines how homelessness and deviant lifestyles increase exposure to conflict and how the interactional dynamics of these disputes lead to violence and victimization. Results indicate that street youths' deviant peers leave them more likely to perceive harm and to use force to settle disputes. Perceptions of harm and the willingness to use force to settle a dispute are also associated with drug use, the gender of the harmdoer, and the intensity of the conflict. In turn, drug use, deviant peers, and the willingness to use force are associated with increases in violence as an offender; and this violence, along with alcohol use, is associated with victimization. Findings are discussed in terms of how lifestyle and dispute context and evolution are important to understanding street youths' conflict and victimization.

Utilizing a sample of 400 homeless street youths, the paper explores the role control balance plays in the generation of crime. Using vignettes designed to represent violent crime, serious property crime, and minor property crime, the paper tests whether these youths sense of control over their poverty, shelter, hunger and other living conditions influences their participation in crime. Further, it examines how perceptions of risk and thrill, as well as deviant values, self‐control, deviant histories, and peer support impact on crime. Results indicate that both control deficits and control surpluses were related to assault and serious theft but not minor theft. Perceptions of thrill, deviant peers, deviant histories, and deviant values predicted violent and property crime, and perceptions of risk were related to the property offenses. Criminal peers also conditioned the impact of control surpluses and deficits on property offenses. Results are discussed in terms of future research and policy.

Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) propose that low self-control is a cause of criminal behavior. Several recent studies showed mixed support for the theory and called for researchers to examine proximate causes that might intercede between self-control and criminality including lifestyle and the social circumstances of criminal events. Utilizing a sample of 125 homeless male street youths, this study explored how low self-control, risky lifestyles, and street youths' reactions to situations influenced their participation in a range of violent behaviors both as offenders and victims. Results revealed that certain sub-scales of low self-control influenced the way street youth react to criminal events and the likelihood that they would become an offender or victim. Lifestyle and situational dynamics of conflicts also influenced people's propensity to become involved in violence. This suggests that learned repertoires for aggression and situational dynamics can mediate the effects of low self-control.

Background A number of practice guidelines and recommendations call for the assessment of childhood abuse history among adult medical patients. The cultural sensitivity of screening questions, however, has not been examined. Objective To assess whether questions that inquire about childhood abuse history function differently for black and white patients. Design Cross-sectional telephone surveys in 1997 and 2003. Subjects Randomly sampled adults from Memphis, Tenn (1997, N = 832; 2003, N = 967). Measurements Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse scales of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire–Short Form (CTQ-SF). Standardized mean difference technique for differential item functioning to assess for possible bias in CTQ-SF items. Results Controlling for total physical abuse scale scores, black respondents were significantly (P

Although blacks are more likely than whites to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a natural disaster, the reasons for this disparity are unclear. This study explores whether race is associated with PTSD after adjusting for differences in preexisting vulnerabilities, exposure to stressors, and loss of social support due to Hurricane Katrina using a representative sample of 279 black and white adult current and past smokers who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and identified it as the most traumatic event in their lifetime. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated whether differential vulnerability (pre-hurricane physical and mental health functioning, and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support deterioration reduced the association of race with PTSD. Blacks were more likely than whites to screen positive for PTSD (49 vs. 39 %, respectively, p = 0.030). Although blacks reported greater pre-hurricane vulnerability (worse mental health functioning and lower educational attainment) and hurricane-related stressor exposure and had less social support after the hurricane, only pre-hurricane mental health functioning attenuated the association of race with screening positive for PTSD. Thus, racial differences in pre-hurricane functioning, particularly poorer mental health, may partially explain racial disparities in PTSD after natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina. Future studies should examine these associations prospectively using representative cohorts of black and whites and include measures of residential segregation and discrimination, which may further our understanding of racial disparities in PTSD after a natural disaster.

Using a sample of 125 homeless male street youth, we examine the formation of values that support violence and how these attitudes influence violence under different situational conditions. Findings indicate that abusive backgrounds, anger, violent peers, and the successful use of violence as a conflict management strategy are important in understanding the acquisition of values that support violence. These subcultural values in turn make street youths more sensitive to harm in dispute situations, and leave them more likely to demand reparation for harm and to persevere and use force to settle disputes. These youths are more likely to become immersed in disputes in which conflict is intense and which involve male harmoders. Finally, they are more likely to escalate conflict in public places. We discuss findings in terms of experiences and expectations that these youths bring to social interactions.

Interpretation of research on the prevalence and sequelae of childhood trauma has been hindered by the use of assessment instruments with unknown psychometric properties. Thus, we examined the psychometric properties of a new childhood trauma measure, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The CTQ has demonstrated strong psychometric properties in clinical samples; limited information exists on its psychometric properties in community samples. Therefore, we explored the factor structure and reliability of the CTQ in a community sample and calculated normative data. Consistent with previous literature, a 5-factor model best described the CTQ, with a hierarchical model also providing excellent fit. Additionally, the CTQ demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Overall, our findings suggest that the CTQ is appropriate for use in a community sample.

Meta-analysis of evaluation studies of rape education programs aimed at college students examined which program characteristics were related to participants’ rape-supportive attitude change. Linear regression analyses revealed that: (a) published studies yielded greater attitude change than dissertations, presentations, or unpublished studies; (b) attitude change declined over time; and (c) men in mixed-gender groups experienced less attitude change after interventions than men in single-gender groups. Implications for the development of effective rape education programs are discussed.

This study uses state-level and city-level data from the U.S. to assess the relationship between the homicide rate and the motor-vehicle fatality rate. The analysis of ecological data for a multiyear period reveals that there is a mild to moderate relationship between homicide rates and traffic-fatality rates. The limitations of ecological data are discussed. The authors argue that law enforcement can play a minor but significant role in determining the level of each type of fatality and that public perception of police activity is important. Police are most visible in their patrol and traffic functions and research suggests that controlling traffic flow has an effect on crime. Alternatively, the traffic equivalent to “broken windows” might be “crumpled fenders.” Lack of enforcement may send a signal to residents that police are absent or uncaring, leading not only to a disregard of the traffic safety rules and to higher accident rates but also to higher rates of crime in the community generally, as reflected through the homicide statistics.

We examined data from a community survey of trauma exposure and DSM-IV PTSD in Winnipeg, Canada to explore factors associated with the higher rate of PTSD in women than men. Women were found to be at significantly increased risk for PTSD following exposure to serious trauma (odds ratio approximately 5), even when sexual trauma--which predominates in women--was excluded (odds ratio approximately 3). Adjusting for gender differences in the number of lifetime traumata, or in the likelihood of the trauma being associated with particular reactions to or consequences of the event (i.e. thinking that one would be killed or seriously injured; sustaining a serious physical injury; seeing someone else seriously injured or killed) did not result in a lessening of the PTSD risk in women. Women were found to be at increased risk for PTSD following nonsexual assaultive violence (e.g. mugging or other physical attack) but not following non-assaultive trauma (e.g. fire, witnessing injury to others). Understanding the basis of (and parameters for) this increased susceptibility to PTSD in women compared to men following trauma exposure should be a priority for future traumatic stress research.

Interpersonal conflict resolution among college students at a university in the American South was examined. Situational and cultural factors were investigated in an attempt to explain variations in the use of violence. A factorial survey was used to gauge how students would react to school-related conflict, street crime, confrontation in a leisure setting, and domestic abuse. Results suggested gender differences in participants' likelihood to become upset in disputes; the effects of structural position on aggression were strongest in male–male confrontations. Calls to the police were more likely from male–female confrontations. The results highlight the importance of situational analysis for an improved understanding of violence and the role of formal agencies in dispute processes.

Gottfredson and Hirschi's A General Theory of Crime proposes that low self-control is a cause of criminal behavior. Several recent studies, showing mixed support, test this theory for understanding crime and imprudent behavior. In this paper we reassess the general theory of crime and highlight the importance of proximate causes, including routine conflict, in explaining the propensity toward violence. Drawing from the insights provided by routine activities theory, we operationalize risky behavior. We analyze data collected in 1994 in a survey of respondents from two Canadian provinces. Our results show that elements of low self-control do not directly affect crime, although measures of self-control have strong effects on imprudent behavior which relate, in turn, to offending. Adding measures of proximate causes, we are better able to understand criminal offending and victimization by respecifying the general theory of crime.

Based on data collected in 1994 from a factorial survey of 2052 respondents, this paper examines how routine conflict may escalate into aggression taking into account social context and characteristics of the victim and offender. Following Luckenbill and Doyle's (1989) suggestion, we developed a series of scenarios to examine the influence of structural position on the emergence of disputes and the legitimation of aggression. The analysis reveals a direct relationship between the intensity of an attack with the emergence of a dispute and the legitimation of aggression. Results indicate that situational aspects of structural position do not extend beyond sex differences. This emphasizes the generalizing effect of male on male confrontation in the legitimation of aggression. The strengths and limitations of scenario-based research for understanding violence in society are discussed.

Objective: The goal of this study was to gain a broader perspective on social anxiety in the community than has been achieved by epidemiologic surveys to date. Method: The authors conducted a telephone survey ofsocial anxiety among 526 randomly selected respondents in a medium-sized Canadian city. Results: Sixty-one percent of the respondents reported being much or somewhat more anxious than other people in at least one ofthe seven social situations surveyed. Speaking to a large audience (i.e., public speaking) was the most frequently feared situation (endorsed by 55.0% of the respondents), followed by speaking to a small group of familiar people (24.9%), dealing with people in authority (23.3 %), attending social gatherings (14.5%), speaking to strangers or meeting new people (1 3. 7%), and eating (7. 1 %) or writing (5. 1 %) in front of others. When the threshold for caseness was systematically modified-by altering the required level ofpsychosocial interference or distress or by including or excluding subjects with pure public speaking phobia-the rate of “social anxiety syndrome “ in the community varied from 1.9% to 1 8. 7%; 7. 1 % was the prevalence when the criteria were set to conform with DSM-III-R. Conclusions: Social anxiety is common in the community, but precise delineation of the prevalence of “social phobia “ depends heavily on where the diagnostic threshold is set. IfDSM-III-R criteria had been applied in previous epidemiologic studies, it is likely that those studies would have documented prevalences ofsocial phobia that are several times as high as the currently accepted rates.

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire short form (CTQ-SF) with street youth who have run away or been expelled from their homes ( N = 397). Internal reliability coefficients for the five clinical scales ranged from .65 to .95. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the five-factor structure of the scales yielding acceptable fit for the total sample. Additional multigroup analyses were performed to consider items by gender. Results provided only evidence of weak factorial invariance. Constrained models showed invariance in configuration, factor loadings, and factor covariances but failed for equality of intercepts. Mean trauma scores for street youth tended to fall in the moderate to severe range on all abuse/neglect clinical scales. Females reported higher levels of abuse and neglect. Prevalence of child maltreatment of individual forms was very high with 98% of street youth reporting one or more forms; 27.4% of males and 48.9% of females reported all five forms. Results of this study support the viability of the CTQ-SF for screening maltreatment in a highly vulnerable street population. Caution is recommended when comparing prevalence estimates for male and female street youth given the failure of the strong factorial multigroup model.

Of concern to many who study criminality of all kinds is the high level of known abuse in a climate of noninvolvement by others. The research reported in this paper clearly indicates that noninvolvement in spousal assault cases is not dependent on low levels of knowledge of the problem, as many people admit to being aware of its occurrence among relatives, friends, and neighbors. This knowledge does vary, however, by location of the respondents with strong effects of nonmetropolitan residents expressing greater knowledge of the occurrence of this violence than people living in urban areas. We find this in the context of lower levels of self-reported victimization. It could be that these lower levels reflect a reluctance on the part of nonmetropolitan women to admit to researchers that they are victims of this problem. Or, it could suggest that these women have access to a more intricate network of support from friends and family who become involved in discussing this problem with the victims and helping them to reduce its incidence.

Scientific investigation of resilient responses to stress and trauma has the potential to inform models of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of stress-related psychiatric disorders (e.g. posttraumatic stress disorder). Despite building interest in and investigation of resilience, many basic questions regarding this construct remain unstudied. This study contributes to the empirical literature on resilience by providing novel information on the distribution and correlates of stress resilience in the general community. A well-validated self-report measure of resilience was completed by a large sample ( N = 764) of respondents to a telephone-based community survey that also included questions about demographics and history of childhood maltreatment. Multiple regression analyses showed that several demographic characteristics (sex, education level, and income level) uniquely predicted subjects’ resilience to stress and that, taken together, these factors explained approximately 11% of the variance in resilience. Reported history of childhood maltreatment independently contributed to prediction of resilience and explained an additional 2% of the variance in this trait. While females, individuals with lower levels of education and income, and individuals with histories of childhood maltreatment reported diminished resilience overall, the majority of variance in the resilience measure was left unexplained leaving much room for other variables to influence a person’s resilience to stress. Relationships of the present results to other research on resilient and pathological stress responses are discussed, as well as implications of these findings for future investigations of resilience.

From Kennedy, L.W., and Forde, D.R. (1990). Routine activities and crime: An analysis of victimization in Canada. Criminology, 28, 137-152.Miethe, Stafford, and Long (1987) have suggested that there are strong interaction effects between demographic characteristics of victims and certain routine activities that occur at night and away from home, but only for victims of property crime. This same pattern does not appear for victims of violent crime, they maintain, because unlike property crime, violent crime often involves interpersonal conflict and disagreement and is therefore spontaneous. Using data from the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey, which contains detailed measures of routine activities not available in the9.1 Abstract 217 9.2 Introduction 218 9.3 Review of Literature 218 9.4 The Study 220 9.5 Measures of Crime 220 9.6 Individual Characteristics 221 9.7 Group Characteristics 222 9.8 Findings 2229.8.1 Impact of Individual-Level Characteristics and Routine Activities on Victimization 2229.8.2 Impact of Urban Structure on Routine Activities and Victimization 2259.9 Discussion and Conclusions 229U.S. study by Miethe and colleagues, this study finds contrary evidence that suggests that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain lifestyles. This is particularly true for certain demographic groups, particularly young males. The findings are considered in the light of the literature focusing on the interaction between situation and personality and the importance of the resulting conflict styles in promoting or reducing the opportunity for crime in certain settings and under certain conditions.

A number of practice guidelines and recommendations call for the assessment of childhood abuse in adult medical patients, but none specifies how best to do this. The objective of this study was to use evidence from 2 community-based population samples to evaluate abuse-screening questions that are often asked in medical clinics and to identify a small set of questions to improve screening practices. Methods: The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF) was administered in 2 randomized telephone interview surveys with adults aged 18 to 65 years. Results: A total of 880 (2003 survey) and 998 (1997 survey) respondents completed the CTQ-SF in the 2 surveys. In both surveys, the rates of physical (16% and 15%), emotional (31% and 29%), and sexual (10% and 9%) abuse elicited using 3 behaviorally descriptive items in each abuse category were approximately twice the rates elicited using the explicit labeling terms physically abused (8% and 8%), emotionally abused (15% and 13%), or sexually abused (5% and 5%) (P

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated whether histories of childhood physical or sexual abuse were reported more frequently in a clinical sample of patients with anxiety disorders than in a matched community comparison sample. METHOD: A standardized interview with an extensive series of trauma probes was administered to 125 patients with DSM-IV anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social phobia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder) and to 125 age- and gender-matched subjects drawn from a random community sample. RESULTS: Childhood physical abuse was higher among both men (15.5%) and women (33.3%) with anxiety disorders than among comparison subjects (8.1%). Childhood sexual abuse was higher among women with anxiety disorders (45.1%) than among comparison women (15.4%) and was higher among women with panic disorder (60.0%) than among women with other anxiety disorders (30.8%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm the association between anxiety disorders and reported childhood physical and sexual abuse and extend earlier findings by pointing to a particular association between sexual abuse and panic disorder in women. Language: en

This article is part of a special issue reflecting on what people have learned about violence and trauma over the past 20 years and where we need to go in the next 10 years. The author emphasizes the importance of learning to communicate in order to form effective community partnerships. Evidence-based research is noted as a methodological innovation for policy research. Looking to the future, the author suggests that it will be important for crime prevention researchers to not just rely on Internet-based library searches so that they may avoid problems of innumeracy and ahistoricism.

Purpose: This study had two aims: (1) to determine the prevalence of five categories of retrospectively reported childhood maltreatment in an adult community sample and (2) to examine relationships between three theoretically and practically chosen demographic variables and childhood maltreatment. Method: Participants were a representative sample of 967 adult men and women in the metropolitan Memphis, Tennessee area. They completed a telephone survey that included a reliable, valid questionnaire assessing five types of childhood maltreatment (i.e., emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse) and demographic questions. Simultaneous logistic regression analyses were used to identify demographic correlates of specific trauma types. Results: Prevalence of childhood maltreatment ranged from approximately 30% for women to over 40% for men. Approximately 13% of participants reported multiple forms of maltreatment. The most common forms of trauma for both men and women were physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional abuse, all of which were highly likely to co-occur. Race, sex, and current educational level were each associated with an increased likelihood of childhood maltreatment; differential relationships with particular maltreatment types were also observed. Implications: These findings highlight the importance of research on the prevalence of and risks for multiple types of childhood maltreatment, particularly in the somewhat neglected area of emotional abuse and neglect. These findings can be used to highlight the need for preventive interventions aimed at the negative sequelae of childhood maltreatment and to tailor preventive interventions to the needs and expectations of those at high risk.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the authors conducted a telephone survey of 2,261 adults in four regions of Canada. METHOD: Trained lay interviewers administered a modified version of the OCD section of the Comprehensive International Diagnostic Interview. A subsample of respondents with probable cases and probable subclinical cases of OCD was then blindly reinterviewed by research personnel experienced in the assessment of OCD, using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, to confirm the diagnosis and gauge the severity of OCD. RESULTS: The weighted 1-month prevalence of OCD in the entire sample according to the lay interviews was 3.1%. Upon clinical reappraisal, the 1-month prevalence estimate of OCD dropped to 0.6%; an additional 0.6% had subclinical OCD. The mean Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score of the individuals with OCD was 19.0 (SD = 4.6, median = 21); for those with subclinical OCD, the mean score was 15.4 (SD = 2.4, median = 14). Common reasons for overdiagnosis of OCD by the lay interviewers were inappropriate labeling of worries or concerns as obsessions and overestimating the degree of interference or distress attributable to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: OCD, while hardly a rare condition, may be somewhat less prevalent than had been believed on the basis of previous surveys. Additional studies are needed to substantiate these findings and to delineate precisely the extent of disability and reduced quality of life attributable to OCD (and OCD variants) in the community.

OBJECTIVE: Full and partial posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma exposure were examined in a community sample in order to determine their prevalence and their relative importance and functional significance. METHOD: A standardized telephone interview with a series of trauma probes and a DSM-IV PTSD checklist was administered to a random sample of 1,002 persons in a midsized Midwestern Canadian city. The authors determined current (i.e., 1-months) prevalence rates of full PTSD, i.e., all DSM-IV criteria, and partial PTSD, i.e., fewer than the required number of DSM-IV criterion C symptoms (avoidance/numbing) or criterion D symptoms (increased arousal). Additional questions about interference with functioning were also posed. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of full PTSD was 2.7% for women and 1.2% for men. The prevalence of partial PTSD was 3.4% for women and 0.3% for men. Interference with work or school was significantly more pronounced in persons with full PTSD than in those with only partial symptoms, although the latter were significantly more occupationally impaired than traumatized persons without PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings in an epidemiologic sample underscore observations from patient and military groups that many traumatized persons suffer from a subsyndromal form of PTSD. These persons with partial PTSD, although somewhat less impaired than persons with the full syndrome, nonetheless exhibit clinically meaningful levels of functional impairment in association with their symptoms. This subthreshold form of PTSD may be especially prevalent in women. Additional study of partial PTSD is warranted. Language: en

Background: Recent epidemiologic studies have revealed that social phobia is more prevalent than has been previously believed. An unresolved issue is the extent to which public-speaking fears constitute a recognizable form of social phobia in a community sample and, moreover, to what extent these fears are associated with functional morbidity. Methods: To examine the prevalence and impact of public-speaking fears and their relationship to social phobia in a community sample, we conducted a randomized telephone survey of 499 residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a medium-sized midwestern metropolitan area. Results: One third of the respondents reported that they had excessive anxiety when they spoke to a large audience. The onset of fears was early (ie, 50%, 75%, and 90% by the ages of 13, 17, and 20 years, respectively). Anxious cognitions about public speaking included the following fears: doing or saying something embarrassing (64%), one's mind going blank (74%), being unable to continue talking (63%), saying foolish things or not making sense (59%), and trembling, shaking, or showing other signs of anxiety (80%). In total, 10% (n=49) of the respondents reported that public-speaking anxiety had resulted in a marked interference with their work (2%), social life (1%), or education (4%), or had caused them marked distress (8%). Twenty-three persons (5%) had public-speaking anxiety in isolation (ie, without evidence of additional kinds of social fears). Conclusions: These data support the inclusion of severe forms of public-speaking fears within the social phobia construct and, furthermore, suggest that publicspeaking anxiety may have a detrimental impact on the lives of many individuals in the community.

Using data for 50 states (1980–1996), regression analyses with control for population size showed homicide rates predicted traffic fatality rates and traffic fatalities predicted homicide rates. Population size was inversely correlated with traffic fatality rates and directly with homicide rates, supporting prior work of Lester and of Spivak and suggesting further work on incivilities is desirable.

Area studies-multiple-topic cross-sectional surveys repeated regularly in a communityprovide a vehicle for teaching graduate students practical survey research methodology as well as promoting social science research (see Schuman 1977). The way in which an area study is integrated into a sociology department's instructional programs influences the balance of opportunities for graduate students' participation and professional advancement with the basic goal of research production. The incorporation of an applied sociology training component into the graduate curriculum receives little direct attention in many departments (Kotarba 1990). Survey research training for graduate students often takes a back seat to the consumption and production of social science research. Yet in view of the

Homicide in Canada is regionally distributed, rising from east to west. This study demonstrates a reduction in the regional effect through a convergence in homicide rates between eastern, central, and western Canada in Census Metropolitan Areas with higher levels of inequality and social disorganization. The implications of the findings for research on homicide rates are discussed.

This article describes how to use a review of the literature on crime and criminality to teach about research problems in an undergraduate sociology course. Students examined a subset of the original articles summarized in a review to evaluate the authors' research. A focus on the ways in which to study crime showed how measurement issues influenced the conclusions drawn about criminal behavior. We encouraged students to identify and interpret the possible causes of social behavior. To demonstrate how to develop and test causal models, we introduced pictorial representations of simple and multivariate models.

The social sciences have seen a marked increase in the use of logistic regression for the analysis of dichotomous dependent variables. Walsh (1987) provides a very good non-technical introduction to the use and interpretation of logit models, but he has incorrectly reported on the method for calculating a pseudo R-squared which is an important statistic for evaluating an overall model fit. An example is provided below, using SPSSx logistic regression, to show a method for the correct calcultion of pseudo R-squared. The Pearson goodness of fit chi-square reported in SPSSX varies so that a large value of chi-square indicates a poor fit to the data. Walsh (1987, p.182) has used this chi-square to calculate a pseudo R-squared and has suggested that the fit will "vary from 0 to 1, approaching 1 as the quality of fit improves." Table 1 shows the results of an example available in the SPSSX User's Guide (1988, p. 815). This example is compared with results where the values for the independent variable have been replaced using a random numbers table. The purpose of this substitution is to produce a poor fitting model with the data. The Pearson chi-square in the original model is not significant and indicates an acceptable fit of the model to the data. As we would expect, the chi-square in the random numbers model is significant indicating a poor overall fit. Calculations of pseudo R-squared as described by Walsh shows that there is a higher value where the quality of fit is in fact lower. Unfortunately, Walsh has not heeded the warning of Aldrich and Nelson (1984, p. 56) that canned programs may not directly provide the likelihood ratio statistic for goodness of fit. The Pearson chi-square reported by SPSSx is a variant of the likelihood ratio but its interpretation is exactly the opposite to Walsh's suggestion. The pseudo R-squared (Aldrich and Nelson 1984, p. 57) may be calculated using the Pearson chi-square statistic reported by SPSSx: Pseudo R-squared = 1 C/(N + C). This may be verified by comparing the algorithm for Pearson chi-square in SPSSX (Norusis 1985, p. 304) to the formulas provided in Aldrich and Nelson (1984, pp. 55-56). A recalculation of pseudo R-squared for the examples in Table 1 suggests an acceptable overall fit for the original