This study examines the effects of alcohol use prevention curricula designed to have differential impact on hypothesized mediating variables. Three curricula, one which focused on teaching individuals social pressure resistance skills, one which focused on solidifying conservative group norms, and one which had a goal of increasing student understanding of the consequences of using alcohol, were tested. Results confirm that each program had a differential effect on hypothesized mediating variables.

This study reexamines the use of the bogus pipeline as a means of enhancing self-reports of cigarette smoking among adolescent subjects who have been measured previously. Ninth graders who had been measured four times previously and eighth graders who had been measured twice previously were either put under the bogus pipeline condition through the concurrent collection of saliva and questionnaire data or were not put under this condition and simply completed the questionnaire with normal guarantees of confidentiality. Predicted differences in self-reports between groups were not observed. Overall, subjects who were asked to provide specimens reacted negatively to the biological monitoring, with a sizeable proportion refusing to participate. The value of the bogus pipeline as a technique for increasing the accuracy of self-reports among older and previously tested adolescents is questioned.Early tobacco prevention researchers were suspicious of young subjects' willingness to report their tobacco use history honestly. Tobacco use by adolescents may be perceived as a taboo behavior by many young subjects, who thus may be unwilling to report their own use of tobacco. This may be especially true if data, which are collected by researchers unknown to the subjects, could conceivably be used against them. As a means of countering this predilection to deception, Evans, Hansen, and Mittelmark (1977) proposed collecting saliva, which could be used to verify smoking via analysis for nicotine concurrently with the administration of self-report questionnaires. This study, along with several that have followed (Bauman & Dent, 1982;Luepker et al., 1981) showed selfreports of tobacco use to increase dramatically (as much as 100%) when the threat-of-detection procedure was instituted.As a consequence of these reports, tobacco use prevention researchers have routinely instituted saliva or breath collection as an integral component of data collection, primarily for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of self-reports. While cotinine, thiocyanate, or nicotine determinations from saliva, or carbon monoxide determinations from expired alveolar air can be valuable in and This research was funded by a contract from the State of California, Department of Health Services, Contract Number 84-84148.Requests for reprints should be addressed to William

Coping strategies may influence adolescent smoking behaviour because they provide alternative behavioral and cognitive outlets which facilitate or inhibit smoking, or because they are expressions of general coping effort to smoke or not smoke. The present investigation examined three possibilities regarding how coping strategies versus coping effort compare as predictors of adolescent smoking: (1) general coping effort to not smoke may be a better predictor of adolescent smoking behaviors than are specific coping strategies; (2) coping strategies may be relatively better predictors of smoking behaviors; or (3) these two constructs may be relatively better predictors of different parameters of smoking behavior. Analytic strategies included calculation of a series of multiple regression models, involving (a) 11 coping strategies previously studied in adolescent smoking research, (b) a new simple measure of coping effort to not smoke, and (c) perceived stress, as concurrent predictors of four smoking-related items. Of the 11 coping strategies, partying, relaxation, seeking spiritual guidance, and getting revenge were related to at least one of the four cigarette smoking items. Only coping effort was directly related to recent smoking behavior, whereas only the coping strategies were related to cumulative smoking. Both types of items predicted refusal self-efficacy and intention to smoke in the future. Apparently, these two types of items show unique as well as common predictive variance. These results suggest that coping strategies are related to cumulative smoking for reasons other than motivation to not smoke.

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Meta-analysis as a method holds great promise for allowing fields of research to accomplish synthesis and integration of findings. This goal must be compared to experimental research, which is inherently reductionistic in its approach. Because of this divergence in methods and implicit goals, meta-analysts are often faced with a need to reconceptualize original research in order to fit it into a method that allows comparison. The authors have identified two such issues (classification of variables and classification of correlational results) that will pose continued dilemmas for meta-analysts. This chapter has two goals. The first is to discuss strategies to create schema for classifying independent variables. The second is to discuss issues of classifying types of correlational relationships between independent and dependent variables. Both have practical relevance for incorporating theory into meta-analytic practice. CLASSIFYING INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Creating a classification schema for independent variables is a major dilemma for meta-analysts. Yet, inevitably, completing such work is among the first steps that one must take in beginning a meta-analysis. The resulting schema will ultimately determine much of the meaning that emerges from subsequent analyses. An extensive literature about analytic methods has emerged. Topics include attention to effect size estimates (Glass et al. 1981; Hall et al. 1994) and controls for methodological problems (Cook et al. 1992; Wortman 1994). What is being analyzed, which lies at the root of wanting to complete analyses in the first place, has unfortunately received less attention (Cooper 1990; Orwin 1994; Stock 1994). It is the authors' observation that creating links with theory in completing meta-analyses gives meaning and value to the methods. Categorization of independent variables is challenging because no single theory captures all available variables. Theories that guide reductionist research focus only on relevant variables, ignoring variables that are