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Sixth‐grade children in 22 schools received either a social‐influences smoking‐prevention program or routine health education. The social‐influences program was designed to teach youth about peer, parent, and media influences affecting smoking onset and to provide them with skills in resisting these influences. Comparison schools were given no program, but were permitted to continue their usual provision of health education. Program impact was evaluated as a function of pretreatment risk of future smoking. Risk was defined with respect to both (a) the prevalence of social models who smoked and (b) previous smoking experience. Two‐and‐a‐half‐year results show program impact to vary with both kinds of risk. Smoking‐experience risk interacted such that, at first, there was greater impact on children with experience, but on later follow‐up the pattern reversed, with the greater treatment effects seen for those initially with limited experience. Social‐models risk showed a direct relationship, with greater risk being associated with greater program impact. Implications both for evaluation research and prevention programs are discussed.

This study investigated the relationships among gender role and self-reported health functioning in a sample of community dwelling older adults. One hundred and two (55 female, 47 male) participants were recruited through seniors' associations in Windsor, Ontario. Analyses of variance were conducted separately by gender to compare the self-rated physical health functioning, wellness, and life satisfaction of participants differing on classification of their gender role. For older women classified as androgynous, gender role exhibited significant effects on general wellness and life satisfaction, but not on self-reported physical health functioning. In support of Bem's androgyny model of optimal adjustment, post-hoc analyses revealed that women who rated themselves as androgynous reported better overall wellness levels than their peers. Older men's self-reported physical health functioning and general wellness did not differ significantly by gender role. Limitations and implications are discussed.

This study assessed the impact of several variables central to self-presentation theories on self-reported shyness. Data were collected from 286 Canadian college students who completed measures of shyness, expectations of rejection, interpersonal competence, and perfectionism. The sample was randomly divided in half to allow for cross-validation. Consistent with hypotheses, shyness was predicted by expectations of rejection and interpersonal competence for the initial sample. However, contrary to self-presentation theories, shyness was not predicted by high self-standards nor by perceptions that others held high expectations of the self. These findings were replicated in the cross-validation sample. Results partially support self-presentation theories of shyness and suggest that while interpersonal competence and fear of rejection are central to shyness, the shy do not necessarily hold unrealistically high standards for themselves or view others as expecting perfection from them.

The intersection between a woman's body weight and sexual history and the victim blaming attitudes of future health care providers was investigated. University undergraduate students (N = 91) enrolled in programs associated with the provision of health care read 1 of 4 patient files of a woman reporting a rape as well as 2 distracter files. Results showed that, for overweight rape victims/survivors, study participants' antifat attitudes were correlated with victim blaming attitudes. Male participants held the attacker significantly less responsible than did female participants if the victim/survivor had several previous sexual partners. Findings suggest that body weight should be considered as a contributing factor in attitudes toward rape victims/survivors, and the gender of the health care provider can be a factor in the post-assault treatment of overweight rape victims/survivors.