Prevalence of premilitary adult sexual victimization and aggression in a Navy recruit sample.

U.S. Navy recruits (n = 3,776) were surveyed for premilitary histories of adult sexual assault. They completed a survey designed to estimate rates for experiences as victims (women) and perpetrators (men) of attempted and completed rape since the age of 14. The results show that 45.5% of the women reported being the victim of attempted (9.4%) or completed rape (36.1%) before entering the Navy. Male recruits' self-reports indicated that 14.8% admitted perpetrating attempted (3.5%) or completed rape (11.3%) before entering the Navy. A high percentage of recruits in this study reported histories of sexual assault. Female victims of sexual assault are at high risk of incurring somatic and/or psychological problems that require treatment by health care professionals. Male perpetrators of sexual assault are at high risk of repeating their behavior. The results of this study suggest that it may be cost-effective to develop treatment education, and prevention programs for military recruits.

Childhood parenting experiences, intimate partner conflict resolution, and adult risk for child physical abuse.

This study investigated the relationships between conflict resolution tactics experienced during childhood, intimate partner conflict resolution tactics, alcohol problems and adult child physical abuse risk. Participants were 1,544 Navy recruit trainees who volunteered to complete measures of parenting practices and spousal physical violence experienced during their childhood, the conflict resolution techniques used in their intimate relationships, their personal history of alcohol problems, and child physical abuse potential. Regression analyses indicated that the receipt of intimate partner physical violence accounted for the most variance in predicting who would inflict physical violence against an intimate partner; and the infliction of intimate physical violence accounted for the most variance in predicting who would receive physical violence from an intimate partner. Other analyses indicated that among the parent and intimate partner physically violent events, parent-child violence during childhood accounted for the most variance in explaining child abuse risk in females and males, with the infliction of intimate partner violence adding only to the prediction of child abuse risk in females. Analyses also revealed that after the effects of violent experiences were removed, alcohol problems contributed significantly, albeit very modestly, to the prediction of who expressed intimate partner physical violence for males and females, who was physically injured by an intimate partner (in the case of male injury), and who was at risk of child physical abuse for males and females.

The five-factor model of personality as a framework for personality-health research.

The NEO Five Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1989) and representative personality scales drawn from health psychology were administered to 2 samples of male military recruits (Ns = 296 and 502). Factor analysis of health-related personality scales revealed 3 conceptually meaningful domains. Examination of these domains and their constituent scales, with reference to the 5-factor model of personality, permits 3 general conclusions. First, most health-relevant dimensions and scales appear to be complex mixtures of broad personality domains. Second, variation in many health-related personality instruments is explained to a significant degree by the 5-factor model. Third, 2 of the 5 personality domains (i.e., conscientiousness and openness) appear to be substantially neglected in health psychology research.

Demonstration of replicable dimensions of health behaviors.

Health behaviors are known to be multidimensional, but the precise number of dimensions involved and their behavioral content have not been clearly established. Using convergence of factor analyses of 40 health behaviors across two samples as the criterion for identifying both the number and content of health behavior dimensions, the present study showed that individual differences in health behavior can be conceptualized in terms of a hierarchical model. At the most general level, health behaviors formed two broad categories or dimensions, preventive behavior and risk taking behavior. Preventive behavior included two empirically distinct subsets of behaviors, wellness maintenance behaviors and accident control behaviors. Risk taking behavior included subsets comprised of traffic-related risk taking and risk taking through exposure to hazardous substances. This hierarchical model is consistent with important theoretical distinctions in health behavior research, can accommodate the findings of prior studies, and should provide a useful framework for formulating research questions regarding antecedents and consequences of individual differences in health behaviors. Brief scales are proposed for use as reference measures in future studies of health behaviors.

Nutrition knowledge among Navy recruits.

The Navy wants to incorporate nutrition education programs into basic training to teach Navy personnel fundamental principles of good nutrition. This study was undertaken to: determine deficits in recruits' nutrition knowledge, identify recruits with above-average need for nutrition education, and compare recruits' nutrition knowledge with that of typical U.S. school students. Demographic information and responses to a shortened version (36 items) of the National Dairy Council's Nutrition Achievement Test 4, developed for junior and senior high school students, were obtained from 205 male recruits. Although nutrition knowledge among Navy recruits was relatively comparable with that of U.S. school students, findings indicated that nutrition education is indeed needed. Only 2% of recruits answered 90% of the questions correctly. Forty percent answered half or more of the nutrition questions incorrectly. Questions answered incorrectly by more than 50% of recruits involved: (a) how one assesses nutrient needs and whether those needs are being met, (b) the four major food groups and recommended servings, and (c) effects of alcohol and drugs on nutritional status. Recruits who received higher grades in high school, got into less trouble in high school, were older, and were Caucasian had higher nutrition knowledge. Detailed information regarding nutrition misconceptions should help the Navy develop focused nutrition education materials.

Evaluation of smoking interventions in recruit training.

Smoking prevention and cessation programs were implemented and evaluated in recruit training. Four groups of incoming recruits were compared: an education group, a no-smoking group, a health risk appraisal feedback group, and a no-treatment control group. Smoking behavior, perceptions related to smoking, and knowledge about smoking were assessed. Recruits in the education and no-smoking groups were less likely to start smoking for the first time during recruit training than recruits in the control group. The education group had fewer smokers stop smoking than the control group. The 2-year follow-up evaluation needs to be conducted before the long-term effects of these programs on prevention and cessation of smoking can be determined.

Type A behavior pattern and coping and defense.

The relationship of coping and defense to Type A behavior pattern (TABP), as measured by the Structured Interview and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS), was investigated to understand the dynamics of TABP and psychological factors associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. It was hypothesized that global TABP and its component "speed and impatience" would be related to the use of defense mechanisms, while the TABP attribute "job involvement" would be related to high coping. The interview measure of global TABP was not related to coping and defense. For the JAS, "Job involvement" was related to high coping scores and low defense scores, "speed and impatience" was related to high defensiveness, and "hard driving" was related to low coping scores. One implication is that TABP may be associated with increased CHD risk only when combined with low coping skills and high defenses. The JAS findings imply that increased coronary risk may be associated with poor coping skills. Future studies should examine multifactorial interaction of personality variables that may contribute to CHD risk.

Comparison of three psychological defense mechanism questionnaires.

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI), the Coping Operations Preference Enquiry (COPE), and the scales developed by Joffe and Naditch (J&N) were compared using multitrait-multimethod logic. Convergent validity was tow as measures of the same defense were not highly correlated across instruments. Similar patterns of correlations occurred within instruments but the J&N scales, and particularly the DMI scales, had high interscale correlations so overall discriminant validity was limited. These results suggest that either the defense constructs or at least some of the defense scales studied lack validity. Another possibility is that the scales are valid, but assess different parameters of defensiveness (e.g., intensity versus breadth of use of mechanisms). Comparisons of the scales' predictive validity should help resolve these points.

Alcohol intake, ratio of plasma alpha-amino-n-butyric acid to leucine, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in nonalcoholics.

In a sample of healthy men, there appeared to be no relationship between reported drinking and the ratio of plasma alpha-amino-n-butyric acid to leucine or between this ratio and an index of liver dysfunction (gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase).