Studying entrepreneurial occupations in the Terman women.

To achieve a better understanding of entrepreneurship development in women, longitudinal data on 672 individuals collected from 1922 to 1959 were analysed in a secondary investigation of the Terman Longitudinal Study. Women's reports on their occupations during 10 different years were assigned to one of two categories: work for pay (0/1), and work allowing for self-employment (0/1) in the respective year. Structural equation modelling supported earlier results concerning male entrepreneurial activity. Personality and aspects of the parenting context the women had experienced by the average age of 12 predicted early entrepreneurial competencies (inventions, leadership) and occupational interests by age 13, which related to an entrepreneurship-related career goal in 1936, when the participants were about 27 years of age on average. Such a career goal in turn predicted a higher number of occasions of entrepreneurship-prone work. Surprisingly, we also found a relationship to divorce. Women who had experienced the failure of a marriage were in occupations with a potential for entrepreneurship more often. Reasons are discussed against a backdrop of historical timing and current findings to identify general aspects of entrepreneurship development.

The role of life skills promotion in substance abuse prevention: a mediation analysis.

Research has shown that life skills programs are the most effective single activity in school-based substance abuse prevention. However, little is known about the processes through which they are effective. This study examines whether an evidence-based prevention program targeting general competence is effective through the promotion of knowledge about life skills and enhanced related behaviors. Based on a sample of 442 fifth graders participating in a quasi-experimental prevention study, as expected, mediation analyses revealed that increased knowledge about life skills paralleled an increase in students' distant attitudes toward alcohol and nicotine use. Unexpectedly, behaviors manifesting enhanced life skills were found not only among program participants who remained experimental/non-smokers or stopped smoking but also among smokers. In general, findings suggest that favorable prevention outcomes may be influenced through building knowledge about general life skills. The notion of uniform mechanisms of effectiveness in prevention programs is discussed.