Personal Watercraft Incident Court Decisions: The Plaintiff’s Odds?

A personal watercraft (PWC) is a vessel that uses an inboard motor powering a water jet pump as a source of power and is operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling. Maneuvering a PWC is different from operating a motor vehicle or boat. An obstacle cannot be avoided by slowing down and turning the watercraft; throttle power is required to turn or maneuver the PWC. The watercraft stops only by drifting or turning sharply. The study examined sixty court decisions published in LexisNexis databases of the United States over the last decade. Cases included individuals injured while operating a PWC as a driver, passenger, or as a result of contact with a watercraft. A content analysis identified items to be used in the study. Crosstab and logistic regression analyses were used to identify demographic information and the characteristics of those who succeeded in a court of law. One-third of the cases were successful; adults, males, and the party who sustained a severe injury were more successful in a court of law with the exception of the statistically significant factors (high risk maneuvers and sharp turns). Among the additional results, we should be aware that insurance companies may not pay; additionally, it is unwise to loan a PWC to a female who has no experience.

A Dyadic Examination of Marital Quality at the Empty-Nest Phase

This study aims to achieve a better understanding of the later stages of the family life cycle by exploring couples' marital quality during the empty-nest years of their relationships, using the actor–partner interdependence mediation model. The empty nest is the family stage that begins with the departure of children from home. In the hypothesized model of marital quality, husbands' and wives' satisfaction at having raised successful children serve as predictor variables, whereas their levels of perceived stress act as mediators. A sample of 344 participants, forming 172 heterosexual couples, participated in the study. The results of path analyses indicated that the model provided an acceptable fit for the data. Closer examination suggested that wives' and husbands' perceived stress fully mediate the relationships between husbands' tendency to view their children as successful adults and both spouses' marital quality. The article discusses interdependence and gender differences between spouses concerning their empty-nest experience.

Empowering Belizean Youth through Photovoice

Today's youth are faced with a number of different "roadblocks" on their way to becoming successful adults. Navigating adolescence is often difficult in its own right, but many youths have to deal with issues such as, poverty, unsafe neighborhoods and schools, drug/alcohol addiction, and disjointed homes to name a few. Although not all youth are faced with the same obstacles, these abovementioned obstacles can detract youth from becoming socially productive. Using Photovoice, a process by which participants identify, represent and enhance their community using a specific photographic technique, this study connected Belizean youth to their community through the process of identifying and taking photos of community strengths and weaknesses. After completing shared data analysis, the photos and a description of the meanings behind the photos were presented to a number of dignitaries in the community. The main themes presented were Responsibility and Support. This presentation gave youths voice in their community and allowed them to discuss strategies on how to increase community strengths as a way to reduce community weaknesses. Upon completion of the presentation, the dignitaries answered questions posed by the youth and offered collaborative strategies on how to promote social change.

Mindfulness Based Programs Implemented with At-Risk Adolescents

Objective: This review examines studies on mindfulness based programs used with adolescents at-risk for poor future outcomes such as not graduating from high school and living in poverty. Method: The keywords used include mindfulness, at-risk and adolescents in each database to search CINAHL (10 items: 2 book reviews, 3 Dissertations, and 5 research articles), Medline EBSCO (15 research articles), and PubMed (10 research articles). Only primary research articles published between 2009- 2015 in English on mindfulness and at-risk adolescents were included for the most current evidence. Results: Few studies (n= 11) were found that investigate mindfulness in at-risk adolescents. These studies used various mindfulness programs (n = 7) making it difficult to generalize findings for practice. Only three studies were randomized control trials focusing mostly on male students with low socioeconomic status and existing mental health diagnoses. Conclusion: There is a relationship between health behaviors and academic achievement. Future research studies on mindfulness based interventions need to expand to its effects on academic achievement in those youth at-risk to decrease problematic behaviors and improve their ability to be successful adults.

Getting Real Results with Ohio State University Extension’s Real Money. Real World. Program

Youth development organizations have a unique opportunity to offer programs that help young people develop financial skills they need to become successful adults. This article describes Ohio State University Extension’s Real Money. Real World. (RMRW) and the systematic approach used to evaluate its effectiveness. The RMRW curriculum includes an active, hands-on experience that gives young people the opportunity to make lifestyle and budget choices similar to those they will make as adults. The realistic simulation creates a teachable moment. The outcomes of the statewide evaluation clearly indicate the curriculum accomplishes its goals of raising awareness, changing attitudes, and motivating students to plan for behavior changes concerning financial management, education, and career choices. The article concludes with a discussion of the organizational outcomes of conducting the evaluation.

Professionally successful adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Compensation strategies and subjective effects of pharmacological treatment

Although as a group, adult patients with ADHD have difficulties in social functioning due to inattention and executive dysfunction, some strive and succeed in living a productive, independent life. Purpose: To report on professionally successful adults with ADHD and analyze their main symptoms, compensation strategies and the subjective effect of methylphenidate on their functioning. Methods: The main symptoms of five patients with ADHD who are University educated and financially independent are reported. These patients were selected from a personally followed cohort of adults with ADHD. All were diagnosed according to DSM-IV adapted criteria (K-SADS E, version 6.0) and completed the Portuguese translated version of the ADHD adult self-reporting scale (ASRS). Results: Main reported symptoms included difficulties with attention, tendency to procrastinate and to 'shuffle' priorities, excessive daytime somnolence, memory difficulties and impulsiveness. Compensation strategies revolve around conscious, 'energy demanding' and time consuming efforts to control and circumvent symptomatic behavioral tendencies. They feel methylphenidate helps by alleviating the need to constantly apply compensation strategies for socially disabling symptoms. In sum, they achieve the same results in a more natural, less effortful fashion. Conclusions: Adults with ADHD may succeed professionally despite significant symptoms of inattention and executive dysfunction. They do so by appropriately using effortful strategies of compensation, the need for which is alleviated by the use of methylphenidate. These subjective reports require confirmation in prospective studies on larger series of patients.