Researchers Find Factors That Encourage Cannabis Use Among University Students
ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2007) — New information published in the Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research explores University students’ motivations for using or not using cannabis and found various factors that might encourage use.
Researchers at Griffith University in Australia administered a survey to students aged 17 to 29 asking about their beliefs about the advantages and disadvantages of using cannabis, their perceptions of what others think they should do in relation to cannabis use, and reasons that might cause them to use or not use. Two weeks later, they completed a follow-up survey asking about their actual behavior over the previous two weeks.
Compared to non-users, users believed more strongly that cannabis would help them fit in with their friends, feel relaxed, forget their worries, and enjoy themselves. They also believed that their friends would approve of their use.
Additionally, users believed that certain factors including force of habit, wanting to relax, feeling stressed, and being around other people using cannabis would encourage them to use, while non-users rated work and study as strong reasons for not using cannabis.
“Findings from this study provide a better understanding of the different motivations of users and non-users of cannabis,” the authors note. “They also open up opportunities for targeting these differences when further developing initiatives in prevention and intervention in order to enhance the educational experience of young adults.”
This study is published in the Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research.
Adapted from materials provided by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
“users believed more strongly that cannabis would help them fit in with their friends, feel relaxed, forget their worries, and enjoy themselves. They also believed that their friends would approve of their use.” That’s odd. Somehow the phrase “liked the feeling of being stoned” didn’t make it to the list. We guess if you didn’t count it, it never really happened.
Headline of the day
Doc admits taking cell-phone photo of patient's genitals (The obscure store/the Arizona republic)
Turn your head and…yikes.
Yeah, but what about the French maid’s uniform?
Study reveals why monkeys shout during sex
Females may yell loudly to help their male partners climax
By Charles Q. Choi/MSNBC.com
Female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax, research now reveals.
Without these yells, male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) almost never ejaculated, scientists found.
Female monkeys often utter loud, distinctive calls before, during or after sex. Their exact function, if any, has remained heavily debated.
Counting pelvic thrusts
To investigate the purpose behind these calls, scientists at the German Primate Center in Göttingen focused on Barbary macaques for two years in a nature reserve in Gibraltar.
The researchers found that females yelled during 86 percent of all sexual encounters. When females shouted, males ejaculated 59 percent of the time. However, when females did not holler, males ejaculated less than 2 percent of the time.
To see if yelling resulted from how vigorous the sex was, the scientists counted the number of pelvic thrusts males gave and timed when they happened. They found when shouting occurred, thrusting increased. In other words, hollering led to more vigorous sex.
Counting monkey pelvic thrusts is admittedly "quite weird, but it's science," researcher Dana Pfefferle, a behavioral scientist and primatologist at the German Primate Center, told LiveScience. "You get used to it."
Quite promiscuous
Male and female Barbary macaques are promiscuous, often having sex with many partners. This means sperm levels can get quite drained. The females shout when they are most fertile, so males can make the most use of their sperm.
Pfefferle noted her research suggests these calls might also make females more attractive to other males. She added these shouts might play different roles in other species.
Pfefferle and her colleagues detailed their findings online Dec. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
A quick tip for the monkeys: always make sure you shout the right name.
You can take the family out of the double wide.....
Lynne Spear's Parenting Book Put On Indefinite Hold
By Gil Kaufman (MTV.Com)
On the heels of the announcement that Britney Spears' 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn, is pregnant with her first child comes word that the parenting book due for release in the spring from the girls' mom, Lynne Spears, has been delayed. People magazine reports that the book, which was to be released under the title "Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World," is on indefinite hold by publisher Thomas Nelson, which puts out inspirational literature and Bibles.
"The book is delayed indefinitely. It's delayed, not canceled," a spokesperson told the magazine. The spokesperson, who was not named, said the book, which Publishers Weekly had described as "Lynne Spears' personal story of raising high-profile children while coming from a low-profile Louisiana community," was actually put on hold last week. The spokesperson declined to say whether the focus of the book will change in light of Jamie Lynn's pregnancy announcement, or if the decision was a result of the news about the latest scandal to rock the family.
In October, Spears and Thomas Nelson announced the deal for the book, which was slated to come out on Mother's Day. At the time, a publishing rep who was not named told Us Weekly that it would be a parenting book "that's going to have faith elements to it." A manuscript was expected by this month.
Hope mom didn't blow through that advance already.Ok, ok, ok, but who do you like in the third at Aquaduct?
Racehorse winning secret revealed/the BBC
Breeders are prepared to spend vast sums on trusted stallions
The offspring of expensive stallions owe their success more to how they are reared, trained and ridden than good genes, a study has found.
Only 10% of a horse's lifetime winnings can be attributed to their bloodline, research in Biology Letters shows.
Edinburgh scientists compared the stud fees, winnings and earnings of more than 4,000 racehorses since 1922.
They found that the vast sums breeders are prepared to pay for top stallions do not guarantee the best genes.
The research was carried out by evolutionary biologists Alastair Wilson and Andrew Rambaut at the University of Edinburgh.
There are good genes out there to be bought but they don't necessarily come with the highest price tag
Dr Alastair Wilson
They found that while there was genetic variance in the quality of stallions at stud, this was not reflected in the size of the horse's stud fee.
"There are good genes out there to be bought but they don't necessarily come with the highest price tag," Dr Alastair Wilson told the BBC News website.
"It seems much more likely that people who can afford to pay high stud fees can also afford to manage and train their horses well."
The offspring of expensive stallions did tend to win more over their lifetime, he said, but genes played only a small role.
By far the biggest factor was the horse's environment - the way they were trained, the choice of races entered and which jockeys were employed, Dr Wilson added.
The findings may have parallels in the natural world, he added, in how signals of male genetic quality - such as the size and shape of a peacock's tail - are used by females to select a mate.
In this context, where the breeder was selecting the horse, fees paid for a stallion were not an honest signal of genetic quality, the researchers said.
Full details of the research are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
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