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Peer Pressure (peer + pressure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	33%
Humanities and Social Sciences	33%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	22%

Selected Abstracts

Knowledge of and attitude towards circumcision of adult Korean males by age

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 11 2004
S-J Oh
Aim: Circumcision is widely practised in Korea, but little is known regarding the public's attitude towards circumcision. This study was designed to evaluate the knowledge and the general opinion of Korean adult males towards circumcision. Methods: Fifteen hundred self-completion questionnaires were distributed to adult males in five decadal age groups ranging from 10 to 59 y old. Questions concerning opinions regarding the necessity, reasons, potential benefits and disadvantages of circumcision, as well as the role of peer pressure upon the decision to circumcise were included. Completed questionnaires were collected and analysed statistically. Results: The achieved response rate was 62.7%. 73.1% believed that circumcision is necessary, while 7.1% believed it is not necessary. The principal reason for circumcision was to improve penile hygiene (77.9%). 68.7% did not prefer neonatal circumcision regardless of the respondent's age. The major reason was fear of pain (36.9%). Peer pressure was one of the most influential factors when deciding upon circumcision: 60.8% believed that they might be ridiculed by their peer group unless circumcised, and the younger the age of the respondent, the more frequently this opinion was held (p > 0.05). 62.7% thought that circumcision would prevent genital tract infection of the sexual partner. Respondents with older age tended to emphasize improved sexual potency (p > 0.05). Conclusions: This study indicates that common beliefs of adult males about circumcision in Korea are relatively homogeneous. Tailored education about circumcision is needed. [source]

Smoking-based selection and influence in gender-segregated friendship networks: a social network analysis of adolescent smoking

ADDICTION, Issue 7 2010
Liesbeth Mercken
ABSTRACT Aims The main goal of this study was to examine differences between adolescent male and female friendship networks regarding smoking-based selection and influence processes using newly developed social network analysis methods that allow the current state of continuously changing friendship networks to act as a dynamic constraint for changes in smoking behaviour, while allowing current smoking behaviour to be simultaneously a dynamic constraint for changes in friendship networks. Design Longitudinal design with four measurements. Setting Nine junior high schools in Finland. Participants A total of 1163 adolescents (mean age = 13.6 years) who participated in the control group of the ESFA (European Smoking prevention Framework Approach) study, including 605 males and 558 females. Measurements Smoking behaviour of adolescents, parents, siblings and friendship ties. Findings Smoking-based selection of friends was found in male as well as female networks. However, support for influence among friends was found only in female networks. Furthermore, females and males were both influenced by parental smoking behaviour. Conclusions In Finnish adolescents, both male and female smokers tend to select other smokers as friends but it appears that only females are influenced to smoke by their peer group. This suggests that prevention campaigns targeting resisting peer pressure may be more effective in adolescent girls than boys. [source]

Key Factors of Joint-Liability Loan Contracts: An Empirical Analysis

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2005
Alexander S. Kritikos
Summary This paper provides an empirical analysis of joint-liability micro-lending contracts. Using our data set, we examine the efficacy of various incentives set by this contract such as joint-liability between groups of borrowers or group access to future and to larger loans. As proposed by theory, we find that joint liability induces a group formation of low risk borrowers. After the loan disbursement, the incentive system leads to peer monitoring, peer support and peer pressure between the borrowers, thus helping the lending institution to address the moral hazard and enforcement problem. This paper also demonstrates that the mechanism realizes repayment rates of nearly 100% if the loan officers fulfill their complementary duties in the screening and enforcement process. Finally, we make clear that dynamic incentives, in contrast to theory, have to be restricted if the two long-term problems of the joint-liability approach, i.e. its mismatching problem and the domino effect, are to be tackled notably. [source]

"I Never Wanted to Be a Quack!"

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2010
The Professional Deviance of Plaintiff Experts in Contested Illness Lawsuits: The Case of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities
When medical practitioners act as expert witnesses for the plaintiff in contested illness lawsuits, they can be stigmatized by their professional community. Drawing on ethnographic research surrounding the condition multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) in Australia, this article focuses on: how plaintiff experts specialize; their rationale for deviance from the professional norm; and structural constraints to medical advocacy. By diagnosing and treating the condition as organic, these experts oppose the accepted disease paradigm of the medical community and therefore face professional isolation and peer pressure. They rationalize their continued advocacy within a moral discourse, which includes a professional aspiration toward altruism, an ethical commitment to "truth," and the explicit emphasis that financial gain is not a motivation. For their deviance the experts have been confronted with professional disillusionment and emotional drain. Ultimately, the medical profession is disenfranchising experts who may be vital characters in the quest for understanding about environmental illnesses. [source]

Die Vorteile des Staatsmonopols in der Gebäudeversicherung: Erfahrungen aus Deutschland und der Schweiz

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 1 2001
Thomas Von Ungern-Sternberg
This paper compares the prices charged and the quality of service provided by state monopolies and private insurance companies on the property insurance market. Both the cross-section data from Switzerland and the time-series evidence from Germany strongly suggest that in this specific market the presence of state monopolies is very advantageous for the customers. This raises the question why German academic economists made practically no effort to defend their state insurance monopolies in the debate about the 3rd EU directive on property insurance. Is it possible that peer pressure prevents academic economists from standing up to defend state monopolies, even if these are clearly to the benefit of consumers? [source]

Heterozygote Carrier Testing in High Schools Abroad: What are the Lessons for the U.S.?

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 4 2006
Lainie Friedman Ross M.D., Ph.D.Article first published online: 23 NOV 200
The main value of carrier detection in the general population is to determine reproductive risks. In this manuscript I examine the practice of providing carrier screening programs in the school setting. While the data show that high school screening programs can achieve high uptake, I argue that this may reflect a lack of full understanding about risks, benefits, and alternatives, and the right not to know. It may also reflect the inherent coercion in group testing, particularly for adolescents who are prone to peer pressure. The problem of carrier screening in the schools is compounded when the condition has a predilection for certain groups based on race, ethnicity or religion. I examine programs around the world that seek to test high school students for Tay Sachs and Cystic Fibrosis carrier status. I argue that carrier programs should be designed so as to minimize stigma and to allow individuals to refuse. The mandatory school environment cannot achieve this. Rather, I conclude that screening programs should be designed to attract young adults and not adolescents to participate in a more voluntary venue. [source]

Muslim Youth in Canadian Schools: Education and the Politics of Religious Identity

ANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2001
Jasmin Zine
This article provides an ethnographic analysis of the schooling experiences of Muslim youth in Canada who are committed to maintaining an Islamic lifestyle despite the pressures of conformity to the dominant culture. Little attention has been paid to how religious identity intersects with other forms of social difference, such as race and gender in the schooling experiences of minoritized youth. Using a case study often Muslim students and parents, this article demonstrates how Muslim students were able to negotiate and maintain their religious identities within secular public schools. The participants' narratives address the challenges of peer pressure, racism, and Islamophobia. Their stories reveal how Muslim students are located at the nexus of social difference based on their race, gender, and religious identity. The discussion further explores the dynamics through which these youth were able to negotiate the continuity of their Islamic identity and practices within schools despite the challenges that they faced. Building upon existing theories of identity maintenance and construction, this research demonstrates how the interplay of the core factors of ambivalence, role performance, and interaction and isolation are implicated in the way Muslim students negotiate the politics of religious identity in their schooling experiences. [source]

Pre-teenage Children's Experiences with Alcohol

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008
James McIntosh
This article reports on the drinking experiences and motivations of 77 pre-teenage children. The main reason which the children gave for occasional or regular drinking was the pleasure which they derived both from the effects of the alcohol and from the social interaction which accompanied the activity. Several of the children claimed that they were partly motivated by boredom. Peer influence appeared to play a minor role as far as the recurrent consumption of alcohol was concerned. A number of causes for concern are identified in the article. These include the frequency of the children's drinking and the volume of alcohol consumed by some of them; their tendency to combine different types of alcoholic drink in the same session; the unreliability of measures undertaken by the children to reduce risk and ensure their safety and the ease with which alcohol could be obtained. These findings emphasise the need for drug education programmes to alert children to the dangers of alcohol consumption and equip them with the skills to deal effectively with peer pressure. There is also a pressing need to improve the leisure facilities available for young people as alternatives to drinking and other problem behaviour. © 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2007 National Children's Bureau. [source]