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Communication plays an important role in health decisions and behaviors. Friends and family exert influence through communication and, when considering smoking, this is particularly salient among those friends and family who smoke. Guided by primary socialization theory and integrated behavioral model, the present study examined the effects of having smoking friends and family on smoking beliefs (e.g. negative consequences, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement), cultural normative beliefs, pro-smoking injunctive norms, smoking intentions and recent smoking behaviors.

Cross-sectional online survey data were collected from college students (N = 227). Multivariate analysis of covariance and path analysis were performed.

College students who reported having smoking friends were more likely to report higher levels of positive reinforcement, cultural normative beliefs, pro-smoking injunctive norms, positive attitudes, smoking intentions and recent smoking behaviors than those without smoking friends. Frequent communication with smoking friends was significantly related to cultural normative beliefs, pro-smoking injunctive norms, positive attitudes and smoking intentions. The analysis, however, did not yield statistical support for the associations between frequent communication with smoking family and smoking perceptions, norms and behaviors.

The present study highlights the vital roles of friends' influence for college students' smoking behaviors. Communication-based intervention can help better equip college students with communication strategies that prevent tobacco use by promoting more effective conversations with friends.

To reduce the smoking rates and alleviate societal problems associated with smoking, health administrators and policy makers have attempted to promote and implement statewide smoking free policy. The present study examined how adults' awareness of and attitude toward the smoke-free air law, their perceived risks of secondhand smoke and current smoking status were associated with smoking attitude and behaviors.

As part of the Indiana Adult Tobacco Survey, 2,027 respondents participated in cross-sectional telephone surveys. A series of independent sample t-test and binary logistic regression analyses were performed.

Awareness of the state law was inversely related to negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Individuals who reported favorable attitude toward the state smoke-free air law and higher risk perceptions of secondhand smoke showed negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Non-smokers and former smokers were significantly different from current smokers with regard to attitude toward smoking. Negative attitude was significantly related to intention to quit smoking. Awareness of the state law, perceived risk and current smoking status were key determinants for anti-smoking attitude and behavior.

Findings highlight the importance of effective dissemination of the state law and recommend a strategic intervention design that invokes risk perceptions of secondhand smoke.

Despite being a significant public health problem, teen dating violence and related risk behaviors are yet to be examined in Nicaragua. This study aims to examine the prevalence of in-person dating violence and cyber dating abuse and to test the associations between teen dating violence and substance use (i.e. alcohol, cigarette, marijuana and e-cigarette) as well as externalizing behaviors.

Survey responses were collected from a school-based sample of 1,799 Nicaraguan early adolescents (average age = 13.04 years).

The prevalence was 41% for in-person dating violence victimization, 39% for in-person dating violence perpetration, 30% for cyber dating abuse victimization and 26% for cyber dating abuse perpetration. The majority (56%) of the adolescents reported engagement in externalizing behaviors, but substance use prevalence was relatively low, ranging from 1–9% depending on the substance type. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that in-person dating violence perpetration was positively associated with all types of substance use and externalizing behaviors, while victimization was only associated with externalizing behaviors.

Despite the descriptive nature, the study is the first to examine the prevalence of teen dating violence and its relationships with other risk behaviors in Nicaraguan adolescents and have important health implications.

As interventions are disseminated widely, issues of fidelity and adaptation become increasingly critical to understand. This study aims to describe the types of adaptations made by teachers delivering a school‐based substance use prevention curriculum and their reasons for adapting program content.

To determine the degree to which implementers adhere to a prevention curriculum, naturally adapt the curriculum, and the reasons implementers give for making adaptations, the study examined lesson adaptations made by the 31 teachers who implemented the keepin’ it REAL drug prevention curriculum in 7th grade classrooms (n=25 schools). Data were collected from teacher self‐reports after each lesson and observer coding of videotaped lessons. From the total sample, 276 lesson videos were randomly selected for observational analysis.

Teachers self‐reported adapting more than 68 percent of prevention lessons, while independent observers reported more than 97 percent of the observed lessons were adapted in some way. Types of adaptations included: altering the delivery of the lesson by revising the delivery timetable or delivery context; changing content of the lesson by removing, partially covering, revising, or adding content; and altering the designated format of the lesson (such as assigning small group activities to students as individual work). Reasons for adaptation included responding to constraints (time, institutional, personal, and technical), and responding to student needs (students’ abilities to process curriculum content, to enhance student engagement with material).

The study sample was limited to rural schools in the US mid‐Atlantic; however, the results suggest that if programs are to be effectively implemented, program developers need a better understanding of the types of adaptations and reasons implementers provide for adapting curricula.

These descriptive data suggest that prevention curricula be developed in shorter teaching modules, developers reconsider the usefulness of homework, and implementer training and ongoing support might benefit from more attention to different implementation styles.

With nearly half of US public schools implementing some form of evidence‐based substance use prevention program, issues of implementation fidelity and adaptation have become paramount in the field of prevention. The findings from this study reveal the complexity of the types of adaptations teachers make naturally in the classroom to evidence‐based curricula and provide reasons for these adaptations. This information should prove useful for prevention researchers, program developers, and health educators alike.

This study aims to understand the reasons for individuals switching from traditional banks to Internet-only banks and examine how switching intentions differ between Generation X and Generation Z. Notably, Generation Z, being digital natives, exhibits distinct characteristics compared to Generation X, who often referred to as digital immigrants. Given the technology-driven nature of Internet-only banks, a multi-group analysis between these two generations was conducted.

This study utilizes Bansal’s push–pull–mooring model as a framework to analyze switching intention. The study collected survey data from 383 Korean participants, consisting of 198 participants from Generation Z and 185 participants from Generation X.

The findings indicate that low satisfaction and discomfort are factors that push people to leave traditional banks. Specifically, Generation Z shows a significantly higher inclination to leave traditional banks due to discomfort. On the other hand, relative advantage, compatibility, observability and trialability are factors that pull people to switch to Internet-only banks. Generation X is more likely to consider adopting Internet-only banks when compatibility is high and complexity is low.

This study is the first to explore unique motivators for Generation Z, such as their discomfort with interpersonal interactions in the retail banking sector. These findings challenge earlier research emphasizing human interaction’s importance in technology adoption, offering insights into their future adoption of contactless services.