This article examines the functional approach to attitudes for its potential contribution to improving models of attitude-behavior consistency and to demonstrate its potential application to social marketing. To this end, a study of children's attitudes toward bicycle helmets is reported on and its results examined. The study was undertaken to plan Israel's first-ever media campaign to encourage the use of helmets by children. Responses of the 783 Israeli children (ages 7 to 14 years) who participated in the study are analyzed to test the hypothesis generated by this application of functional theory -- that children's attitudes toward wearing bicycle helmets sever primarily an expressive function. The results suggest cautious support for the functional hypothesis. In conclusion, possible extensions of this approach to other areas of social marketing are discussed.

This study examined the reaction of children with a diagnosed disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) to violent movie scenes. Children without one of these disorders were tested as well. DBD children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years and were outpatients at The University of Kansas Medical Center's Department of Child Psychiatry. These children were diagnosed by a child psychiatrist as meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) (American Psychiatric Association 1994) (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria for having at least one of three emotional disorders: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). Results showed that the disordered children differed from the nondisotdered children on several dimensions. This suggests that DBD children process the anti-social messages in violent movies differently from children without a psychiatric disorder. An unabated diet of antisocial media could have harmful effects on children with a psychiatric illness.

Previous coding schemes used to assess doctor-patient interaction have been inadequate with respect to the scope of categories used to identify: (a) information exchange and relational communication, and (b) thematic topics of talk. Thirty-two doctor-patient interviews were analyzed with a new coding scheme that includes multiple categories of information exchange and relational communication, and allows for identification of thematic topics of talk. The results revealed both effective and less effective patterns of information exchange and relational communication between doctors and patients. These patterns were further elaborated by examining the topics of talk with which they occurred. Particular attention was given to implications the results have for communication skills training for doctors and patients.

Previous research has shown that one in four women experiences rape or attempted rape by the time she is in college. Only half of these women name those experiences as sexual assault, an action which is an important part of recovery. this article examines whether a convenience sample of 123 undergraduate women, living in dormitories and sororities at a large Midwestern university, who experienced unwanted anal, oral, or vaginal intercourse through threat of force, force, drugs, or intoxication name those experiences as rape and whether those women who acknowledge their rapes have better psychosocial adjustment. It further examines whether interpersonal communication variable predict rape acknowledgement. Result indicate women who acknowledge their experiences as rape score better on examined psychosocial adjustment variables. Hierarchical regression including demographics, situational variables specific to their own rapes, and interpersonal communication abut acquaintance rape, such as gaining information about acquaintance rape from friends and knowing someone who has been acquaintance raped, significantly predict acknowledging rape above and beyond situational and demographic variables. Therefore, sharing common stories is an important way in which these young women name or redefine their experiences as rape. This research also shows there is an important stage in between "yes I was raped" and "no I was not raped" that warrants further investigation to understand the nature of redefining or naming a rape experience as rape.