The roles of religiosity and affluence for adolescents' family orientation: Multilevel analyses of 18 cultures

Recent sociological and psychological debates concern the nature of the relation between changing religious beliefs and changing significance of the family. The current study analyzes multilevel relations between religiosity (personal and culture-level) and several aspects of family orientation for n = 4902 adolescents from 18 nations/areas from diverse cultural contexts covering a number of religious denominations with data from the Value-of-Children-Study (Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2005). In addition, cultural values from the World Values Survey representing religious versus secular values as well as survival versus self- expression values are examined at the cultural level of analysis as a joint effect with nation-level economic development. Results showed that religiosity/religious values were positively related to all aspects of adolescents’ family orientation at the individual as well as the cultural level, while societal affluence was only related to a loss of importance of the traditional and hierarchical aspects of family orientation. Postmaterialist self-expression values were unrelated to adolescents’ family orientation.

Can health beliefs help in explaining attendance to follow-up care? The Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

Objective: Improved treatment has increased the survival of childhood cancer patients in recent decades, but follow-up care is recommended to detect and treat late effects. We investigated relationships between health beliefs and follow-up attendance in adult childhood cancer survivors. Methods: Childhood cancer survivors aged younger than 16 years when diagnosed between 1976 and 2003, who had survived for more than 5 years and were currently aged 201 years, received a postal questionnaire. We asked survivors whether they attended follow-up in the past year. Concepts from the Health Belief Model (perceived susceptibility and severity of future late effects, potential benefits and barriers to follow-up, general health value and cues to action) were assessed. Medical information was extracted from the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry. Results: Of 1075 survivors (response rate 72.3%), 250 (23.3%) still attended regular followup care. In unadjusted analyses, all health belief concepts were significantly associated with follow-up (po0.05). Adjusting for other health beliefs, demographic, and medical variables, only barriers (OR50.59; 95%CI: 0.43–0.82) remained significant. Younger survivors, those with lower educational background, diagnosed at an older age, treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or bone marrow transplantation and with a relapse were more likely to attend follow-up care. Conclusions: Our study showed that more survivors at high risk of cancer- and treatmentrelated late effects attend follow-up care in Switzerland. Patient-perceived barriers hinder attendance even after accounting for medical variables. Information about the potential effectiveness and value of follow-up needs to be available to increase the attendance among childhood cancer survivors.