For more than a decade, Dr. Elisabeth Wells-Parker had been involved in research about driving under the influence. A research scientist at the university's Social Science Research Center, she conducted studies to evaluate the effectiveness of DUI rehabilitation programs, including the statewide Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education program directed by the SSRC.

She was amazed at how much had been written about DUI rehabilitation. She was more amazed at how little researchers actually knew about the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. So she set about to change that.

Using a then-new technique called meta-analysis, she and her colleagues began the monumental task of analyzing all existing research literature on the subject. Meta-analysis is a collection of approaches that can be used to extract statistical findings from multiple studies and summarize what the studies as a group show about a subject.

The first to apply the technique to DUI rehabilitation, she had to develop additional new analysis techniques to make it work. As a result of her efforts, the SSRC now houses the only comprehensive collection of DUI program evaluation literature in the world. Her groundbreaking research also has contributed to a continued refinement of Mississippi's program for reducing DUI offenses.

This kind of innovation is the hallmark of the university center celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, said Dr. Arthur G. Cosby, director of the SSRC since 1985.

"Whether the topic is highway safety, environmental issues, rural health, or the future of children in the South, our center is recognized for conducting substantive research on topics that affect lives," Cosby said.

With more than $6.4 million in annual funding, primarily from external sources, the SSRC includes more than 30 faculty members from sociology, psychology, business, political science, wildlife and fisheries, and other campus units. Continuing on-campus support comes from the Office of Research and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

One of the strengths of the center is its cross-disciplinary focus and cooperative projects, Cosby said. "Just a few of the research initiatives launched during the past year illustrate the SSRC's longtime commitment to quality of life in the state."

THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN
Dr. Linda H. Southward, who heads the SSRC's Family and Children Research Unit, believes children in the rural South face unique health challenges. She is working to develop new partnerships with agencies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics to provide research about issues such as obesity, oral health care, child poverty, tobacco prevention, minority health, and behavioral disorders in the region.

"Mississippi has some of the worst health outcomes in the nation," she observed. "Our interest is in conducting research both on primary and secondary prevention. Preventing health problems before they begin is of particular importance, given that approximately 30 percent of Mississippi's population is 18 and younger."

She noted that applied research can provide substantive information to policy-makers to help improve the quality of health care in Mississippi and could have far-reaching implications for other states.

An affiliation with the AAP's Center for Child Health Research, based in Rochester, N.Y., could provide the springboard to in-depth research into children's health issues in the rural South.

In terms of oral health, for instance, Southward envisions a demonstration project for strategies to improve dental hygiene. One possibility: having dental hygienists visit day care centers to establish interventions before children develop dental problems.

In another project, she is working with Dr. Richard Wasserman, director of the Pediatrics Research in Office Settings, a part of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Center for Child Health Resources. They have received a planning grant to recruit new pediatricians for rural minority and under-served populations. The SSRC's expertise in geographic information systems will assist with the effort.

"We'll use the SSRC strengths in mapping technology to help the AAP assess where pediatricians are physically located and compare that to where child health problems are concentrated," she explained.

As a follow-up, the research team will seek additional external funding to create computer models that analyze racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in maternal and child health outcomes. They'll work with another SSRC division, the Community and Environmental Studies Unit, coordinated by sociologists Dr. Duane Gill and Dr. Domenico Parisi.

Through funding from the Casey Family Programs, based in Seattle, Wash., Southward's unit also is providing reliability testing of the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment instrument developed by the organization to measure the life skills and self-sufficiency of youth. The program focuses on helping youth in foster care make a successful transition to adulthood and is seeking to significantly expand the number of children it serves, Southward said.

With a background in academics and in public health social work, Southward said she is interested in applying the resources of the SSRC and Mississippi State to a growing area of the child welfare movement: prevention of problems. "That's where we feel we can make a difference."

END-OF-LIFE AND OTHER HEALTH ISSUES
When the Public Broadcasting System aired Bill Moyers' four-part, six-hour special "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying" last fall, the SSRC had a special interest in how the series played locally.

Through the center's recently established Rural Health, Safety, and Security Institute, research scientists collaborated with the state's largest health care system to assess Mississippians' knowledge of end of life issues.

The RHSSI is supported by $2.2 million in funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy and conducts basic and applied research.

Headed by SSRC director Dr. Arthur G. Cosby, the institute also draws on the expertise of Dr. Elisabeth Wells-Parker, who directs behavioral and cognitive research, and Dr. Martin L. Levin, who directs sociological and organizational research.

In cooperation with Tupelo-based North Mississippi Health Services, the institute in September conducted telephone interviews with households in two target counties. The goal: to gather baseline data about how Mississippians understand their choices about death and dying. The survey was tied to the PBS special to gauge if the series had affected awareness of issues ranging from palliative care to advance directives.

The continuing project will help researchers develop information that communities and hospitals can use to assist those facing death, Wells-Parker explained.

The end-of-life survey is one of several the institute plans with NMHS to focus on improving quality of life in the region. Working with NMHS research director Dr. Karen Koch, psychology professors Kristine Jacquin and Carolyn Adams-Price, as well as educational psychology professor Linda Morse, will study the cognitive effects of chemotherapy in women with breast cancer.

"Normal aging may cause some of the same neurological effects," Wells-Parker noted. "Over several years, our studies will look at whether people who have undergone chemotherapy have any dysfunction in daily life. If so, we'll ask how we can develop prevention and intervention strategies."

Other projects include analyzing the ways that doctors make decisions under pressure. Research methodologies developed by psychology associate professor Stephanie Doane to study the complex decision-making processes used by fighter pilots will be adapted to analyze how physicians make decisions.

"In both cases, decisions are made under time pressure with information coming in from many sources at once," Wells-Parker explained. "Using this research as a starting point, we'll also look at how physicians incorporate up-to-date medical information in their decisions." Assisting on the project will be Dr. Robert Atkinson of educational psychology and Dr. Gary Bradshaw of psychology.

In addition to projects under way with NMHS, the new research institute also plans a study of rural factors contributing to vehicle crashes and ways to reduce injury rates; and an investigation of rural crime and the contributing cultural, social, and organizational factors. Specific crime issues include drug trafficking, firearm violence, fraud toward the elderly, employee violence, and victimization.

WE'VE COME A LONG WAY, BUT . . .
In the more than 30 years since the U.S. Surgeon General first sounded the alarm about the health risks of tobacco usage, attitudes about smoking have changed. But in a recently completed SSRC survey of national attitudes about the subject, researchers concluded that there is much work left to be done in the tobacco control movement.

A research team headed by social psychologist Dr. Robert McMillen analyzed attitudes about tobacco in a variety of social institutions: families, education, health and medical care, government, work, recreation, and mass communication. Assisting with the research were Liesel Ritchie, coordinator of the center's Decision Support Laboratory; Dr. Wolfgang Frese, coordinator of the Survey Research Unit; and Cosby.

The center last July conducted telephone interviews with more than 1,500 adults to determine tobacco use, norms, practices, and beliefs across broad areas reflecting American life. "Tobacco control and tobacco use are not carried out in a vacuum," McMillen noted. "The social climate survey gives us a better understanding of the institutional circumstances in which these issues occur."

One impetus for the approach, McMillen said, was the recognition that tobacco use often is a socially motivated behavior, with peer pressure and parental role models clear influences on youth. The survey addresses those influences, as well as the influences of institutional norms about smoking.

While tobacco use has dropped from 42 percent of the American population in 1965 to 22 percent in 1997, the study shows that there are areas of American life in which the tobacco control message is making less of an impact. "With more than 46 million adults in the nation continuing to smoke cigarettes, it's clear that there is work still ahead," McMillen said.

Among other findings, the national tobacco survey showed that there one of the greatest successes of the anti-tobacco movement is among families and youth. Many adults support restricting youth access to tobacco and recognize the dangers of second-hand smoke.

But, among all of the institutions surveyed, the researchers found some surprises:

• More than 20 million American adults do not believe that parents should keep their children from smoking.
• The same number of adults believe students should be allowed to smoke on school grounds.
• More than 50 million American adults do not believe the government has a responsibility to regulate tobacco.
• Nearly 50 million American adults do not work in a smoke-free environment.
• Some 80 million believe smoking should be allowed at indoor sporting events.
• Despite widespread suspicion of tobacco marketing strategies, more than 100 million support tobacco advertising at sporting and cultural events.

"There is a certain unevenness in how deeply the anti-tobacco message extends across social institutions," McMillen concluded. "Some aspects of tobacco control have made substantial impact, but clearly there are areas of resistance."

50 YEARS AND COUNTING
Having recently celebrated its half-century anniversary, the Social Science Research Center is not resting on its laurels. During 2000, the center will administer between 40 and 50 funded research projects, director Art Cosby said, and that list is growing.

"There is strong institutional support for the work of the SSRC," he noted. "The scientists, students and staff of our center are committed to advancing social science research. We believe our work is making a difference in our state and beyond."