Student drinking in the Third Reich: Academic tradition and the Nazi revolution†

Heavy consumption of alcohol pervaded the student world in Germany to an even greater extent than elsewhere. Many of the fraternities, to which a substantial proportion of the student body belonged, required their members to undergo regular, formal and compulsory drinking bouts. The temperance movement had little effect on students until a general mood of austerity dawned after the First World War. The National Socialists identified themselves with the new sobriety in many policies aside from drink. After Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, one can identify a certain ambivalence in alcohol policies. On the one hand, the puritanical conscience of the Nazis wanted to purge Germany of all decadence, but there was an equally strong impulse for a prolonged victory celebration in traditionally alcoholic terms. This unresolved dilemma can be neatly illustrated through an examination of the universities at the time.

Nazi student leaders indulged in rowdy celebrations after 1933, while denouncing the fraternity world for its alcoholic excesses. This double standard persisted throughout the Third Reich. The Nazis persecuted fraternity members for harmless, drunken horseplay which looked like expressions of political discontent, while plying freshmen with beer and wine themselves, in order to persuade them to join the rather dull, Nazi student organizations. Where alcoholic misdemeanours did occur within the Nazi students’ own ranks, they were treated in various ways, according to political convenience. There was little chance of a strong stand against excessive student drinking with an outright alcoholic as Education Minister during this whole period. In more general terms, the production of beer and wine formed an important part of the German economy, which the government was trying to stimulate, not depress. Drinking remained, then, as a central part of student life despite a promised revolution in all aspects of the academic world. The old traditions persisted, and were sometimes even taken up by the Nazis themselves in their concern for historic roots and legitimacy.

     

Disclosure of information by children in social networking—Not just a case of “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine”

This paper reports the results of a study of MySpace use, by Sydney high school children. It examines the reasons why children disclose information on the website and their understanding of some of the privacy issues involved. The study provides a useful beginning for further work in this area. Regression is used to validate a proposed model of the factors influencing information disclosure and cluster analysis provides an indication of characteristics shared by children who disclose sensitive information, such as name, address and telephone number. It also suggests that children who are taught to value privacy are less likely to disclose sensitive information on-line.     

Self-actualization: The Heart and Soul of a Potential-based Life Skills Program for a Child with Multiple Disabilities

Although every child with disabilities may come to self-actualization by different means and measurements it is, nevertheless, an important goal. The child with disabilities may be guided toward her goal of self-actualization by being encouraged to find her individual strengths and capacities, and by being assisted to successfully interact with her environment. This article explores the use of the scientific method to support the development of a potential-based program that has nurtured self-actualization and the joy of learning for a child with multiple disabilities and chronic illness.     

Assessing Sitting Across Contexts: Development of the Multicontext Sitting Time Questionnaire

Purpose: To describe the development and preliminary evaluation of the Multicontext Sitting Time Questionnaire (MSTQ). Method: During development of the MSTQ, contexts and domains of sitting behavior were utilized as recall cues to improve the accuracy of sitting assessment. The terms “workday” and “nonworkday” were used to disambiguate occupational and discretionary sitting. An expert panel evaluated content validity. Among 25 participants, test–retest reliability of the MSTQ items was assessed with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Convergent validity was assessed versus relative and absolute accelerometer-estimated sedentary time and activity log using Pearson (r) or Spearman (ρ) correlation coefficients where appropriate. Results: Pilot testing revealed Web-based MSTQ administration was rapid, scalable, and inexpensive. Most items in the MSTQ demonstrated acceptable reliability (ICCs>.70). Compared with accelerometer-estimated sedentary time relative to total wear time, the MSTQ exhibited a low correlation on workdays (r = .34) and a moderately high correlation on nonworkdays (r = .61). Conclusions: The systematic development of the MSTQ resulted in several improvements over previous tools and may serve as a model for purpose-driven questionnaire design. Additional validation is needed to conclusively determine the utility of the MSTQ.