Situational awareness refers to staying aware of your surroundings to avoid becoming a victim of a "crime of opportunity." Traveling on a subway, dropping a child off at school, walking a parking garage, or carrying purchases to your car can present an opportunity for a mugging, robbery, assault, theft, or carjacking. Your intuition and senses are the best tools for perceiving threats so you can act decisively should danger present itself. Police officers are trained in situational awareness,…

The data breach of 40 million consumer credit cards at Target Corporation highlights the growing problem of cybercrime. Cybercriminals don't use manual guesses to discover your log-in info and password. They use computer programs Trustwave, a company that consults on cybersecurity, says the most commonly stolen passwords are the ones that are easily guessed. Hackers also recently stole 2 million website log-in credentials at Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Most stolen records had really easy…

Employers with the best safety records have what are known as "safety cultures." Understand this phenomenon and you'll reduce rates of accidents. A "culture" is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize an institution or organization. These are transmitted and reinforced by everyone. Can you see how a safety culture goes beyond a desire to follow safety rules to avoid a supervisor's warning. The desire goes much deeper. To help grow a safety culture, transmit and…

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting raises many issues, but one still requiring closer examination is how small children respond to trauma and what can be done to effectively intervene when trauma occurs. Several years ago, a state-of-the-art and little known resource was assembled by the National Institute of Mental Health titled Health Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters. A copy of this parents' education guide on trauma is available at NIMH. 

Don't be in denial about stalking. The U.S. Department of Justice considers you a victim if you are on the receiving end of at least one of these behaviors twice during a 12-month period and it resulted in fear for your safety or that of a family member: 1) unwanted phone calls; 2) unsolicited or unwanted letters or emails; 3) being followed or spied on; 4) the stalker waits at places for you; 6) receiving unwanted items, presents, or flowers; and/or 7) information being posted or rumors being…

Contrary to what you might have heard, parents-not friends-are the number one influencer of teens' behavior choices. Monitoring teen behavior (e.g., "Where are you going, and with whom? Here's what time you need to be back.") reduces behavioral risk among teens. Over 75% of teen pregnancies are unplanned, and the highest rate of new HIV infections occurs among young people aged 20 to 24. Research shows that when parents set rules for their kids and monitor them, sexual intercourse occurs later…