July 20, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A mutual interest in adolescent risk-taking brought University of Alabama at Birmingham sociologist Kevin Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., and a Hungarian colleague together via cyberspace this year, providing opportunities for research here and abroad.

The unusual collaboration began with an e-mail inquiry into Fitzpatrick’s work from Bettina Piko, a psychiatrist and behavioral sciences researcher.

Piko and Fitzpatrick began to exchange e-mail and, over time, the two realized they were doing much of the same research in their respective countries. Despite differences in their languages and their distance from each other, Piko and Fitzpatrick agreed to collaborate.

“We have never talked on the phone, we’ve never seen each other face to face,” Fitzpatrick said. “But we said we ought to do a project jointly.”

He and Piko wrote and will present a paper at the annual American Sociological Association meeting August 12-16 in Washington D.C. They will meet face-to-face for the first time at that meeting. Their paper, on the relationships between class and health behavior among adolescents in Hungary, was written entirely via the Internet and is based on previous data collected by Piko.

Working totally via the Internet and fax machine has been challenging, said Fitzpatrick.

“When communicating by e-mail, there’s no inflection in the voice,” he said. “You can’t see their reaction or assess how the other person is hearing you. These are all things we take for granted when we are talking to someone face-to-face. Thus, you are left with the most barren approach of communicating. E-mail is efficient, but when getting down to the business of building intercollegiate relationships, it can be difficult. But we’ve maintained our sense of humor.”

Their collaborations will not end there. Piko will come to UAB in August to teach a class on international medical sociology, focusing on Eastern Europe and Hungary. In addition, Fitzpatrick recently earned a Fulbright scholarship to study in Hungary in 2001.

Fitzpatrick and Piko will compare health behavior and risk behavior among adolescents here and in Hungary, using a survey Fitzpatrick developed for use among teens in Bessemer, Alabama, a suburb outside of Birmingham. The survey has been translated into Hungarian and will be used among working-class teenagers there.

The two also want to develop an international conference on adolescent risk with representatives from the United States, Hungary, China, Australia and other nations.

“We’re really trying to line up all the ducks for that project while she’s here,” Fitzpatrick said. “My intention is to work toward a common data collection that would bring together information from all the different countries and different cultures throughout the world.

“As we look at kids and adolescents and understand their behavior and the risks they engage in, one of my immediate questions is how important a role is class in their decision making,” he said. “I’m really excited about going over to Hungary. It’s an incredible opportunity. I think from my research perspective I’m going to have much better perception of youth in Hungary by immersing myself in the culture there.”