Examines findings from a multidisciplinary mentoring program for fourth graders. Students were admitted to the program based on responses to a survey on self-esteem; school, peer, and family connectedness; and risk taking behavior. The program emphasized relationship building, self-esteem enhancement, goal setting, and academic assistance.…

Surveyed parents of third graders in an urban public school system regarding their knowledge about school health services, value they placed on the services, and barriers to health care access. Overall, parents highly valued school health services, knew little about service availability and use, and were often unaware their children received many…

Developed a behaviorally-based health education instruction model from a review of successful interventions, identifying three principles common to health behavior improvement among program participants (experiential, awareness, and responsibility); organizing these principles and several theoretical premises into a structural framework for the…

Examined the relationship between language spoken at home and school and health risks and behaviors of Asian American adolescents. Data from the World Health Organization Study of Health Behavior in School Children indicated increased risk for physical, psychosocial, and school health problems among these students. The risks were greater for the…

Examined whether the 11-lesson "Healthy Body Image: Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too!" curriculum would have a positive effect on upper elementary students. Pretest- posttest measures indicated that, compared to control children, children who completed the curriculum showed significant or notable improvement regarding body image,…

Compared three risk measures associated with adolescent substance use (truancy, grade point average, and recent sexual intercourse) to assess the reliability of risk measures across different survey instruments, communities, and points in time. Truancy appeared superior because of its strong predictive value, particularly among younger children,…

Analyzed health care utilization at three New York City school-based health centers (SBHCs), comparing characteristics of frequent and average users. Examination of participants' encounter forms and charts indicated that the SBHCs had a high rate of use. Frequent users were more likely to be older, comprised 28 percent of clinic-users, and…

Examined the association between school connectedness and school environment, identifying ways to increase student connectedness. Data from the in-school and school administrator surveys of the National Study of Adolescent Health indicated that positive classroom management climates, participation in extracurricular activities, tolerant…

Examined a program to recruit volunteer physical activity providers in middle schools. Twenty-one community volunteers provided 850 physical activity hours at seven schools. Volunteers who received incentives offered more minutes of activity, conducted more activity sessions, reached more students, and logged more student-minutes of physical…

Examined the relationship of perceived stress, self-esteem, acculturation, and gender to the coping response of Mexican American adolescents. Data from self-report surveys indicated that adolescents had relatively high perceived stress levels, low acculturation, and a moderate self-esteem, with no significant gender differences. Self-esteem was…

Used National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data to examine adolescents' alcohol use practices and related health risk behaviors, interpersonal problems, and demographics. High- risk drinking among adolescents related to a multitude of health risk behaviors that can seriously impede healthful human development. Adolescent males were…

Highlights some of the ethical dilemmas present in the debate over abstinence-only and abstinence-plus sexuality education in the schools, discussing issues related to: morality, ethics, and values; limitations to codes of ethics; questions about abstinence-only sexuality education; ethics and abstinence- only sexuality education; and sexuality…

Reviews existing hearing conservation education programs and materials designed for children that could be adapted for classroom use, presenting recommendations for hearing conservation education and concluding that this topic is as important in the public schools as are such health issues as smoking, teen pregnancy, and substance abuse. (SM)

Examined smoking behaviors and predictors from fifth through eighth grades by ethnicity, gender, and geographic location. Overall, Hispanic and white adolescents had a similar 30-day smoking prevalence. Predictor variables were powerful across different geographic regions. There were no differences in predictor variables between blacks, whites,…

Used the Social Ecology Model of Adolescent Interpersonal Violence Prevention (SEMAIVP) to examine adolescent beliefs and behaviors related to interpersonal violence. Data collected from middle school students using the Youth Conflict Mediation Survey highlighted the SEMAIVP's empirical use in understanding key intrapersonal, interpersonal,…