The date is September 9, 2005. This article is set in a rural Wisconsin community, a thousand miles north of New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina is about to make landfall. The four- and five- year- olds in Mrs. Olson's classroom have never experienced a hurricane or seen flood waters rise to cover the farms and houses they know, but they cannot…

In this report, we review current scientific knowledge on the topic of youth mentoring, including what is known about relationships and programs, and their interface with organizations and institutions. Two primary conclusions can be drawn from this review. First, mentoring relationships are most likely to promote positive outcomes and avoid harm…

Although reports of intimate partner violence (IPV) decrease with age, a significant number of aging women experience IPV in their relationships. The structure and culture of rural environments may inadvertently conceal violence against aging women and inhibit prevention and treatment efforts. Guided by an ecological community framework, 3 focus…

Associations among dating, sexual activity, gender, and adjustment were investigated in 2,273 Italian adolescents (54% female, ages 14 to 19 years) attending public high schools. After controlling for age and type of school attended, both being in a dating relationship and being male were associated with less alienation, more positive views of the…

We examined mutuality, an aspect of Relational Cultural Theory, in an ethnically diverse sample of 397 college women from Midwestern and Western universities. We hypothesized that mutuality would predict scores on an eating disorder scale after controlling for traditional family variables, such as expressed emotion. As predicted, mutuality, as…

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), loss of sexual desire for sexual activity, is one of the most common sexual dysfunctions of men and women in the United States. This article presents an overview of this specific sexual dysfunction including incidence, possible causes, treatment options, and the role of the health educator in addressing…

Although sexual activity is common among teenagers, it is not as widespread, and does not begin as early, as most adults believe. This report provides detailed data and analysis of sex among adolescents. Adolescent sexual activity is grouped in ten categories: (1) Rites of passage; (2) The context of adolescents' lives; (3) Sex among teenagers;…

This study examined culture-specific attachment systems in Japan (including an Okinawan sample), Korea, China, United States, and the United Kingdom, using a questionnaire to measure the relative importance of various categories of interpersonal relations. Subjects were male and female university students and fathers and mothers of kindergarten…

Most parents want to prepare their adolescents for sexual relationships, but find it difficult to discuss sex with their teenagers. This books aims to help families improve communication and presents in a short-story format, factual information on sexuality. It is intended as an introduction to the subject of sex and as a quick reference tool for…

This study examined the relation between early family relationship patterns and adolescents' regulation of negative affect; attunement to their partners' affect; and capacity to balance their needs with those of their partner during conflict. A total of 27 college women completed measures pertaining to their relationship with their parents and…

In its three parts, this presentation: (1) describes five aspects of James Coleman's concept of "social capital"; (2) describes how the concept of social capital was used to develop a questionnaire for assessing teachers' investment of emotional self (personality, warmth, enthusiasm, etc.) in caregiving; and (3) provides related…

An 18-year longitudinal study of 520 New Zealand women found that those reporting childhood sexual abuse, particularly severe abuse involving intercourse, had significantly higher rates of early onset consensual sexual activity, teenage pregnancy, multiple sexual partners, unprotected intercourse, sexually transmitted disease, and sexual assault…

Examines the pastoral skills of PhD supervisors. The pastoral dimension of supervision can create conditions in which supervisors become too emotionally involved with their students. Costs of this over-involvement are identified and it is recommended that training programs for PhD supervisors contain a pastoral skills component. (RJM)

A policy proscribing the formation of intimate faculty-student relationships within the instructional context--namely, when the faculty member supervises the student's academic work--would maintain the integrity of the institution's academic mission while safeguarding the privacy interests of faculty members and students. (MLW)

Confirmatory, simultaneous group factor analysis supported three-factor structure of Perceived Social Support-Family measure for adolescents (n=975). Factors of Support Received, Support Provided, and Family Intimacy were significantly correlated with adolescent ratings of maternal and paternal support and inversely correlated with primary…