Analyzes why the current complex of social institutions and systems does not effectively serve poor children, highlighting the lack of early or preventative help for families and inappropriate organizational structure. Offers a series of five principles for a new foundation based on prevention, comprehensiveness, continuity, and accountability.…

Describes the Decker Family Development Center (DFDC) in Barberton (Ohio), while relating the difference that the DFDC's services has made to one poor family. Recounts the DFDC's establishment, funding, and current services (adult education, counseling for parents and children, and several types of child care services). (JB)

Contends that the juvenile court system should be abolished because its paternalistic underpinnings fundamentally are inconsistent with children's rights. Asserts that current theories of human rights are tied to competency, which has been used historically to exclude women and minority groups from the category of rights holders. (CFR)

Describes the Project LEAD: High Expectations! (PLHE) program, a targeted, nontraditional, primary prevention demonstration project that focuses on African-American youth who are children in one of five at-risk categories. Discusses the prevention curriculum, site selection, trainers, implementation, evaluation, and continuing efforts of the PLHE.…

Every young person should be obliged to engage in some program of systematic study until he/she can meet core learning standard for entry into adult society realizing that this will take different amounts of time for different individuals. Learning can take place in wide variety of settings and by many methods. Age-grade link also needs to be…

More than 25 percent of those who have the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus are African American, and, in large urban areas, the disease is a leading cause of death, especially among black women. AIDS education is vital to supplement health care efforts in the black community. (SLD)

Offers a social ecological analysis of health promotive environments, emphasizing the transactions between individual or collective behavior and the health resources and constraints that exist in specific environmental settings. Directions for future research on the creation and maintenance of health promotive environments also are examined. (JB)

This response to Maag and Howell (EC 602 677) stresses that the prevention and treatment of students' emotional and behavioral problems requires system restructuring, a change of values, and such coercive change techniques as a revised, more inclusive, federal definition of emotional and behavioral disorders. (DB)

Unofficial rates of delinquency (RDs) were studied in Japan for a representative population sample of 1,121 high school students in the Osaka prefecture, mostly from private schools. RD correlations and interpretations were compared with those of similar U.S. studies. Reasons self-reported delinquency in Japan was much lower are discussed. (SLD)

Evaluates a culturally specific curriculum addressing African Americans for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) education delivered to 339 youths in high school and junior high school in Los Angeles (California). Students in ethnically homogenous classrooms increased knowledge and behavioral intent more than did those in ethnically…

Effectiveness of a program for junior high school students focusing on attitudes and knowledge about weight and dieting was evaluated in 2 studies with 80 females in experimental groups and 139 females in control groups. Subjects responded favorably whether the program was presented by videotape or the regular teacher. (SLD)

This paper outlines developments in child protection from an international point of view and offers a perspective into the twenty-first century. The paper focuses on management of intrafamilial child maltreatment (identification, treatment, government intervention, primary prevention); and management of extrafamilial child maltreatment through…

The relationship between a 4-group (control and low- through high-intensity intervention) health promotion intervention program and subsequent medical costs was analyzed for 1,188 employees in a California utility company. Results suggest strong associations between health promotion interventions and subsequent reduction in medical care costs,…

Describes efforts to apply the action-research process to design and evaluate a theory-based program of intervention to reduce and prevent youth violence in high-risk urban environments. Twelve objectives were developed to design and evaluate "Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways," a violence-prevention curriculum for sixth graders.…

The effectiveness of three substance-abuse-prevention videotapes derived from contrasting theoretical frameworks was evaluated using 312 rural Mexican-American students in grades seven through eight. The assertion-training video produced higher levels of assertiveness among ninth-graders; the others had no impact. Discusses the importance of…