Summarizes information on possible infertility treatments and discusses the needs they create and the issues they raise for children and parents. Offers ideas on what early childhood caregivers and educators can do to help families who are engaging in these treatments. (JW)

Examined self-esteem and sexuality in 141 male and 172 female adolescents. Found no differences in self-esteem of males versus females. Sexual activity or virginity was not related to self-esteem for either gender. Pregnant teenagers did not have different self-esteem levels from nonpregnant. Males who had fathered a child had lower self-esteem…

Examined the relationship between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and children's intellectual functioning through age four. Found that children whose mothers smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day during pregnancy had Stanford-Binet scores 4 points lower than those whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy. (HTH)

Describes a patient with a history of infertility who, after becoming pregnant following a sexual assault, used chorionic villus sampling and DNA studies for paternity identification. Discusses risks and potential problems that accompany prenatal paternity testing. Ethical, moral, emotional, and religious factors should be considered in the…

Discusses professional biases, personal values, and family issues, using parents' effects on children and adolescent pregnancy as examples. Presents evidence about biological bases of intelligence, sexual behavior/orientation, personality, and psychopathology. Encourages family professionals to broaden environmental interpretations and to…

Findings from pregnant adolescents, nonpregnant adolescents, pregnant adults, adolescent mothers, and adult mothers found that pregnant adolescents were less socially competent and less proficient in problem solving than nonpregnant peers, that they exhibited more behavioral problems than pregnant adults, and that adolescent mothers displayed more…

Examined perceived relationships between pregnant and nonpregnant teenage girls and their mothers (n=52 mother-daughter dyads). Nonpregnant daughters and their mothers felt significantly more intimacy toward each other than did pregnant daughters and their mothers. Correlations of mother and daughter scores revealed that intimacy scores of mothers…

Students at a Baltimore, Maryland, middle school have been bombarded with lessons in self-esteem, career planning, and perils of early pregnancy. Directed equally at girls and boys, the Campaign for Our Children program is part of city's effort to curb its galloping teenage pregnancy. Through Governor's Council on Adolescent Pregnancy, campaign…

Survey of 58 physicians revealed that they did not routinely ask their pregnant patients about alcohol consumption for several reasons: physician bias resulting from own abuse, lack of training, poor awareness of problem and effects, denial that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs in private practice, time limitations, disinterest, fear of offending…

Discusses how human services agencies can use strategies and information technologies similar to those used in political campaigns to identify needs and attitudes for social services campaigns. Marketing for social services programs is described, and the use of computers for a political campaign and for a teenage pregnancy program is compared.…

Examines behaviors related to AIDS protection and contraception among African-American, Hispanic, and White women through a national alcohol survey in 1991 and 1992. Results indicate that a significant proportion of women and their partners in each ethnic group did not use any form of protection during their recent sexual encounter. (Author/MKA)

Explores the course of treatment, risk factors, and drug-related issues among ethnically diverse pregnant women (N=192) who were actively using drugs at admission to a residential treatment program. Findings reveal that the course of treatment is more difficult for comorbid clients who perceived more treatment barriers than noncomorbid clients.…

Attempts to broaden the analytic categories for understanding early-adolescent pregnancy, suggesting an antidote to the methodological individualism that emphasizes individual and family characteristics by using broader contextual factors. Seemingly imprudent behaviors can be rendered interpretably rational when placed in social context. Without…

Used Theory of Reasoned Action to investigate the cognitive structure underlying substance use through interviews with mothers 17 years old or younger during pregnancy. Found that substance use was lowest during pregnancy, increased sharply at 6 months postpartum, and remained level at 12 months. Changes in intentions, attitudes, perceived social…

Experience treating women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) from varied sociocultural backgrounds in a large inner-city general hospital is related to a literature review. Subgroups were identified according to personality pathology, psychiatric symptoms, and psychosocial stress factors. Accurate assessment, needs of individuals, treatment…