Studies the influence of self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes toward women's family roles, attitudes toward school, educational aspirations, and religiosity on the probability of teenage premarital pregnancy and its resolution. Results for 1,142 white adolescent girls show that self-esteem and attitudes toward schooling and family roles were…

Drug-exposed infants are having a profound impact on the child welfare system. When community resources are not available to meet the needs of these children and families, requirements of current child welfare laws cannot be met. The range of services necessary for effective child welfare responses is discussed. (SLD)

Studies characteristics of 29 pregnant homeless women (18 African Americans, 6 whites, and 5 others). In general, respondents are young, unmarried minority group members with no income other than entitlements, who have been without a home one year or less. These women have more health problems than the average population. (SLD)

Discusses the related nature of prevention and treatment of drug abuse and alcohol abuse. For both prevention and treatment, the focus must be on outreach, culturally specific needs, and community-based needs. Treatment modalities that have been most effective are those that put the basic needs of the client first. (SLD)

Discusses the services that resource and referral agencies and early childhood programs in centers and family child care homes can provide to meet the health and developmental needs of young children. Describes the ways in which reimbursement can be obtained from Medicaid when the services are provided for eligible children and families. (BB)

The health care crisis faced by African Americans must be addressed by the nation as a whole with the same energy that erupts when a natural disaster occurs. On an individual basis, blacks can improve their own health with attention to child nurturing and personal nutrition. (SLD)

Reports the contraceptive and gender role attitudes of 60 working class African-American youth in Atlanta (Georgia). Most were close to both parents and received parental support, but only half received adequate contraceptive information from parents. Cultural contributions to attitudes about sexuality and pregnancy are discussed. (SLD)

Uses Safer Choices--a school-based program for preventing HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy--to examine methodological issues in large-scale school-based health promotion research, discussing randomization of small numbers of units; reasons for using a cohort or cross-sectional design; and analysis of data by appropriate…

Reviews basic and evaluative research that has reported a relationship between sex education and pregnancy-related behaviors among adolescents. Examines findings from national probability surveys about the relationship between sex education and coital behavior and contraception. Review behavioral success among different types of primary…

High levels of stress on low-income, inner-city women from ethnic minority groups often causes both poor maternal functioning and infant development outcomes. This article reviews literature that proposes using several social work treatment options instead a single approach to reduce maternal depression, expand mothers' social networks, and…

The Parents Matter! Program (PMP) is a community-based family intervention designed to promote positive parenting and effective parent-child communication about sexuality and sexual risk reduction. Its ultimate goal is to reduce sexual risk behavior among adolescents. PMP offers parents instruction and guidance in general parenting skills related…

Background: In an earlier series of studies, we documented the effects of feeding practices and postnatal maternal mood on the growth and development of 226 Barbadian children during the first few months of life. In this report, we extend our earlier studies by examining predictive relationships between infant size, feeding practices and…

Adolescent parents and their children are both at critical points in their lives, when their life courses can be shaped toward healthy development, stability, and productivity, or toward life-long poverty and dependency. Efforts to improve outcomes for these young families must take advantage of every opportunity to connect them with the services…

Through a Global Partnership Project, Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes in Ithaca, New York and the Namibian Planned Parenthood Association (NAPPA) in Windhoek, Namibia have joined together to share best practices, technical assistance, support, and resources. The Global Partners share the common goal of increasing awareness,…

Current prevalence rates of Conduct Disorder (CD) in girls may be an underestimate due to inappropriate diagnostic criteria, biased perceptions by those responsible for reporting problematic behavior, and differential social constraints for each gender. Relatively few published studies of CD and related behaviors in girls exist. Available evidence…