Objective: To research the correlation between physical and sexual abuse by family members and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and behavior among urban and rural adolescents in Zambia. Sample: The sample comprises 3,360 adolescents, aged 10-19, from urban and rural Zambia; 2,160 of them attended school, while 1,200 of them did…

The Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Program (JASAP) is a curriculum-based prevention and health promotion program for youth between the ages of 13 to 18 years in Fulton County, Georgia. The program was established in 2007 to promote healthy decision-making skills that would eventually lead to informed choices and decisions…

Study aim: To examine the prevalence of obesity and its correlation with blood pressure, waist circumference and other health related risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and TV/PC-screen time) in German youths. Material and methods: A cohort of 831 boys and 808 girls, fifth- to tenth-graders from 3 German high schools…

Background: Nearly 10% of students enrolled in US public schools are absent daily. Although previous research has shown associations of school absenteeism with participation in risk behaviors, it is unclear if these associations vary by whether the absence was excused. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of health risk…

Objective: To examine impact of CVD risk reduction intervention for African-American men in the Atlanta Empowerment Zone (AEZ) designed to target anger management. Design: Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was employed as a non-parametric alternative to the t-test for independent samples. This test was employed because the data used in this analysis…

Background: Many children and adolescents are physically inactive and become even less active as they age. USA high school students' rates of attendance in physical education (PE) classes sharply decline by grade with 73% of ninth graders attending PE, while only 31% of seniors attend. Non-Caucasian youth report the lowest levels of physical…

Objective: To examine acceptability, attrition, adherence, and preliminary efficacy of mobile phone short message service (SMS; text messaging) for monitoring healthful behaviors in children. Design: All randomized children received a brief psychoeducational intervention. They then either monitored target behaviors via SMS with feedback or via…

Objective: To assess: (1) physicians' knowledge and clinical confidence regarding problematic substance use in pregnancy compared to folic acid, and (2) physicians' desire for education in this area and their preferred learning modalities tools. Design: Self-administered survey. Setting: "Family Medicine Forum 2004" in Toronto, Canada.…

Social-ecological (SE) models are becoming more widely used in health behavior research. Applying SE models to the design of interventions is challenging because models must be tailor-made for each behavior and population, other theories need to be integrated into multi-level frameworks, and empirical research to guide model development is…

Based on the conceptualization of successful development as the joint maximization of desirable outcomes and minimization of undesirable outcomes (Baltes, 1997), the present study examined connections between adolescent non-involvement in multiple risk behaviors and positive developmental status. Results from a survey of 7290 high school students…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a fatherhood program on risk behaviors among three groups of young fathers: those still in school (21%), those who had dropped out (52%), and those who graduated from high school or completed a GED (27%). The sample consisted of 198 young fathers who participated in a school-linked…

Based on a developmental framework, a study was conducted in Portugal in two groups of youth in terms of relevant aspects related to adolescent psychosexual development: one group participated in an Experimental Project of Sex Education and Health Promotion during high school, whereas the other did not receive any formal sex education in school.…

School-based body mass index (BMI) screening and parent notification programs have been advanced as an obesity prevention strategy. However, little is known about how to develop and implement programs. This qualitative study explored the opinions and beliefs of parents of elementary school students concerning school-based BMI screening programs,…

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of 53 low-income women who were smokers at the onset of pregnancy. Study participants were interviewed during pregnancy to document smoking trajectories and factors contributing to, or undermining, harm reduction and quit attempts. Thirty percent of women quit smoking completely, 43% engaged…

Maternal health behaviors such as substance use and sexual promiscuity can put the health of mothers and their offspring at risk. Sociodemographic factors including low socioeconomic status are also found to correlate with health risks for childbearing women. Hispanic women--particularly those less acculturated--often have sociodemographic risk…