This kit is a tool for enabling communities to work together to motivate children and families to make food choices for healthy diets. Team Nutrition is the implementation tool for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children. Its goal is to empower schools to serve healthy meals and motivate students to make…

This offers advice on the health benefits of regular physical activity. It includes a scientifically proven fitness test to determine one's starting point and monitor ongoing progress, offering step-by-step instructions, sample programs, and insights on nutrition, weight control, motivation, and overcoming setbacks. Seven chapters examine: (1)…

This report provides a statistical portrait of teen participation in 10 of the most prevalent risk behaviors. It focuses on the overall participation in each behavior and in multiple risk taking. The booklet presents the overall incidence and patterns of teen involvement in the following risk behaviors: (1) regular alcohol use; (2) regular tobacco…

This document details the strategic plan of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to address disparities in health and developmental outcomes among Americans, particularly between and among racial and ethnic groups. Following a description of the plan's development, scientific areas of interest, and important themes, the…

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to measure the major health risk behaviors performed by youth. These health risk behaviors include: behaviors that contribute to intentional and unintentional injuries; the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; sexual behaviors that contribute…

Surveys and focus groups involving students from high schools with condom availability programs assessed health risk behaviors and perceptions of school environment, program effectiveness, and program improvement. Students supported such programs. Students worried about privacy when obtaining condoms, recommending private locations for accessing…

Many colleges have established substance-free residence halls as one strategy for coping with the problem of binge drinking. The paper presents guidelines for ensuring that the substance-free housing succeeds, including starting small, involving students in design and development, keeping the area separate, considering special programming, and…

First-year college students completed surveys to determine their current tobacco use levels and the advice they had previously received from physicians regarding tobacco products. Results indicated that nearly 20% of the students were currently smoking and that health care providers were not fully using opportunities to educate young adults about…

The literature review discussed here located 56 studies examining 87 behaviors that predicted future health-related behaviors using the theory of planned behavior. About 41% of variance in intentions and 34% of variance in future behavior were explained by the theory. Perceived behavioral control explained 11.5% of variance in behavior above…

Reports a national telephone survey that measured public support for seven proposals to restrict youth access to tobacco products. Nearly all respondents believed child and adolescent smoking was a serious problem. Most supported all proposed measures to restrict children's access to tobacco and to increase the cigarette excise tax. (Author/SM)

As part of a project aimed at developing an adolescent health education program, 100 subjects aged 12 through 13 and 16 through 17 were studied to determine the possible relationship between self-esteem, value of health, and positive health behavior. Both factors were found to be significantly correlated with certain dimensions of health behavior…

Examines and critiques research that measures the effects of school sexuality education programs on adolescent sexual risk-taking behavior. Discusses common methodological problems and examines studies measuring program effectiveness. Research suggests participation in school sexuality education does not promote increased or earlier sexual…

This article presents information on tobacco use initiation by middle-school students who were exposed to the Iowa Program against Smoking. From 1984 to 1989, students completed surveys on smoking status, attitudes and beliefs, and family and peer smoking. Results indicated that experimentation with tobacco was the single best predictor of regular…

Focus group interviews assessed African American teens' and adults' (ages 13 to 65-plus) perceptions and beliefs about exercise. Many subjects believed that African Americans performed physical labor at work and needed rest rather than exercise during free time. Many considered exercise a physical stressor and believed friends had the greatest…

A study compared serum total cholesterol and blood pressure levels of participants in a voluntary national health screening with NHANES II estimates of the general U.S. population. Findings suggest the levels may not have decreased appreciably over 10 years; and continued national, state, and local behavior modification efforts are warranted. (SM)