Drug use trends change rapidly among youth, leaving educators and researchers struggling to respond promptly. Widely adopted universal evidence-based interventions (EBIs), such as the Michigan Model for Health™ (MMH), and their delivery systems offer an opportunity to reach large youth populations and reduce the onset and escalation of emerging…

The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP) had its beginnings in the early 1990s as a grassroots response to the needs of troubled (multiproblem) young people in the community (Arnett, Kurtines, & Montgomery, 2008, this issue). YDP is an important outcome of efforts to create positive youth development interventions that draw on the strengths…

Teenage pregnancy prevention programmes targeted at young women have received considerable attention from researchers and programme developers. However, to date, relatively limited information is available on preventing teenage fatherhood or improving outcomes for young fathers. A notable gap is concerned with understanding the forms of sexual…

Non-formal education, defined as any organized educational activity outside the established formal system whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objective is of great importance to society. It emerged out of the feeling that formal…

Presents interview with David Jarmusz, a Chicago (Illinois) police officer who specializes in gang activity. Jarmusz describes the Chicago Police Department's gang units program and gang specialist detectives, discusses goals and objectives, activities of the program, and outcomes of the project. (NB)

Describes international congress on preventing children's behavior disorders that was attended by 600 participants from throughout Europe and beyond. Discusses topics of presentations which reported several theoretical orientations, problem areas, and intervention strategies. Describes prevention program presented at congress. Concluding remarks…

Describes how one community (1) realized it had a problem with disaffected and troubled youth; (2) began to learn about the problem; (3) gradually shaped a youth program and then expanded it to reach younger teens; and (4) regained its young people. (SR)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder developed in many youths who were exposed to multiple trauma in South Africa's black townships. A modified treatment program was developed for 60 youths, with the goals of alleviating symptoms, documenting events for court cases, and helping individuals reevaluate their position in the struggle against apartheid. (JDD)

Interviewed 420 street youths in a midwestern city to analyze their sexual behaviors. Ninety-one percent were sexually active, and nearly half were engaged in sex for survival. Discusses the need to coordinate comprehensive social services to prevent an increase in the number of street youth. (SLD)

This report reviews some of the causes of teenage flight, statistics on the scope of the problem, and efforts, particularly federal initiatives, to deal with it. (SJL)

Introduces this theme issue by suggesting that the problems teen parents present for school and society cannot be adequately addressed without an understanding of the cultural and social frameworks that have led to their prominence in national political discourse. Argues that successful prevention programs cannot be developed without this same…

Schools can no longer act alone as surrogate parents. First appearing in Florida's innovative legislation, the full-service school concept is catching on in several other states. Full-service schools integrate education, medical, social, and/or human services to meet families' needs in easily accessible locations. Primary health centers are key…

Demonstrates the role of a school counselor in establishing a substance abuse prevention effort and describes specific steps taken in a rural community to deal with adolescent drug problems. School and local mental health counselors were crucial to development of the program. (JAC)

Working together, schools and families can provide a character-based approach to sexuality education. Schools can give parents a wake-up call, provide historical perspective, share good news, encourage parents to talk with kids, help discuss dangers, identify rewards of waiting, give guidelines, and support chaste lifestyles. (Contains 21…

Youth work is a field that has moved from a sole focus on the treatment of youth problems to their prevention, and more recently, the promotion of normal, healthy development. Concurrent with this trend to a more comprehensive approach to youth services (one that serves a continuum from promotion to prevention to short- and long-term treatment)…