Children's connection to nature (CTN) is declining with each generation, a concerning trend given that CTN is positively linked to wellbeing and environmentalism. A primary cause of this decline is that twenty-first-century youth engage with screens for several hours each day, which to a large extent replaces nature-based play. Researchers have…

Drawing primarily on three case studies, this article proposes a framework that those concerned about the welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth can consider when developing, evaluating, or arguing for more effective programming: a relational assets approach. The relational assets approach merges the…

This study utilized a social learning framework to test the hypothesis that adolescents who have tried smoking in the past differ from those who have never smoked on several factors that theoretically place them at higher risk for beginning to smoke again. Implications of the findings for the design of school-based smoking prevention programs are…

Young African American males' role models are those in the entertainment and sports arenas. Few see themselves as scholars, contributing to the common good. To counteract teachers' low expectations of black males' performance, educators at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland, established African-American Achievers, a program that…

Discusses a mentoring model as a resource for lesbian and gay adolescents in foster care. The authors apply known successful program elements to the design of a model mentoring program for lesbian and gay adolescents. The program is meant to alleviate problems of isolation, stigmatization, and lack of positive lesbian and gay role models. (GR)

Planned mentoring programs, which purposefully link disadvantaged youth with someone older and more experienced, have become a popular means of providing adolescents with adult contacts, counselors, and role models. Mentoring programs vary widely in their objectives, and in the duration, frequency, and intensity of the planned relationship. The…

The youth smoking problem is discussed and assistance is provided for teachers in developing smoking prevention and cessation programs. Four chapters serve as guides to understanding and working with the youth smoking problem. "Teenage Smoking in America" reviews trends in teenage smoking behavior and the factors that influence the initiation of…

This paper examines the mentoring of African American youth, critiques the accepted theoretical basis for most programs, and offers an alternative framework. Following an introduction in section 1, section 2 describes conventional mentoring and contains two case studies of programs in the San Francisco Bay Area (California). A key finding of the…

Project TEAM (Team Education for Adolescent Mothers) is a support program designed to counteract the socioeconomic consequences of early childbearing, by developing a model for providing high-quality care services for pregnant adolescents, adolescent parents, their infants, and their extended families. The project has four site locations:…