Although US teenage birth rates substantially decreased over the past two decades, it still remains the highest in the developed world. More innovative, community-wide initiatives are needed to combat the issue. In Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, the Central Oklahoma Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaboration is utilizing the collective impact model to…

To improve uptake of influenza vaccine in pregnancy, it is important to understand the factors that predict prenatal vaccination. The aim of this study was to test the capability of the theory of planned behavior, augmented with information constructs, to predict and explain influenza vaccination uptake in a sample of 600 pregnant individuals in…

Background: Missouri Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) provides sexual health education programs to youth with goals of reducing unintended teen pregnancies. Theories of change provide that youth improve their sexual health knowledge, intentions, attitudes, and behaviors as a result of program implementation. Program evaluations are…

Identification of language disorders in children younger than 3 years remains challenging despite agreement that early intervention improves outcomes. This study of twin language and gesture development substantiated the twinning effect, an unexplained lag in expressive and receptive language seen in twins, for a group of 88, 16- to 18-month-old…

American culture is greatly influenced by conservative and religious views that construct adolescent sexuality as problematic. Consequently, American teenagers are often informed that abstinence is the right moral choice and will allow them to lead a successful adult life. The ultimate punishment for engaging in pre-marital sex is deemed to be…

Background: More knowledge about the particularities of pregnancy and childbirth in women with Down syndrome (DS) might improve medical and psychosocial support for expectant mothers. Method: In a sample of 351 pregnancies, women with DS were compared with women with other forms of intellectual disabilities (ID) and women without ID with regard to…

Questionnaire design is routinely guided by classic experiments on question form, wording, and context conducted decades ago. This article explores whether two question order effects (one due to the norm of evenhandedness and the other due to subtraction or perceptual contrast) appear in surveys of probability samples in the United States and 11…

There is a need for more research focusing on the health outcomes of infants born to the understudied group of adolescent mothers. Archivical data from four independent sources were used to answer the following research question: During the child's first year, what adverse health factors are associated with acts of intimate partner violence (IPV)…

The evidence for negative influences of maternal stress during pregnancy on child cognition remains inconclusive. This study tested the association between maternal prenatal stress and child intelligence in 4,251 mother-child dyads from a multiethnic population-based cohort in the Netherlands. A latent factor of prenatal stress was constructed,…

Objective: The present study focuses on factors that predict sexual risk behaviors and sexual health screening behaviors in a sample of university students in Lebanon. Participants: A convenience sample of 250 undergraduate students was recruited at a private university in Beirut, Lebanon. Methods: Students completed measures of religiosity,…

Federal guidance allows Head Start grant recipients to apply to the Office of Head Start to shift funding (i.e., convert enrollment slots) from Head Start services for preschool-age children to Early Head Start services for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers. Yet scant information is available about how grant recipients navigate the conversion…

The sex bias in autism diagnosis suggests the involvement of sex-specific endocrine mechanisms during prenatal development, but these hormones affect health throughout life. Therefore, the current study examined the association of autism and autistic traits with conditions and symptoms related to the sex-steroid system in adult women. In total,…

The identification of predictor variables for students at-risk of dropping out of university has received increased attention in higher education settings internationally concerning the context of origin in which they are developed and the different academic context in which they are introduced, often lacking schema-theoretic perspectives to offer…

Pregnant college students have been increasingly successful in proving sex-based discrimination prohibited by Title IX, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. Higher education administrators are responsible for Title IX compliance through policy development and adherence but must rely on faculty…

Purpose: Group prenatal care, which integrates medical care with patient education and empowerment in a group setting, has the potential to build social support among pregnant women and reduce the risk of postpartum depression (PPD). Past research on group care's effects on social support or PPD has produced inconsistent findings. Studies have…