The health care crisis faced by African Americans must be addressed by the nation as a whole with the same energy that erupts when a natural disaster occurs. On an individual basis, blacks can improve their own health with attention to child nurturing and personal nutrition. (SLD)

Reports the contraceptive and gender role attitudes of 60 working class African-American youth in Atlanta (Georgia). Most were close to both parents and received parental support, but only half received adequate contraceptive information from parents. Cultural contributions to attitudes about sexuality and pregnancy are discussed. (SLD)

Uses Safer Choices--a school-based program for preventing HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy--to examine methodological issues in large-scale school-based health promotion research, discussing randomization of small numbers of units; reasons for using a cohort or cross-sectional design; and analysis of data by appropriate…

Reviews basic and evaluative research that has reported a relationship between sex education and pregnancy-related behaviors among adolescents. Examines findings from national probability surveys about the relationship between sex education and coital behavior and contraception. Review behavioral success among different types of primary…

High levels of stress on low-income, inner-city women from ethnic minority groups often causes both poor maternal functioning and infant development outcomes. This article reviews literature that proposes using several social work treatment options instead a single approach to reduce maternal depression, expand mothers' social networks, and…

The Parents Matter! Program (PMP) is a community-based family intervention designed to promote positive parenting and effective parent-child communication about sexuality and sexual risk reduction. Its ultimate goal is to reduce sexual risk behavior among adolescents. PMP offers parents instruction and guidance in general parenting skills related…

Objective: To assess whether parental psychological and physical factors and child factors measured in the first year of life were associated with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children at age 6 3/4 years. Method: A longitudinal cohort study (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children), followed 8,272 children from pregnancy to age 6…

Background: In an earlier series of studies, we documented the effects of feeding practices and postnatal maternal mood on the growth and development of 226 Barbadian children during the first few months of life. In this report, we extend our earlier studies by examining predictive relationships between infant size, feeding practices and…

Adolescent parents and their children are both at critical points in their lives, when their life courses can be shaped toward healthy development, stability, and productivity, or toward life-long poverty and dependency. Efforts to improve outcomes for these young families must take advantage of every opportunity to connect them with the services…

Objectives: This meta-analysis evaluates treatment effects for nonpsychotic major depression during pregnancy and postpartum comparing interventions by type and timing. Methods: Studies for decreasing depressive severity during pregnancy and postpartum applying treatment trials and standardized measures were included. Standardized mean differences…

Through a Global Partnership Project, Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes in Ithaca, New York and the Namibian Planned Parenthood Association (NAPPA) in Windhoek, Namibia have joined together to share best practices, technical assistance, support, and resources. The Global Partners share the common goal of increasing awareness,…

Current prevalence rates of Conduct Disorder (CD) in girls may be an underestimate due to inappropriate diagnostic criteria, biased perceptions by those responsible for reporting problematic behavior, and differential social constraints for each gender. Relatively few published studies of CD and related behaviors in girls exist. Available evidence…

These studies explored attitudes toward maternal culpability in cases of alleged fetal abuse. In experiment one, general culpability for the use of various substances during pregnancy was assessed as well as the impact of other potentially relevant factors. One hundred and twenty students completed the survey. Participants overwhelmingly supported…

This is the ninth brief in a series of Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) analyses of Head Start Program Information Report data. This brief provides information on Early Head Start programs, staff, and participants; including young children, pregnant women, and their families. It updates a similar brief that CLASP published analyzing data…

This study investigated the role of three groups of risk and protective factors (e.g., individual, family, and extrafamilial) that are associated with teen pregnancy. Two groups of Latina adolescents (aged 15 to 19), nonpregnant/ nonparenting (NP; N = 48) and pregnant/parenting (P; N = 46), completed a demographic survey, an adolescent profile…