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…

Women are at greater risk of exposure to interpersonal violence during pregnancy. The influence prenatal violence has on children's behavioral adjustment is generally understood to stem from its impact on mothers, but there is a dearth of prospective research to test these models. The current study evaluated the influence of interpersonal violence…

Students involved in bullying experience mental health issues and negative psychosocial outcomes. Few studies have investigated how teacher-student relationships (TSRs) may buffer the negative outcomes experienced by students involved in bullying. To investigate the moderating role of TSRs with bullying involvement status and psychosocial…

Objective: This campaign sought to (a) increase awareness of sexual health and chlamydia testing; (b) motivate students, particularly sexually active men who do not pursue regular sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, to get tested; and (c) improve the capacity of the student health center to provide free chlamydia testing and treatment…

Members of vulnerable populations have heightened needs for health services. One advantage of integrating health risk assessment and referrals into social service assistance systems such as 2-1-1 is that such systems help callers resolve problems in other areas (e.g., housing). Callers to 2-1-1 in Missouri (N = 1,090) with at least one behavioral…

Through "Evangelii Gaudium" (2013) and "Laudato si'" (2015) Pope Francis has approached contemporary culture head-on with a call for Catholics to engage, and not retreat from, the changes and challenges of the 21st century. Traditional expectations and norms of society such as education, occupations, communication, and…

Objective: To examine the misuse of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-specific stimulants in a college population at high risk for or with clinical or subclinical eating disorders. Participants: Four hundred forty-eight college-age women aged 18-25 at high risk for or with a clinical or subclinical eating disorder. Methods:…

This study examined the efficacy of a multimodule parenting intervention, "My Baby & Me," that began prenatally and continued until children reached 2.5 years of age. The intervention targeted specific parenting skills designed to alter trajectories of maternal and child development. Of 361 high-risk mothers (193 adolescents, 168…

African Americans have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease partly due to low fruit and vegetable consumption. This article reports the results of an intervention to provide nutrition education and access to fruits and vegetables through community gardens to change dietary behaviors among African Americans in rural Missouri. Cross-sectional…

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are frequent in student athletes and are often caused by community-associated methicillin-resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (CA-MRSA). We evaluated the awareness of CA-MRSA among high school coaches and athletic directors in Missouri (n = 4,408) and evaluated hygiene practices affecting SSTI…

Despite the assertion that due to an Obama presidency America has become a post-racial society, Black males still face a unique social crisis. In this article, we hold that both race and gender continue to work in tandem to produce a certain set of social outcomes for young Black men in America despite this assertion. The educational, economic,…

Despite warnings that drinking during pregnancy is unsafe, many women are still at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP). This article describes the outcomes of a web-based, self-guided change intervention designed to lower the risk for AEPs in a community. A sample of 458 women, between the ages of 18 and 44 years and at risk for an AEP…

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether brief training of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medical providers increased the frequency with which they routinely delivered prevention counselling to patients, and whether patient characteristics were associated with receipt of that counselling. Design: Longitudinal. Setting: Seven HIV…

The current status of at-risk and adjudicated youth with behavioral challenges provides a context for addressing needed future directions for research and practice in fields that impact this population. This context includes the myriad characteristics and complex needs of these youth, the programs and services currently available in communities…

This study investigated the associations of psychological and social variables with the likelihood of exhibiting three different behaviors as a bystander in a bullying situation. The sample comprised 238 Korean-American and Korean students, from the 3rd to 12th grades, studying in the USA. Students receiving classmate support showed a lower…