Most primary prevention research has attempted to explain sexual health outcomes, such as sexually transmitted infections, by focusing on individual characteristics (e.g. age), qualities (e.g. knowledge levels), and risk behaviour (e.g. unprotected intercourse). Emerging evidence indicates that population-level health outcomes are unlikely to be…

Current policy and programme considerations of the role of the private sector in the promotion of schooling reform and the achievement of Education For All encompass a somewhat narrow arena of debate. Discussion of the relative merits of private / state schools remain based on measurable, yet partial, markers of efficiency and effectiveness.…

Drawing mainly on cross tabulations of some variables from the General Social Survey of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut, this paper reports black and white Americans' opinions on key issues of policy debate in the United States. In some cases, opinions are reported over a span as long as 22 years. When…

Images of society reflect the stereotypes and the realities of gender tracking, often separating males from females. The messages of gender separation begin early, laced throughout society in many ways. This paper expresses different points of view about the relationships between males and females, the computer culture, the influence of mass…

A study of highly aggressive African American boys sought to understand the effect of an attribution retraining program designed to reduce aggressive males' tendency to attribute hostile intentions to peers following ambiguous, negative interactions. One hundred and one African American aggressive and non-aggressive elementary school boys in Los…

The use of licit and illicit drugs by American young people has been a source of major policy and public health concerns for the United States since the mid-1960s. The use of these substances is a leading cause of eventual disease and death in the population, but it also contributes in important ways to mortality and morbidity during adolescence. …

Linking information to education users goes beyond information organization issues, such as abstracting, indexing, and information filters. It is a social issue as well. This paper focuses upon the social dimensions of education information, as expressed in partnerships needed for the United States Educational Information Network's (USEIN)…

Reviews experiences of psychiatric patients in the community. Argues that deinsitutionalization and community treatment of the most needy patients have failed because these movements did not address the sociocultural reasons for institutionalization. Presents economic, clinical, and social hypotheses about why failures have occurred. (Author/MJL)

Discusses questionnaire survey of parental concern about childrens' behaviors, attitudes, privileges, and practices, and some of the factors which influence their social values and behaviors. Suggests that parental surveys can help in determining norms of behavior for specific communities, age groups, or schools holding particular philosophies.…

Investigates how classroom communities were created to support students' writing in two contrasting grade-10 English classrooms: one in a low-income urban school with a diverse population, one in a middle-class suburban school. Analyzes class discussions to see how they functioned in creating community. Portrays writing in both classrooms as…

Suggests that Latin American education could be improved by the development of teaching methods which take into consideration the prevailing sociocultural patterns and their related cognitive styles. Discusses the rural environment and the urban culture of poverty relative to cognition. Considers the linkage between previous experience and…

Social and economic issues affecting the vitality of public libraries in California are discussed. A 1993 study by the California State Library identified diminishing reference skills and reference collections, reduced funding which impacted staffing, increased demand, technology change, and language/culture issues as contributing factors to…

A historical case study of the construction and reconstruction of race between the late 19th century and the 1940s is used to document the ways in which the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which knowers are embedded influence the knowledge they construct and reconstruct. (Author/SLD)

Attempts to identify how perceptions by black men of problem severity may be influenced by social, economic, and familial factors, working from the assumption that problem severity determines when stress becomes distress. Perceptions of 583 black adult fathers show that stress coping is not as problematic as expected. (SLD)

The Diffusion of Multisystemic Family Preservation (MFP) Services Project worked successfully with rural African-American and white families who have chronic or violent adolescent offenders at imminent risk for incarceration. The MFP approach is an intensive time-limited intervention predicated on family systems and socioecological…