Survey results suggest that school nurses are a dedicated group of professional people who express enthusiasm about the concept of an expanded role, and seem to have already expanded their traditional role as school and community needs arose which they could accommodate. School nurses envision their expanded role to be that of a dynamic change…

Describes the design of a cohort of 6th-grade students, methods for tracking and retaining students as they advanced through 8th and 11th grade, and costs involved for survey completion in school and by mail for students who had ever and never used tobacco. Problems unique to the school setting are addressed, with suggestions for efficient…

A survey of teenagers in Missouri assessing their knowledge of contraception, abortion, reproduction, and venereal disease is reported. Results indicate that lack of information rather than incorrect information is the principal problem, and that teenagers are better informed about abortion than about birth control methods or reproduction. (JMF)

Two groups of pregnant adolescents were studied using a retrospective analysis of obstetrical summary to demonstrate the relationship of the availability of a comprehensive, program of prenatal care in a public school setting to the achievement of early and continuous prenatal care, and to the minimizing of obstetrical complications. (JMF)

White and black adolescent females (n=344) participated in a survey of ideal body size beliefs using a questionnaire and 9 female and male body size drawings. Black females preferred a significantly heavier ideal female body size than whites and perceived that their parents and friends would select as ideal a significantly heavier female body size…

Background: Few methodologically rigorous international comparisons of student-reported antisocial behavior have been conducted. This paper examines whether there are differences in the frequency of both antisocial behavior and societal responses to antisocial behavior in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States. These 2 states were…

Background: The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was used by a city school district (approximately 11,000 students) in the upper Midwest to monitor trends for nutrition and physical activity (PA) behaviors both within and between years and to compare with national 2003 data. Methods: Independent random samples were obtained in 1999 (387 middle…

Background: The proportion of adolescents experiencing unwanted pregnancy and abortion caused by the premature initiation of sexual intercourse is increasing at an alarming rate in Korea. This study aimed at developing a theoretical model for identifying individual and environmental risk factors affecting the initiation of sexual intercourse by…

School-based body mass index (BMI) screening and parent notification programs have been recommended as a childhood overweight prevention strategy. However, there are little empirical data available to guide decision making about the acceptability and safety of programs. A pilot study was conducted using a quasiexperimental research design. In fall…

This study compared parent and child responses to a symptom questionnaire as a means of determining whether child and parent responses are equally valuable in case-detection procedures. We completed a study validating a multistage case-detection procedure. The case-detection procedure classified students into 3 categories based on their parents'…

Using data from the 2003 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto), the relationships between bullying and smoking in adolescents were examined. A representative sample of 3314 grade 7-12 students was included in the analysis. Models were adjusted for confounders identified in the current literature.…

School districts are increasingly initiating random drug-testing (RDT) programs in an effort to curb substance-use rates among students, yet little is known about student attitudes toward RDT and potential obstacles to program acceptance and effectiveness. The authors surveyed 1011 9th through 11th grade students in 2 rural high schools in North…