A program for improving adolescents' decision-making skills to reduce the number of inappropriate behavioral choices related to wellness is described. The targeted population consisted of seventh and tenth grade students in a rural, middle class community. Data from local law enforcement records and school-based program referrals supported…

On September 30, 1991, the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families convened to celebrate National Children's Day and hear the testimony of youth ambassadors, teachers, and congressional representatives. This record of the congressional hearing includes the spoken and prepared statements of Representatives Patricia Schroeder, Joseph…

Teens Talk is a project conducted to develop peer leadership among pregnant/parenting teens (both male and female) by participation in panels. After training, the panels present information as well as experiences and attitudes to adult community groups to raise awareness and support, to youth groups to prevent teen pregnancy, and to other…

If a program is to succeed, sufficient attention must be devoted to the personality characteristics, attitudes and interests of the persons for whom the program is being planned. The data from a study of the personality characteristics of 446 poor, black adolescents enrolled in a summer poverty work program were used to demonstrate how the…

The objective of this study was to investigate the orientations of boys and girls towards marriage and procreation, a neglected area of sociological study, and to ascertain the manner in which the sexes may differ in these orientations. Reported are findings from a survey of Negro and white high school seniors and their dropout age peers residing…

Examines the relationship of family structure, peer group affiliation, social class, and sex with five dependent variables concerned with attitudes toward dating values, marriage, romanticism, premarital pregnancy, and premarital sexual permissiveness among 85 rural, Black adolescent males and females. Findings suggest general community norms and…

Interviews with 20 high school students in rural upstate New York reveal that students perceived the rural community as offering a sense of safety and belonging while taking away personal privacy and fostering prejudices. Adult interactions perceived as important included community support for the school and adolescent activities and interpersonal…

The purpose of this study was to examine how extracurricular activities relate to rural youth violence. Gender differences were examined across all of the study variables. Self-report data were collected from 235 teenagers from a rural, ethnically diverse, Virginia community. Correlations revealed a significant inverse relationship between church…

A survey of health risk behaviors was administered to a representative sample of 7,776 Idaho students in grades 8-12. Respondents were 86% White, 6% Hispanic, 4% American Indian, 3% Asian, and 2% Black. These rural adolescents reported that they had engaged in some health risk behaviors at rates comparable to those of other U.S. adolescents: 57%…

Based in rural northern Orange County (North Carolina), the Adolescents-in-Need Project began in 1981 as a joint effort of the school district, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and community agencies. Project goals focused on preventing untimely events in the lives of teenagers, and included helping adolescents…

The study's purpose was to determine the degree to which homogeneous rural youths living in an economically impoverished region might be vulnerable to anomia, powerlessness, and deviance given varying levels of perceived limitations in opportunity and self-ability. Comparative data relative to earlier studies in rural areas was also provided.…

Reviews a systems theory approach to the development of community-based suicide prevention programs. Describes the Lifelines model of youth suicide prevention, and discusses the feasibility of implementing this model in rural and isolated areas. Contains 19 references and an outline of procedures for crisis intervention and aftercare. (SV)

Critiques Colin Ward's "The Child in the Country," which illuminates the personal geographies of children in rural Britain, as structured from without and experienced from within; augments sociocultural geography concerns about the importance of space and place in "other" people's lives; and provides new possibilities for rural…

The development and preliminary testing of a six-item scale to assess risk taking among young adolescents are described. Test construction was based on information provided by eighth graders. The measure, used in a longitudinal study of 758 eighth through tenth graders from 3 rural counties in Maryland, showed good reliability. (SLD)

Inconsistencies in adolescents' self-reports of sexual behavior were studied for 758 rural adolescents (eighth-grade students in rural Maryland) who completed surveys over 3 years. Consistency rates fluctuate depending on the measure of sexual behavior, the racial/gender subgroup, age, and prior sexual experience, but the majority present…