This study evaluates two approaches to changing dental care behaviors of seventh graders. After receiving instruction in brushing and flossing, students in one experimental group were confronted with inconsistencies between expressed beliefs and actual oral hyginene behaviors, as demonstrated with photographs of their own mouths. Data analyses…

A Los Angeles, California, project that infuses reading and language into the health curriculum allows teachers to give additional reading instruction without sacrificing time or curriculum content; it shows that communication skills can be infused successfully into the broader curriculum. (Author/DCS)

This study examined the perceptions of 207 elected peer leaders in a seventh grade smoking prevention program and in a chemical abuse prevention program. Peer leaders' assessments of the adequacy of their training, the programs' components, the programs' influence on behavior and attitudes, and the programs' efficacy were analyzed. (Author/MT)

Written pre- and posttests were used to assess the smoking-related knowledge of 1,068 seventh graders in three comparable communities. Students in two communities participated in interventions designed to enhance knowledge acquisition, social activism, and non-use of tobacco. The interventions influenced respondents' health concerns, but not…

Investigates the relationship between decision-making skill and health-promoting behavior among American Indian youth. Findings indicate subjects trained with role playing and question and answer discussions demonstrated knowledge of the decision-making process significantly superior to untrained controls. Concludes that drug prevention education…

As violence becomes one of society's greatest concerns, schools are faced with decisions on implementing violence prevention strategies. One such program was implemented into the health education curriculum for middle-level students in the seventh grade (n=130) in rural Mississippi. An adaptation of the Prothrow-Stith "Violence Prevention:…

This curriculum module, one of seven in Infusion Project, offers information and lessons on drug use prevention for integration into an existing seventh grade middle school health curriculum. The module, based on a type of interactive learning called infusion learning, contains 10 lessons each providing objectives, a list of resource materials,…

A multiple-choice test was developed to assess cognitive gains resulting from participation in the School Health Education Curriculum Project. The test was intended for seventh grade students, and was based on curricular objectives in the cognitive domain: knowledge, comprehension, application, and evaluation. Educators who were familiar with the…

Two approaches to smoking prevention directed at adolescents were tested as a possible supplement to the seventh-grade health curriculum. A peer-led approach focused on the social influences which encourage smoking and on the immediate consequences of smoking. The second approach focused on the long-term health risks of smoking. Both approaches…

Seventh grade students in two rural North Carolina school systems were subjects for a program designed to reduce health risks associated with alcohol and tobacco use. The results were that although knowledge increased, attitudes toward alcohol did not change, and attitudes toward smoking eroded. (Author/DF)

This family life instructional unit is organized around five themes: (1) the importance of families; (2) human growth and development; (3) relationships and responsibilities; (4) sexual abuse prevention; and (5) promoting positive lifestyle practices. Approximately 14 age-appropriate lessons contain student objectives, suggested activities,…

This handbook contains suggested teaching activities, student worksheets, background information, and a list of basic resources for teacher of health education. Topics discussed are health promotion, seven steps to health, major dimensions of health, and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Included in the handbook is a teaching unit on…

A study was conducted to determine variables which would predict smoking among 297 seventh graders and to test the validity of the variables in a followup one year later. The most valid predictors were number of friends and siblings who smoked and the intention to smoke in the future. (PP)

The effects of school policy on cigarette smoking among seventh graders were investigated in this study. All of the schools involved had restrictive smoking policies and many had smoking prevention education plans. Although punitive measures were found to have no effect, smoking policy generally was found to decrease adolescent smoking. (AF)

Although concern about adolescent drug use has grown over the past two decades, strategies for controlling use have not kept pace. Project ALERT (Adolescent Learning Experiences in Resistance Training), a school-based program, specifically targets cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana, the so-called gateway drugs. It is based on the social influence…