Junior high school students' perceptions regarding nonconsensual sexual behavior.

This study assessed early adolescents' attitudes and perceptions regarding nonconsensual sexual activity. A total of 371 surveys (94% return rate) was completed. More than one-third of respondents (35%) reported they had engaged in sexual intercourse; 17% reported having been sexually coerced by a teen-ager; 19% reported feeling pressure from their friends to have intercourse; 7% reported having been sexually coerced by an adult; and 6% reported having sexually coerced someone else. Students also demonstrated lack of knowledge regarding nonconsensual sexual behaviors. Analysis of variance tests determined if knowledge (KN), attitudes (AT), behavioral intentions (BI), and locus of control (LC) changed across specific background and demographic variables. One background variable (having been sexually coerced by a teen-ager) was associated with high risk orientation (lower scores) on all four subscales. Lower scores also were associated with being male (KN, AT, BI), having sexually coerced someone else (KN, AT, BI), having been sexually coerced by an adult (AT, BI), and having engaged in sexual intercourse (AT, BI).

PIP: Nonconsensual sexual activity is gaining recognition as a major health problem in US high schools and colleges. A questionnaire administered in 1996 to 371 7th-8th graders (mean age, 13.4 years) at three junior high schools in Ohio assessed the extent of the sexual harassment problem among younger students. Although 35% of respondents reported they had had sexual intercourse, students perceived that 55% of their peers were sexually active. 65% (predominantly male students) admitted they had used verbal or behavioral pressure to coerce someone to do something sexual, 7% reported having been forced against their will to engage in sexual activity with an adult, 17% had been coerced into doing something sexual with a teenager, and 19% felt pressure from friends to have intercourse. Less than 6% of the variance in the dependent variables was associated with a possible interaction between race and socioeconomic status. Students had better knowledge of sexual harassment and date rape than they did of incest and sexual abuse. 14% of males and 6.5% of females believed that a girl who reports a boy for sexual harassment "cannot take a joke." Having been sexually coerced as a teenager was associated with lower scores on the knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions, and locus of control subscales. Lower scores on these subscales were also associated with male gender, having sexually coerced someone else, having been sexually coerced by an adult, and having engaged in sexual intercourse. Traditional health education curricula may be inadequate in terms of helping young students to recognize and respond to inappropriate sexual advances.

National assessment of early elementary teachers perceived self-efficacy for teaching tobacco prevention based on the CDC guidelines.

A national random sample of 505 early elementary school teachers completed a 47-item survey to determine their perceived self-efficacy for teaching tobacco prevention education based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for grades K-3, their training status on tobacco prevention, and their level of teaching about tobacco prevention. Results indicated most of the teachers were female, White, held a bachelor's or master's degree, never smoked, and had not received formal tobacco prevention training. The teachers' scores were high for efficacy expectations, and for outcome expectations. Conversely, for outcome value, teachers ranked tobacco prevention fifth out of six health topics, as the most important health topic to teach elementary students. Also, teachers trained in four tobacco areas or more had statistically significantly higher scores for efficacy expectations than those trained in three or fewer areas. Statistically significant positive associations were also found between years of teaching tobacco prevention and efficacy and outcome expectation scores, and between the amount of time that tobacco prevention was taught during the past school year and outcome value.

Recognizing cancer as a family disease: worries and support reported by patients and spouses.

Data were obtained via mailed questionnaire from 91 adults with cancer and 78 spouses of adults with cancer. Findings suggest that spouses and patients worry equally about their own personal health, and that spouses worry more about patients' futures than the patients do themselves. In addition, spouses and patients report participating equally in the treatment process, yet patients report receiving significantly more social support than do spouses. The results point to the need for expanded attention to the concept of cancer as a "family disease," with special emphasis on the unique and often neglected experience of spouses of adult cancer patients.

Fluoride supplements. Changes in physicians' attitudes and practices following an intensive, multifaceted educational program.

Results of a 1981 survey of randomly selected primary care physicians with pediatric patients were compared with the results of a similar survey conducted in 1978. In general, the 1981 survey respondents were more knowledgeable on the subject of fluoride and dental caries, had more positive attitudes about the effectiveness of fluoride supplementation, were more likely to prescribe fluoride supplements, and more closely followed the current guidelines for appropriate use of fluoride supplements. An intensive, multifaceted educational program on fluoride and childhood dental caries sponsored by the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, which started shortly after the first survey, may have contributed to these changes.

Active roles in self-help groups for parents of children with cancer.

Quantitative and qualitative data from 43 self-help groups for parents of children with cancer were examined to identify the nature and types of parents' active roles in these groups. Group interviews with 43 self-help groups and individual questionnaires from 131 parent-members indicate that parent active roles in self-help groups often emerge at three levels--interpersonal, organizational, and institutional. Such groups can provide a unique arena for meeting parents' coping needs during a crisis.