PROSPER Community–University Partnership Model for Public Education Systems: Capacity-Building for Evidence-Based,Competence-Building Prevention

This paper presents a model to guide capacity-building in state public education systems for delivery of evidence-based family and youth interventions-interventions that are designed to bolster youth competencies, learning, and positive development overall. Central to this effort is a linking capacity agents framework that builds upon longstanding state public education infrastructures, and a partnership model called PROSPER or PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience. The paper presents an overview of the evolving partnership model and summarizes positive results of its implementation over a 12-year period in an ongoing project.     

广东省惠州市未婚流动人口生育健康现状与需求

目的了解广东省惠州市未婚流动人口生育健康现状与需求。方法采用问卷调查,专题小组访谈、个人深入访谈和知情人访谈相结合的方法,收集相关的资料信息。结果共收回1333份有效问卷,年龄15~34岁,月平均收入100~2750元,每月食宿开支20~2000元,文化程度小学及以下占3.5%(37/1333),初中占52.0%(693/1333);高中、中专、职校占41.7%(556/1333),大专及以上占2.8%(37/1333),住宿形式多种多样,61.7%(822/1333)住单位集体宿舍,自己购房者仅占1.6%(21/1333),19.2%(256/1333)的人与父母交流生育健康问题,69.1%(921/1333)的人在现单位从未接受过生育健康教育,近一个月内有避孕套保护的性生活的比例只占8.4%(112/1333);出现生育健康问题时去医院治疗的比例只占17.9%(238/1333)。结论未婚流动人口的年龄结构年轻,文化程度偏低,居住不稳定,没有保护性的性行为较为多见,生育健康教育和医疗服务供给相对薄弱,需要提高生育健康教育服务和改善他们的生育健康状况。     

Three Dimensions of Youth Social Capital and Their Impacts on Substance Use

Substance use is a threat to the health and well-being of youths, their families, and society as well. The literature shows that social interactions with peers, parents, and community may have an impact on adolescents’ behavior. Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health of 2007, this study investigated the impact of social capital on youth behavior. The results show that peer influence is the strongest among the three significant predictors of substance use. While peer influence is positively correlated with substance use, family attachment and youth activities have a negative relationship with substance use. Findings demonstrate that there is a relationship between youth substance use and different aspects of social capital. By integrating different perspectives in social capital and substance use, this study successfully demonstrates how social capital can be utilized as a policy and intervention tool.     

“I Am What You Make Me. I Am Who I Am”

The growing accessibility of digital technologies has led to an increase in media projects enabling young people to connect and communicate with international peers. These projects are often uncritically celebrated as opportunities for young people to learn something about a cultural “Other” and, in so doing, enhance their tolerance of difference, their consciousness of global issues, and their appreciation of diversity. Projects conceptualised in this way, however, risk reinforcing problematic notions of multiculturalism. This article describes the Durban Plymouth Story Exchange, a youth media project facilitated by the author. The project attempted to use the creation and exchange of audio recordings between young people in Durban, South Africa and Plymouth, UK to encourage self-reflection, self-expression and cultural learning. By putting knowledge of self rather than knowledge of the Other at the centre of this project, the author/facilitator hoped the project would avoid some of the pitfalls of conventional multiculturalism.     

Understanding Motivations for Sex Among Detained Youth

Abstract

This investigation examined reasons for having sex among a sample of 369 African-American and White adolescent detainees, aged 14–18. Using A-CASI technology, sociodemographic variables and motivations for having sex were assessed among this population. Findings indicated that adolescents hold underlying motivations for having sex and that these differ to some degree by gender, SES, but less by race. For programs to be optimally effective, program goals should address gender and SES differentials for having sex.     

FROM THE EDITORS

Abstract

Consumer empowerment through authoritative health information is a positive force in today's health care environment. As the nation's lead agency for protecting the health and safety of people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has as part of its mission the responsibility of providing credible information to enhance health decisions. CDC health communications are provided through many venues, and particularly its Web site. This article identifies CDC consumer health sites, giving particular attention to two new initiatives, the CDC Kids Page and CDC en Espãol, which have been developed for specialized consumer health audiences.