Articles: adolescent.
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The results of seven computer simulations suggest that strategies to prevent teenage childbearing may be more effective in reducing the number of young women who require welfare assistance than are strategies to improve the circumstances of teenagers who have already given birth. The first simulation constitutes a baseline projection, in which current levels and patterns of adolescent childbearing are assumed to continue to 1990. Three "preventive" simulations assume that no births or fewer births occur among teenagers during the projection period; and three "ameliorative" simulations assume that changes occur in the completed family size, marriage rate and educational attainment of teenage childbearers. ⋯ The strategy with the least impact is the education scenario, in which adolescent mothers are assumed to be no more likely to drop out of school than are other comparable teenagers. The primary reason for the surprisingly small effect appears to be the relatively low earnings of women--even when they are high school graduates. All of the experimental scenarios tested, however, bring about at least some reduction in projected government spending for the three major public assistance programs considered (Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid and Food Stamps).
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This study examined the prevalence and correlates of sleep disturbance in adolescents. Two hundred seventy-seven 9th- and 10th-grade students completed a questionnaire on sleep quality, sleep habits, beliefs about sleep, and daytime mood and functioning. Based on their responses, subjects were classified as good sleepers (66%), occasional poor sleepers (23%), and chronic poor sleepers (11%). ⋯ All subjects reported shifts in bedtimes and waketimes from weekdays to weekends, with occasional and chronic poor sleepers showing a tendency toward greater shifts, a possible factor contributing to their sleep disturbance. Occasional and chronic poor sleepers also reported more observable behaviors and feelings of stress than good sleepers. The need for early intervention with particular attention to teaching adolescents about good sleep habits and the need for stable bedtimes and waketimes and the possibility of joint intervention on daytime stress and sleeping problems are discussed.
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Comparative Study
Adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior: are they consistent?
Relationships between sexual attitudes and behavior among adolescents were studied in data collected by self-administered questionnaires from approximately 3,500 junior and senior high school students attending four inner-city schools during 1981-1982. An analysis of the results by sex, race and age found that 83 percent of sexually experienced adolescents cite a best age for first intercourse that is older than the age at which they themselves experienced that event, and 43 percent of them report a best age for first coitus older than their current age. In addition, 88 percent of young women who have had a baby say the best age at which to have a first birth is older than the age at which they first became mothers. ⋯ Women desire stronger relationships before having intercourse than do men, and women claim to have had a stronger relationship with their last sexual partner. Very few teenagers believe neither partner is responsible for pregnancy prevention, which tends to be viewed as a joint responsibility. Those who see it as a shared responsibility are slightly more likely than those who assign the responsibility to one or the other partner to have used a method at last intercourse, and they are considerably more likely to have used a method than are those who believe contraception is neither partner's responsibility.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)