B. E. Pruitt

Violence and illegal drug use among adolescents: Evidence from the U.S. National Adolescent Student Health Survey

The relationships between violence, drug use, and victimization were examined in a representative sample of American adolescents. The commonly used illegal drugs (marijuana, amyl/butyl nitrites, psychedelics, amphetamines, and cocaine) and alcohol were considered. Drug users, compared to nonusers, fought more, took more risks which predisposed them to assault, and were assaulted more both at school and outside school supervision. Adolescents who were victims at school were also more likely to be victimized outside of school supervision. This study clearly demonstrates that the aggressor may also be the victim, and that illegal drug/alcohol use is related to victimization.

Peer Influence and Drug Use among Adolescents in Rural Areas

A sample of 1,004 eighth and tenth grade students in twenty-three small Central/East Texas communities was assessed to determine 1) their perception of the number of their friends who use drugs, 2) the amount of information they received about drugs from their friends, and 3) the connection between those perceptions and drug use. A multiple regression model which included grade, gender, the degree to which friends are perceived to use drugs and the amount of information about drugs received from friends explained 39 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. An item specific analysis of the subcomponents of these composite variables explained 44 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. This same four-factor model accurately classified over 81 percent of non-drug-users and 67 percent of users using discriminant analysis. Students who perceived a higher degree of drug use among their friends and who received more information about drugs from their friends used drugs more frequently. Lower marijuana use in these rural areas as compared to the nation, both as a peer perception and as a fact, may protect these students to a degree from broader patterns of drug use. The findings of this study support the theory that peer pressure is related to drug abuse, even in rural areas.

Development of a Multicultural Sensitivity Scale

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to develop a scale that would provide a valid and reliable measure of multicultural sensitivity of teachers toward their students. A 52-item survey developed by Ford (1979) to assess multicultural sensitivity in public school teachers was tested by administering the instrument to 150 nurses. The measure was determined to be unidimensional using factor analysis. Items with factor loadings on that single factor greater than .44 were retained for a shortened instrument (21 items). The shortened instrument, entitled the Multicultural Sensitivity Scale (MSS), was administered to 31 secondary school health educators attending a summer institute in a major medical center. The internal consistency of the shortened form was .89 in the sample of nurses and .90 in the sample of school health educators (Chronbachs alpha). The test-retest reliability of the shortened instrument was .92 in the sample of school health educators over a two week period. The MSS was shown to ...

Is Abstinence Education Theory Based? The Underlying Logic of Abstinence Education Programs in Texas

Authors examined the logic (or the implicit theory) underlying 16 abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Texas (50% of all programs funded under the federal welfare reform legislation during 2001 and 2002). Defined as a set of propositions regarding the relationship between program activities and their intended outcomes, program staffs implicit theories were summarized and compared to (a) data from studies on adolescent sexual behavior, (b) a theory-based model of youth abstinent behavior, and (c) preliminary findings from the national evaluation of Title V programs. Authors interviewed 62 program directors and instructors and employed selected principles of grounded theory to analyze interview data. Findings indicated that abstinence education staff could clearly articulate the logic guiding program activity choices. Comparisons between interviewdata and a theory-based model of adolescent sexual behavior revealed striking similarities. Implications of these findings for conceptualizing and evaluating abstinence-only-until-marriage (or similar) programs are examined.

Sources of drug information among adolescent students

A sample of 1023 eighth and tenth grade students in small to medium-sized central Texas school districts was assessed to determine the amount of information they receive from ten sources about six categories of drugs. The amount of information males reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what females reported, and the amount of information that eighth graders reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what tenth graders reported. Television was the primary source of drug information for all categories of drugs except inhalants, for which friends and television were equally important sources. Parents and printed media (magazines or newspapers) were of secondary importance, followed by friends and teachers. Adolescents were less likely to receive drug-related information from experience, siblings, church, doctors, and police. The reliance on the mass media for drag information in smaller school districts is a pattern which has been previously observed in larger urban districts. This consistency suggests that mass media approaches to drug education are likely to be as effective in rural areas and smaller towns as they are among urban adolescents. Implications for television programming are discussed.

Violence in Rural Schools An Emerging Problem near the United States-Mexico Border

Often considered largely an urban problem, school violence has been found to be unusually high in rural schools near the US-Mexico border. Beyond being a social problem and a public health problem, school violence is an educational problem, limiting the ability of students to learn. Seventh through twelfth graders (n = 2,746) in thirty-eight rural school districts were surveyed regarding their involvement in school violence and victimization. More than half of the boys had fought with fists or weapons in the past year at school. More than half of the boys had carried a knife at school. Eighteen percent of fifteen to seventeen year old boys had carried a handgun at school. In the past year 16 percent of students had been robbed, 37 percent had been threatened, and 15 percent had been attacked (often repeatedly) while at school. Ten percent had someone try to force them to have sex against their will while at school. A constellation of factors was found to be related to involvement in school violence. These provided the basis for recommended prevention strategies.

Assessment of school wellness policies implementation by benchmarking against diffusion of innovation framework.

BACKGROUND The School Wellness Policy (SWP) mandate marks one of the first innovative and extensive efforts of the US government to address the child obesity epidemic and the influence of the school environment on child health. However, no systematic review has been conducted to examine the implementation of the mandate. The study examines the literature on SWP implementation by using the Diffusion of Innovations Theory as a framework. METHODS Empirically based literature on SWP was systematically searched and analyzed. A theory-driven approach was used to categorize the articles by 4 diffusion stages: restructuring/redefining, clarifying, routinizing, and multiple stages. RESULTS Twenty-one studies were identified, and 3 key characteristics of the reviewed literature were captured: (1) uniformity in methodology, (2) role of context in analyzing policy implementation, and (3) lack of information related to policy clarification. Over half of the studies were published by duplicate set of authors, and only 1 study employed a pure qualitative methodology. Only 2 articles include an explicit theoretical framework to study theory-driven constructs related to SWP implementation. CONCLUSIONS Policy implementation research can inform the policy process. Therefore, it is essential that policy implementation is measured accurately. Failing to clearly define implementation constructs may result in misguided conclusion.

The Health Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale

Abstract Banduras Social Cognitive Theory was tested in a group of 31 school health teachers attending a summer institute in a major medical center. The Health Teaching Self-Efficacy (HTSE) Scale was devised to measure perceived deficits in ability at pretest and changes in self-efficacy in response to intervention. The 35-item measure proved to have hightest-retestreliability (r = .82) and high internal consistency (Chronbachs alpha = .96). The measure was determined to be unidimensional using factor analysis. HTSE scores were significantly higher at pretest for health teachers having five or more years of experience, those who taught health as a separate class, and those who devoted at least 80 percent of their time to teaching health. HTSE scores were highly correlated with concurrent self-reports of Health Teaching Strategies used in the classroom (r = .75). Strategies derived from Social Cognitive Theory were perceived to be more difficult than traditional teaching methods. Health teachers were mor...

Texas Abstinence Educators' Self-Efficacy to Motivate Youth Sexual Abstinence

Abstract Authors examined self-efficacy to motivate abstinent behavior (among youth) in a sample of instructors teaching abstinence-only-until-marriage education in Texas (N = 104). Sixty-one percent of the sample had been trained/certified to teach abstinence education. Instructors (mostly female and White) were more confident motivating students to maintain abstinent behavior than motivating change from sexual activity to abstinence (t = 9.354, df = 97). Regression modeling revealed “age” and “beliefs that abstinence education is theory-based” as significant predictors of confidence to motivate both abstinence maintenance and change. Additionally, ethnicity ]being non-white (β = -.234, p = .030)] significantly predicted confidence to motivate behavior change.

Drug Abuse Prevention Programs: Do They Work?

Thousands of articles have been writ ten, and thousands of programs have been initiated. Yet, as a public, we seem to know far less than we would like about the role of educational inter vention into the drug use problems of our young people. This article is one writers attempt to generalize years of experience on the part of public health officials, researchers, educators, and policy makers concerning drug use pre vention curricula in the schools.