Janet Reis

A Comparison of Young Teenage, Older Teenage, and Adult Mothers on Determinants of Parenting

A nonrandom socioeconomically homogeneous convenience sample of 150 young adolescent mothers, 260 older adolescent mothers, and 242 older mothers was analyzed according to their standing on key determinants of parenting. The results of a discriminant analysis showed that the young teen mothers differed from the older mothers in terms of knowledge of child development, punitive attitudes toward childrearing, and level of depression. Accuracy of classification was improved with the discriminant function for younger and older mothers, but decreased by 20% for older adolescents.

A multidimensional inventory for assessment of parental functioning

This paper reports on the psychometric properties of a multidimensional inventory battery for the evaluation of the parenting behavior of participants in family support programs. This inventory was administered to 693 voluntarily enrolled participants in five family support programs aimed at reducing child abuse and neglect. The components of the inventory assess key aspects of parenting behavior as defined by ecological theories of human development. Included are measures of depression, parental knowledge of child developmental milestones, parental attitudes toward childrearing, and social support available to and used by the family unit. Response burden, internal consistency of each measure, and content, criterion, and construct validity are examined. The results show that the inventory can be administered in field settings with minimum disruption of service activities. Two of the four measures achieved satisfactory reliability and convergent validity (i.e., the depression scale and social support scale). Assessment of construct validity yielded results in accord with the ecological model of child development and family function.

Reasons for initial and subsequent visits to a public health teen family planning clinic

Abstract Survey results of reasons for utilization of family planning services offered at a public health Teen Clinic are reported for 45 first-time and 105 repeat visit teen patients. The sample is drawn from an inner city community with high levels of poverty and teenage pregnancy but low levels of utilization of family planning services. The survey participants reported being aware of other sources of contraceptives in their communities, yet only 14% had ever used these sources. First time teen clinic patients ranked free services, waiver of parental consent, and confidentiality of use of services as the three most important reasons for attending the clinic. Repeat teen clinic patients prioritized free services, the exclusive use of the clinic by teenagers, and comfort with staff as reason for continuing utilization. Additionally, accessibility of family planning services increased in importance between first and subsequent visits. The results suggest different features of clinic services are perceived as important by adolescent clients for initial and subsequent visits but throughout, adolescents are ‘price sensitive’ to the costs of contraceptives.

Health information needs of medicaid enrollees and medically underinsured

Abstract A convenience sample of 349 inner-city black patients attending a public health ambulatory clinic were interviewed with regard to their health information needs and level of understanding of Medicaids fee-for-service and prepaid programs. The 264 Medicaid enrollees were most knowledgeable of benefits available under fee-for-service. The 85 persons classified as “medically underinsured” were most concerned with the costs of care and long waiting times. Both groups cited quality of care as the most important factor influencing their selection of provider. The implications of the survey findings for nurses serving medically indigent patients in ambulatory settings are discussed.

Contraceptive Orientation in Young Inner-City Adolescents: A Discriminant Analysis

The results of a discriminant analysis on sexual knowledge and attitudes are reported for a sample of 265 Black inner-city adolescents divided according to their contraceptive orientation. Twenty-one percent (56) of the sample stated that they would have sexual intercourse without using any kind of birth control. This group did not differ from their 209 contraceptively oriented peers on knowledge of human sexuality, self-esteem or orientation toward the future, but differed significantly on three attitudinal dimensions directly related to sexual intercourse. Eighty-one percent of the sample of young adolescents was correctly classified according to their contraceptive orientation based on the linear discriminant function identified in the analysis (accounting for 38.4% of the variance). The findings are discussed in the context of peer pressure and familial factors which may alter a young adolescents intentions to engage in contraceptively protected intercourse.