Building positive life skills the Smart Girls way: evaluation of a school-based sexual responsibility program for adolescent girls.
In response to the public health epidemic of teenage pregnancy, the present study investigated a new, gender-specific, school-based approach to adolescent pregnancy prevention for middle school girls called Smart Girls Life Skills Training(©) (Smart Girls). Participants included 854 students (633, experimental group; 221, control group) across three time points to assess change in social sexuality expectations, personal/self sexuality expectations, perceived susceptibility, and parent-adolescent communication. Girls who received the Smart Girls curriculum increased their personal/self sexuality expectations and improved some aspects of their parent-adolescent communication compared to control group participants. The evaluation provides initial evidence that Smart Girls is at least partially effective at changing personal/self sexuality expectations and parent-adolescent communication for middle school girls. Implications, recommendations, and next steps for school-based teen pregnancy prevention programs are offered.
Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 330 S. Greene Street, Suite 200, Greensboro, NC 27401, USA. kngrave3@uncg.edu
Kelly N
KN
Graves
Annette
A
Sentner
Jean
J
Workman
Wanda
W
Mackey
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services; D012736:Sex Education / Q000592:standards*; D019529:Sexuality / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D012941:Social Responsibility