Family life education for young inner-city teens: Identifying needs

Sexual decision making, perceptions of responsibility for birth control and pregnancy, and knowledge of contraception and the consequences of teenage pregnancy were assessed among 251 high-risk seventh- and eighth-grade black, inner-city adolescents to determine these young peoples' need for information. Survey results indicated that these adolescents were aware of contraceptive methods, but lacked practical information about requirements for obtaining them or method effectiveness. Many students were uninformed about the circumstances under which pregnancy can occur. Males indicated a willingness to have intercourse, regardless of the contraceptives used, if any, and believed responsibility for use of a birth control method belonged to females. Females believed themselves to be responsible for contraceptive utilization and preferred intercourse with adequate protection. Both genders endorsed the notion of mutual responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy and related decisions. Implications for school-based family life education programs for young adolescents are discussed.This research was supported by grants from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Pittway Charitable Trust, to the Center for Health Services and Policy Research of Northwestern University; the project was administered by the Ounce of Prevention Fund. Portions of this paper were presented at the 112th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association at Anaheim, California, November 1984. Conclusions or opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for Population Options, Northwestern University, or the State University of New York at Buffalo.Received Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. Major interests include policy analysis and maternal and child health care.Received Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Major interests include evaluation of the effectiveness of maternal and child health services.     

TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: EDUCATION OR TRAINING?*

Abstract: There is an ambivalence in attitudes to public administration as a field of study among both academics and practitioners in Australia. Teachers, researchers, students, public servants seeking training and managers have differing interests and expectations. Disagreements about the field have contributed to the lack of a unified framework of concepts, while the field has fragmented into public administration, public policy and public management, aside from other divisions such as "old" versus "new" public administration. "Education" and "training" have taken diverging paths and academics and practitioners have drifted apart. There needs to be a closer dialogue that can only be based on a generally agreed paradigm for Australian Public Administration as a field of study.