This thesis examines the differences between teen romantic comedy films marketed to Generation X teenagers in the 1980s and Generation Y teenagers in the 1990s, focusing on the presentation of gender roles, consumptive behavior, and family. The 1980s films are discussed within the social context of the Reagan era and the conservatism of the New Right. The 1990s films are examined as continuing a conservative sensibility, but they additionally posit consumption as instrumental to achieving an idealized romance. Romantic comedy is traditionally a conservative genre, but these films illustrate female liberation through consumption. The source of difference between the cycles of teen romantic comedy is attributed to the media's attempt to position Generation Y teenagers as ideal consumers.

Social work has seen tremendous growth since its beginnings more than a century ago. An issue that continues to draw attention in child welfare is teen pregnancy. While the issue of teen pregnancy is not new to social work, having education on the issues that pregnant teenagers go through, and having these vulnerable clients served with competent social workers has not kept pace with progress made in other areas of social work. The purpose of this study is to understand and improve the issues that pregnant and parenting teens face and bring attention to teen pregnancy in an attempt to develop curriculum in the classroom to educate future social workers on teen pregnancy. The research utilized a quantitative questionnaire, once collected the data will be entered through SPSS to obtain statistical analysis for teen pregnancy. The participants were be undergraduates and graduate social work students at University X. The results of the research and data will be used to illustrate areas where curriculum can be developed to assist social work students in the improving education and resources for teenage pregnancy

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos dos Santos Silva.pdf: 824330 bytes, checksum: 1a7f00bb10b1dc83e4d421bb3c5d08b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-18 / This work regards the birth and history of Bola de Neve Church in the Brasilian field among the neopentecostal moviment. It draws its origin, development, emphasizing the qualities of the founder of BDNC, who left Renascer em cristo Church to found his own deonomination. It analyzes who the adolescent is today, in modern society. It looks into their needs and chalenges, as well as the changes they are submited to. It looks at their behaviour and seek for identity building. It observes the formation of groups and other kinds of relationships necessary and interconnected to the adolescent s life. It analyzes the enviroment and participation of the adolescent in BDNC. It verifies the way the teeager is treated and the way he behaves in a religious enviroment at Bola de Neve Church, studying the impact of religion learning on the relashionships of these teenagers with the society, church and family. / Este trabalho aborda o histórico e nascedouro da Bola de Neve Church no campo brasileiro entre as igrejas do movimento neopentecostal. Traça sua origem e desenvolvimento, ressaltando as qualidades do fundador da BDNC, que saiu da Igreja Renascer em Cristo, para fundar a sua própria denominação. Analisa quem é o adolescente hoje na sociedade moderna. Verifica quais os seus desafios e necessidades, bem como as transformações que os mesmos estão sujeitos. Analisa seu comportamento e busca de formação de sua identidade. Observa a formação de grupos e outros tipos de relacionamentos necessários e inter-relacionados com a vida do adolescente. Analisa o espaço e participação do adolescente na BDNC. Verifica como o mesmo é tratado e comporta-se no ambiente religioso nesta igreja, verificando qual o impacto do aprendizado religioso nos relacionamentos deste adolescente com a sociedade, igreja e família.

Introduction. Research on teen childbearing has consistently noted that unfavorable socioeconomic conditions experienced at the community and family levels underpin disparities in teen birth rates. However, rather than examining socioeconomic factors alone, community-level differences in teen births could be measured by examining in tandem, the intersection between sociodemographic deprivation and health professional shortage areas (HPSA). Objectives. To examine the differences in teen birth rates by sociodemographic deprivation and HPSA in rural and urban counties of the United States. Methods. Results. Of the 3,136 counties, 78.7% of rural counties were in the highest category of socio-demographic deprivation compared to about 21.1% of urban counties. 76.0% of rural counties were categorized as having shortages of primary care, dental, and mental health providers, compared to 24.0% of urban counties. Rural counties had an additional 7.4 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years (p <0.0001) when compared to urban counties. The highest level of sociodemographic deprivation had a strong positive association with teen birth rates (β = 17.46; SE = 0.53; p < 0.0001). Rural counties with the whole designation of a health professional shortage increased county-level teen births by 7.18 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years (p <0.0001), compared to urban counties with no designation. Rural counties with higher levels of sociodemographic deprivation and a designation of health professional shortages in at least one area had significantly higher teen births than their urban counterparts (p <0.0001). Conclusions. Rural communities across different levels of deprivation and HPSA designated categories continue to have disproportionately greater teen birth rates. While these findings reveal the unique characteristics of sociodemographic and HPSA as a useful social determinant of teen birth, rural communities showed inherent vulnerabilities that contribute to poorer teen birth outcomes. Future research should examine the extent to which access to contraceptive services differs among rural and urban communities and the role of rural safety net providers in the provision of these services.

No description available.

This study explores factors that influence the sexual attitudes and behaviors of adolescents specifically through an examination of social constructs that measure sexual beliefs and attitudes of adolescents and the relationships between race and gender and sexual beliefs and attitudes. As the U.S. has maintained one of the highest rates of unplanned teen pregnancy and births among industrialized nations, schools and community groups have struggled to combat teen pregnancy and worked toward designing effective prevention programs. Through an emphasis either on abstinence or safe sex practices, these programs strive to influence adolescents' sexual behavior. However, studies and reports reveal a paucity of research that examines adolescents' attitudes and beliefs of sexual behavior, especially for cultural- and gender- specific groups of adolescents. Drawing from social constructionist theory and multiracial and radical feminist theoretical frameworks, this study utilizes Virginia Abstinence Education Initiative (VAEI) data from surveys administered to adolescents measuring sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. This study examines race and gender differences among the participants with regard to beliefs and attitudes about sexual behavior. The goal is to both better understand race and gender influences on adolescents' sexual beliefs and attitudes and to provide information to those who are in the position to develop more successful and effective teen pregnancy prevention programs. Consistent with existing literature, findings indicate gender-based differences regarding sexual beliefs and attitudes and minimal race-based differences in this analysis. An intersectional analysis further suggests that although female adolescents across race held similar beliefs and attitudes regarding sexuality, there were differences across race among male adolescents.

This thesis examines representations of youth in the American “teen film”. As a critical category, the teen film is still developing, but it has been defined by a number of critics as being—ostensibly—about and for youth.¹ This thesis engages with teen film literature to test the meaning of these terms. As a genre that is precariously positioned between parent culture and youth audiences, teen film’s narratives are always negotiated and the degree to which it is about and for youth is debatable. I argue that rather than being about and for youth in simple terms, the teen film deploys narratives about a certain idea of youth that is distinctly American and historically contingent; in other words, while certainly consumed by youth and depicting narratives that feature youthful characters and themes, the teen film genre contributes to discourses that are about and for the idea of America. My argument contributes to the critical literature on teen film by exploring the ways the teen film functions as a representation of American ideology. It outlines how, in America, the category of “youth” has historically functioned as an important site of ideological inscription in which to construct an idealised future. In the early 20th century (via the discourse of adolescence), youth was specifically idealised as a frontier space, a site in which to symbolically reconcile troubling anxieties and contradictions left unresolved at the closure of the American frontier. Up to the end of World War II, Hollywood cinema functioned similarly, as a site in which the troubling contradiction between the national ideals of individualism and community might be mobilised and contained, via the “reconciliatory” narrative.² The teen film emerged in the period immediately after World War II, when Hollywood’s efforts to resolve the tensions inherent in frontier mythology were foundering. The teen film might have represented a convergence of the potential reconciliatory powers of cinema and youth, but rather than assisting in the resolution of American ideological crises, the teen film problematised them. Screening youth as an inherently rebellious space, a “frontier” space, facilitated the breakdown of the reconciliatory pattern. In the teen films of the 1950s, the conflict between the ideals of individualism and community proved irreconcilable. Subsequent teen film cycles stage and re-stage the conflict between individual and community, offering repeated takes on what those fundamentally “American” ideals mean in each generation. This thesis traces developments in the representation of the conflict between individual and community through four of the teen film’s dominant cycles—delinquency films from the 1950s, slasher films and animal comedies from the 1970s-to-mid-1980s, and makeover films from the late-1990s-to-early-2000s. Proceeding from the initial deliberation over the terms about and for youth, I include discussions of films like Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Porky’s (1982) while excluding films like River’s Edge (1986) and Kids (1995), which certainly represent youth, but are typically not viewed by them. ¹ This definition is supported by the work of Catherine Driscoll and Stephen Tropiano. ² This thesis works from Robert B. Ray’s discussion of the “reconciliatory” narrative. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2009

This thesis examines representations of youth in the American “teen film”. As a critical category, the teen film is still developing, but it has been defined by a number of critics as being—ostensibly—about and for youth.¹ This thesis engages with teen film literature to test the meaning of these terms. As a genre that is precariously positioned between parent culture and youth audiences, teen film’s narratives are always negotiated and the degree to which it is about and for youth is debatable. I argue that rather than being about and for youth in simple terms, the teen film deploys narratives about a certain idea of youth that is distinctly American and historically contingent; in other words, while certainly consumed by youth and depicting narratives that feature youthful characters and themes, the teen film genre contributes to discourses that are about and for the idea of America. My argument contributes to the critical literature on teen film by exploring the ways the teen film functions as a representation of American ideology. It outlines how, in America, the category of “youth” has historically functioned as an important site of ideological inscription in which to construct an idealised future. In the early 20th century (via the discourse of adolescence), youth was specifically idealised as a frontier space, a site in which to symbolically reconcile troubling anxieties and contradictions left unresolved at the closure of the American frontier. Up to the end of World War II, Hollywood cinema functioned similarly, as a site in which the troubling contradiction between the national ideals of individualism and community might be mobilised and contained, via the “reconciliatory” narrative.² The teen film emerged in the period immediately after World War II, when Hollywood’s efforts to resolve the tensions inherent in frontier mythology were foundering. The teen film might have represented a convergence of the potential reconciliatory powers of cinema and youth, but rather than assisting in the resolution of American ideological crises, the teen film problematised them. Screening youth as an inherently rebellious space, a “frontier” space, facilitated the breakdown of the reconciliatory pattern. In the teen films of the 1950s, the conflict between the ideals of individualism and community proved irreconcilable. Subsequent teen film cycles stage and re-stage the conflict between individual and community, offering repeated takes on what those fundamentally “American” ideals mean in each generation. This thesis traces developments in the representation of the conflict between individual and community through four of the teen film’s dominant cycles—delinquency films from the 1950s, slasher films and animal comedies from the 1970s-to-mid-1980s, and makeover films from the late-1990s-to-early-2000s. Proceeding from the initial deliberation over the terms about and for youth, I include discussions of films like Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Porky’s (1982) while excluding films like River’s Edge (1986) and Kids (1995), which certainly represent youth, but are typically not viewed by them. ¹ This definition is supported by the work of Catherine Driscoll and Stephen Tropiano. ² This thesis works from Robert B. Ray’s discussion of the “reconciliatory” narrative. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2009

Working to increase seatbelt usage among teenagers in rural settings: The Drive Alive Program (Under the direction of Dr. Monica Swahn) Background: Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. Teens are less likely to wear seatbelts than other age groups and more likely to be involved in a crash. The Drive Alive program was designed to improve seatbelt usage among teens. Purpose: This analysis aims to evaluate seatbelt use among teen drivers in a rural setting. Specifically, are there differences between males and females in terms of seatbelt use? Are drivers more likely to wear their seatbelts than passengers? Methods: Data was gathered from observational surveys (N= 3,743). Surveys were gathered by trained observers in South Georgia from 2010-2011. Records were analyzed in SPSS using three categories: occupant, sex, and belt use. The null hypotheses for this study are: 1) there is no significant difference between male and female drivers or passengers in seatbelt usage; and, 2) there is no significant difference between driver and passenger seatbelt usage. Results: Descriptive analyses were computed to determine average seatbelt use across all occupants. Chi Square for Independence tests were computed to determine differences between drivers and passengers and males and females. Females were significantly more likely than males to wear their seatbelt (Females, 70%; Males, 59%). There were no significant differences in seatbelt use for drivers and their passengers. Conclusions: Results for females being more likely to wear seatbelts is consistent with the literature. Future research might include comparison between schools with different versions of the program. Programs to increase seatbelt usage among teens should include parents, education, enforcement, teen-led activities, and partnership with educators and community organizations. Save the lives of young drivers by modeling seatbelt wearing, appropriately implementing comprehensive seatbelt use improvement programs, and enforcing the law. These simple measures will improve seatbelt use and reduce roadway fatalities.

Trapped in the Body of a Cheerleader is a feature-length comedic screenplay using juvenile witticisms and black-comedy to tell the story of a teenaged girl accepting her own identity. The introduction, a personal essay, offers the author's personal views towards screen writing, teen-oriented films, and contemporary screen comedy.