Assessing Family Planning Needs of Secondary Students in Iowa Kathleen La Fortune Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1978 Assessing family planning needs of secondary students in Iowa Kathleen La Fortune Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Home Economics Commons Recommended Citation Fortune, Kathleen La, "Assessing family planning needs of secondary students in Iowa " (1978). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 6564. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/6564 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road. Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks. England HPIO 8HR 7903991 LA FORTUNE, KATHLEEN ASSESSING FAMILY PLANNING NEEDS OF SECQMDA&Y STUDENTS IN IOWA. IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, PH.D., 1978 Uniwersi^ Micrdrilms IntemadCXial SOON. ZEEBROAO.ANN ARBOR, MI 48106 © 1978 KATHLEEN LA FORTUNE All Rights Reserved Assessing family planning needs of secondcury students in Icwa by Kathleen La Fortune A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Home Economics Education Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1978 Copyright © Kathleen La Fortune, 1978. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION vi INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF UTERATURE 3 Need for Family Planning Education 3 Issues of eeurly childbearing and teenage parenthood 3 Medical, social, economic, educational, and demographic aspects 7 Adolescent fertility, parenting, and population awareness 20 Programs in Family Planning 32 Secondary school programs 32 Controversial issues 39 Alternative family lifestyles 43 Heme Economics Family Plêinning Programs 46 Home economics contributions 46 Needs Assessment 55 Definitions 56 Processes eind procedures 59 «estinghcuss Lsaming Ccrpcraticn r.at£rials 61 Guidance Services Survey 63 Summary 64 METHODS AND PROCEDURES 66 Objectives , Assumptions, and Limitations 66 Objectives 66 Assumptions 67 Limitations 67 Inventory Development 68 Selection of Sample 75 Data Collection 77 iii Page Description of the Sample 79 Analysis of Data 82 Statistical analyses 82 Descriptive statistics 82 Factor analysis 83 Analyses of variance 83 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 85 Family Living Needs Analyses (Students) 85 Family Living Needs Analyses (Parents) 89 Factors Derived from Factor Analysis of Family Living Information Inventory 92 Factor I; Planning and decision making 93 Factor II: Parenting and child care 94 Factor III: Teenage pregnancy 94 Factor IV: Sex education 95 Factor V: Basic nutrition 95 Factor VI: Love and marriage 96 Factor VII: Current societal trends in family life 96 Factor VIII: Adolescent social development 97 Factor IX: Special responsibilities of teenagers 97 Tests of Differences Among Groups 98 Sex 99 Grade level 103 School size 103 Discussion 105 Introduction 105 Factor I; Planning and decision making 107 Factor II: Parenting and child care 109 Factor III: Teenage pregnancy 112 Factor IV: Sex education 116 Factor V: Basic nutrition 117 Parents 117 Summary 118 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 120 iv Page Recommendations 125 BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 133 APPENDIX A. CORRESPONDENCE 135 APPENDIX B. FAMILY LIVING INVENTORY 149 APPENDIX C. TABULATIONS 163 APPENDIX D. CODING SHEET AND KEY FOR DATA ANALYSES BY COMPUTER 169 V LIST OF TABLES Page Subject matter areas and the number of items included in each topical area of the preliminary draft of the Family Planning Inventory 71 School districts, frequency and percentage of students conçjleting the inventory by school districts, grades , class groups, and sex 80 Students by size of school district 81 Student groups by grade and by size of school district, n = 29 81 Family planning needs as expressed by students (265 students in grades 8, 11, and 12) 86 Family planning needs of students as expressed by parents (52 parents of students in grades 8, 11, and 12> 90 Reliabilities of factor scores 98 F ratios for sex, grade level, and school size as sources of variance for family living needs 99 Means of factor scores by sex, grade level, and school size 101 Means of factor scores by sex, school size 102 Means of factor scores by grade level, school size 104 vi DEDICATION Written for ny parents Mr. and Mrs. Frederick La Fort-une (deceased) who were my first teachers. For my sisters, brothers, and brothers-in-law, iry aunts, nieces, and nephews who gave love, prayers, and constant encouragement. For ny teachers, benefactors, and friends in Trinidad and the United States of America who had trust and faith in me. Especially for Dr. Virginia Thomas, friend, philanthropist, and benefactor. 1 INTRODUCTION Decision makers in education are constantly challenged to make inçortant choices when planning programs. However, they are frequently confronted with the problem of insufficiency of data on which to base their choices. Recent trends in teenage parenthood and adolescent human sexuality clearly underline the need for schools to provide meaningful and practical programs in population and family planning education for secondary students. Such programs should assist teenagers in making informed and rational decisions about those issues which rslate to their own quality of life and the lives of the future generation which they will nurture. For several years, family planning education has been directed to adult audiences in an effort to curb population growth and improve the quality of life. In recent years, however, administrators and other educators have expressed their concern about meeting the family planning needs of teenagers. The concern to some extent has not been matched by the expansion of information about the problem or by the development of effective educational programs to resolve it. Recently, Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) reported plans to combat premature pregnancy across the United States. The four-year campadgn intended to provide contraceptive methods and education to tiuree million teenagers. However, many informed observers, including several HEW consultants, contended that they were pessimistic about favorable results unless HEW went beyond the standard approaches of reaching the teenagers (namely, clinics and school-based programs). 2 Observers felt that increased funding would not make much difference. They made reference to a report on the evaluation of teen clinics funded under the Title X 1970 Family Planning Act which showed that large numbers of sexually active teenagers were not reached soon enough to prove effective in combating pregnancy. These findings were supported by other researchers (Finkel & Finkel, 1975; Johnson, 1974; Whelan, 1975) that teenagers were given help after the fact, and that the pattern was definitely one of seeking contraception after first births. It was also stated that many sexually active teenagers suffered from an egocentricism that "it can't happen to me" syndrome. This prevented them from admitting their human sexuality (Cvetkovich et al., 1975; Zelnik and Kantner, 1977). Research.has indicated that no single organized activity can fully meet the complex issues involved in the problem of teenage