High School Students’ Knowledge about the Behavior and Development of Young Children, L. Johnson, M. Kappelman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland.

The study looked at 328 high-school students. Roughly half were males, half were seniors, and half were college bound students. Just over 1/4 had taken a child development class. 11% were parents already.

They took a multiple-choice test on child development, and parenting styles. The group that scored the lowest on knowledge was male, non-college bound students. 40% of students who were already parents chose abusive parenting styles.

Those who had taken a child development class were less "punitive" (i.e. discipline=punishment) with their discipline style.

Over 40% of female, and only 9% of male, students were interested in learning more about child development.

One boy at the end of his test wrote, "I know more about dinosaurs you should have asked about them."

Dr. Jane's Comment

Take home message from this study: if you have teen-age boys, find a creative and interesting way to teach them about child development.

Perhaps you can use football or baseball as the analogy to keep them interested. "Ok son, when your 2 year old colors on your favorite pants, you don’t punt him at the 20th yard line."

All kidding aside. We now have some good info that can
1. Help us as parents: don’t neglect your teen-age girls, but focus on those boys, especially if they are not college bound. Teach them basic development of early years most importantly.

2. Help us as spouses: have an honest talk with your husband or boyfriend about both of your understanding on child development and discipline issues. If you use punishment to discipline all the time, consider where you fit in the above study. Do you need to get a parent friendly development book to break the cycle? (Hint Touchpoints by T. Barry Brazelton, is very user friendly and comes in video too)

3. Help us as grandparents: use the info in this study to help your young parents. Make gentle suggestions or direct them to this website. Give a child development book as a baby shower gift.

4. Help us as a community: do you know a young couple that needs help with their parenting. Instead of judging their inadequacies, understand their lack of understanding -- help them. Again, a book as a gift is a great place to start. Modeling the right behavior or dropping a tid bit of info goes a long way as well

As in all things, pray about this issue if it directly affects you. Especially pray about this issue because it directly affects a child that needs your help.