Date of Award
Fall 1981
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of self-control awareness training on teenage mothers-to-be. Two groups were chosen from pregnant, young women registered to take standard prenatal training courses. The experimental group received an extra two-hour block of instruction in self-control using Structured Learning Therapy (SLT). The control group received a two-hour block of instruction in post-natal nutrition. The typical prenatal course was twelve hours, or six two-hour sessions. The SLT model was adapted to fit the current project and consisted of: (1) A discussion of self-control by the project investigator; (2) The viewing of specially prepared video tapes where the actress presented various stress situations; (3) A discussion and demonstration of how self-control training can be applied; and (4) Client role-playing in "mock" stress situations. The subjects were pregnant women between the ages of 15 and 19 who were voluntarily enrolled in prenatal classes at a hospital teen clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a high school offering programming for pregnant teens. From the potential sample pool of 65 (51 at the clinic and 14 at the high school) seven experimental subjects and eight control subjects finished. The design of the study was a randomized control group, pre-test--post-test. Each group was given the Mother-Child Situation Survey (MCSS). The instrument consists of a pre-test and post-test containing sixty stressors, thirty in the pre-test and the same number in the post-test. The null hypothesis was rejected because the difference between the treated and nontreated groups exceeded the .05 level of significance. It appears that the self-control awareness material and the SLT model served as effective training agents. A conceptualization for the development of prevention programming was also presented.