The Effects of Curriculum on Student Health Behaviors: A Case Study of The Growing Healthy Curriculum On Health Behaviors of Eighth Grade Students

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the comprehensive elementary health education curriculum Growing Healthy influenced health behaviors of students after they had reached the eighth grade. Youth from three schools were studied: youth from one school had participated in Growing Healthy during their elementary school years, another school had a district-level drug education coordinator and a comprehensive drug education program but no specific curriculum in the elementary school, and the third school had neither an identified health education program nor a drug prevention program coordinator. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, selected risk factors were identified and percentages for each school were compared with national data. Results indicated significant differences for 'age of first use' and 'days used alcohol and/or marijuana,' with the Growing Healthy group reporting more healthful behaviors; overall, though, the curriculum effects were not apparent on the majority of health behaviors. Nonetheless, the author observes that in the school offering salads in the lunch room, nutrition behaviors were significantly better; where the school required physical education for eighth graders, those students' physical activity behaviors were more positive; and the school with a strictly enforced drug policy had fewer reports of drug usage on campus. The author concludes that arguments for a comprehensive approach to student health, as well as yearly health education programs that consider cultural attitudes and beliefs, are therefore supported.

Author(s): LAMMERS, Jane W.

Publication: Journal of Health Education


Date Published: 9/1/1996

Location Code: 8281