The responsibility for who will educate today's youth is shifting. Where the parents, schools, and the community once provided an equal share in the teaching of our youth, a deficit is occurring. Today's child may only have one parent, class sizes may be too large, and the community may be stretched beyond its ability to provide assistance.
Extension is well situated to provide youth education in today's society.
Although the overall rate of teen pregnancy in the United States has been declining, rates have remained high for younger unmarried teens. Evaluation studies of pregnancy prevention programs indicate that many are ineffective or not well evaluated. Implications for Cooperative Extension programming are discussed. The questionnaire focused on individual health behaviors and perceptions. If left unchecked, these risk factors could have a significant impact on job effectiveness, performance, and quality of life of Extension agents.