Abstract
This quasi-experimental study of 48 high school students clearly demonstrates the impact of a very realistic infant simulator on adolescents' attitudes and beliefs about what their future parenting experiences might be like. After their experience of the three-day lifespace intervention, the teenagers who participated had much more realistic notions about the responsibilities and demands involved in childrearing. Nearly all of them (90%) scored higher on a measure of realistic parenting expectations than the average adolescent in a comparison group did. Also of practical significance was the finding that the intervention even seemed to positively impact classmates of the primary intervention group, adolescents who merely observed others tending to ‘infants.’
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Strachan, W., Gorey, K.M. Infant Simulator Lifespace Intervention: Pilot Investigation of an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program . Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 14, 171–180 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024565502423
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024565502423