The influence of open-mindedness and knowledge on attitudes toward teen pregnancy and parenting among home economics teachers

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of knowledge of teenage pregnancy/parenting, open-mindedness, and selected demographic characteristics on the attitudes of home economics teachers toward teenage pregnancy/parenting.;The target population for the study was defined as secondary school home economics teachers employed in Louisiana during the 1993-94 school year. A simple random sample of 200 teachers was selected from the defined population.;The instrument used in this study consisted of four parts. The first part was the Adolescent Parents Attitude Scale and was used to measure attitudes toward pregnant adolescents and school-age parents. The second part of the instrument was the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale which was used to determine the respondents' degree of open-mindedness. The third part of the instrument consisted of the Adolescent Parenthood Knowledge Inventory and was utilized to measure level of knowledge regarding adolescent pregnancy/parenting. Finally, the fourth part of the instrument was a demographic survey including selected personal and school characteristics.;Data were collected by mailed questionnaire. After three mailings and a telephone contact, the researcher received a 96% useable response rate.;Findings of the study revealed that home economics teachers teach a large number of pregnant students and have positive attitudes toward pregnant adolescents. In addition, home economics teachers were found to be slightly open-minded.;Multiple regression analysis was used to identify a model which explained 26.4% of the variance in the attitudes of home economics teachers toward pregnant adolescents. The six variables that contributed significantly to the model included: open-mindedness/dogmatism, number of pregnant teens taught, number of in-service programs attended, age, whether or not the teacher was married, and whether or not the teacher was widowed.;In addition, teachers with more knowledge regarding teen pregnancy tended to have more positive attitudes toward pregnant adolescents (r =.14, p =.03). Also, home economics teachers that are more open-minded tend to have more positive attitudes toward pregnant adolescents (r =.39, p =.001).;The researcher recommended that the home economics program in Louisiana place a greater emphasis on the role it can play in addressing the problem of teen pregnancy/parenting.