In Brief

By Alain L. Sanders

UNMARRIED WITH CHILDREN A new U.S. Census Bureau study indicates that marriage is becoming increasingly irrelevant to parenthood. In the first half of the decade, 53% of firstborns of women ages 15 to 29 were conceived--and 41% were born--out of wedlock. That's triple the figure for premarital conceptions and five times that for premarital births since the early 1930s. The Census study found that only 23% of today's young pregnant women decided to marry before the birth of their first child, in contrast to 54% 60 years ago.

ROLE MODELS Which middle-school kids are likely to be aggressive? a) Those whose parents approve of fighting; b) those with little parental supervision; c) those who have poor relations with their parents; or d) those who live in nontraditional families? Answer: all of the above. But according to a study in the December issue of the journal Health Education & Behavior, the most important of these is parental attitude; the least is family composition. Conclusion: never underestimate the power of parental instruction--no matter who does the parenting.

JUVENILE JUSTICE Ignorance of the law is no excuse. And that goes for kids too, which is why the Arizona Bar Foundation is pioneering a website designed to teach youngsters about the justice system. The site, www.lawforkids.org offers kid-friendly explanations, personal stories from youngsters in trouble, answers to questions ranging from state graffiti laws to federal child labor laws, and links for help and information. The site already averages 38,000 hits a month from across the country, and will soon add audio testimony from kids about their experiences with the law.

--By Alain L. Sanders