Active parental consent policies have been blamed for low participation rates and selection bias (i.e., loss of “high-risk†youths) in school-based studies. In this article, the authors describe active consent procedures that produced an overall active consent rate of 79% in a sample...

This study investigates whether the type of parental permission affects prevalence estimates for risk behaviors from the national 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Participants were 13,195 students from 143 schools, of which 65% used passive permission and 35% active permission. Student...

In the evaluation of school-based intervention programs, students' knowledge, behavior, and attitudes about a particular issue are typically assessed before and after the intervention. The effectiveness of the intervention can then be gauged by comparing these "pre-treatment" and...