D uring the past decade, a revolution in school health
education occurred, with expanded objectives and
demonstrable behavioral outcomes. Before 1980, the
goal of school health education was similar to that of
other academic subjects: to provide more knowledge
about personal and social health. Healthier behavior
patterns were expected as a result of greater knowledge
and more positive attitudes about health. Lack of
change in behavior, particularly cigarette smoking
among adolescents in the 1970s - a decade after the
Surgeon General’s landmark report on the health consequences
of smoking - provoked a new look at health
education in schools. At that time the need to develop
new approaches to promote behavior change through
schoo programs became a mandate.
Guided by behavioral models from social psychology,
rather than by medical or educational models, several
school-based intervention programs achieved
changes in smoking onset rates, eating habits, and physical
activity patterns. I These programs deemphasized
knowledge acquisition and instead emphasized social influences,
skill-building, and behavioral competencies related
to particu Lar health-related behavior. For cardiovascular
health promotion, program outcomes were
enhanced when classroom curricula were augmented by