Despite substantial progress over the last two decades, girls still have on average lower levels of educational attainment than boys in West and Central Africa. This is in part because many girls in the region are married while still children, often before they may be physically and emotionally ready to become wives and mothers. Educating girls…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS) has a long history of providing representative data on the nation's high school students. These assessments are crucial to CDC's mission of identifying health behaviors and experiences; understanding the determinants and co-occurrence of risks;…

Research has determined that the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) must occur preconceptually, either by reducing alcohol intake in women planning pregnancy or at risk for becoming pregnant, or by preventing pregnancy in women drinking at risky levels. One such AEP prevention programme with non-pregnant American-Indian (AI) women is…

Background: A comprehensive review of the literature failed to find any studies to assess elementary school parents' preferred philosophical approach to teaching sexuality education and sexuality education topics discussed by parents. All previous research reported parent data for grades K-12 or grades 9-12 only. Methods: A random sample of 2400…

"We are in a war," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared to cheers at a 2011 National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice America fund-raiser. Secretary Sebelius was referring in part to the uproar caused by the "HHS Mandate," her agency's rule that employer-provided…

Objective: To examine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates, including initiation and completion of the vaccine series, and barriers to vaccination in a sample of male college students. Participants: Male students between the ages of 18 and 25 who reported being currently or previously sexually active (N = 735). Methods: A cross-sectional…

Domestic labor researchers have examined a multitude of duties disproportionately performed by women, yet the responsibility associated with navigating a couple's fertility--fertility work--has been overlooked. Using data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth ("N" = 1,415), the author examined how racial and socioeconomic…

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence undergraduate college student use of emergency contraception (EC) and their level of knowledge about the product, in order to assist in the development of intervention programmes to increase its use, which could lead to lower rates of unintended pregnancies in this population. A…

Progressive policies protecting women's rights to make reproductive decisions and the recent increase in literature exploring female sexual agency do not appear to have impacted on more equitable sexual relations in all contexts. In South Africa, gender power inequalities, intersecting with other forms of inequality in society, pose a challenge…

Background: The global literature has revealed that cultural orientation, adaptation and social capital may influence HIV-related sexual behaviours among migrants. However, whether cultural orientations influence adaptation and social capital and thereby affect sexual behaviour is not well understood. Method: This study examined whether…

This study assessed a newly developed Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale designed to measure the sexual communication self-efficacy of adolescent men and women. Three-hundred and seventy-four U.K. adolescents completed this new scale, along with several other validity measures. Factor analysis revealed that the Sexual Communication…

First sexual intercourse is an important experience in the young adult life course. While previous research has examined racial, gender, and socioeconomic differences in the characteristics of first sexual intercourse, less is known about differences by disability status. Using a racially diverse (27% Black, 20% Hispanic, and 53% non-Hispanic…

Research addressing the sexual health and reproductive rights of pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers is growing, although attention to the sexual well-being of young mothers who are already in school remains limited. This omission places teenage mothers at risk, who may be susceptible to repeated pregnancies that may compromise their well-being…

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 (P.L. 118-148) has already changed college students' health care options and has a larger impact on women as they outnumber men in college enrollment and require unique services. Through a feminist policy framework, we discuss how the PPACA impacts college women's health and…

Parent-child sexual health communication (PCSHC) can have a positive impact on adolescents' sexual health choices, outcomes, and capabilities for communicating with others about sexual health. Many parents are hesitant and feel unprepared for and uncomfortable with communicating about sexual health with their children. Other parental factors as…