Adolescents who are hopeful about their futures are less likely to become pregnant. Other factors that can help lower the teen pregnancy rate are age-appropriate K-12 sex education classes; access to contraception; and parents who have close relationships with their children and communicate their values about sex and sexuality. Sidebars cite…

Surveyed South Carolina registered voters regarding level of support for school-based reproductive health services. Most voters supported providing contraceptive information, counseling, and referrals to students. They were less supportive of providing students with more direct and possibly invasive reproductive health services at school. Few…

A total of 249 Japanese nationals--tourists (n = 107), students (n = 98), and temporary workers (n = 44)--were recruited at the targeted community venues in Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed a structured survey questionnaire. Reported lifetime sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs infection (10% male and 20% female participants), and HIV infection…

Objective: To describe the relative effectiveness of a short versus long course of family-based therapy (FBT) for adolescent anorexia nervosa at long-term follow-up. Method: This study used clinical and structured interviews to assess psychological and psychosocial outcomes of adolescents (ages 12-18 years at baseline) who were previously treated…

Purpose: To examine whether gender and birth control use are associated with premarital sexual attitudes, beliefs about peers, family communication about sexual relationships, and sexuality education among sexually experienced youth. Methods: Data were collected from a randomly selected ethnically diverse youth sample (N = 1,253). Only the…

A school-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 927 Latino and African American students attending 10 alternative schools in Houston, Texas, to investigate mass media consumption and its influence on sexual risk-taking behavior. Among males, exposure to television increased their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Females who…

The world has a population of 6 billion. India alone has a population of 1 billion. This is despite the fact that India was the first country in the world to have a population policy. It is important to understand the factors that led to this population explosion and the complex links between population growth rates and levels of development.…

One explanation for the lack of contraception use among adolescents is that young women may feel embarrassment or rejection by their partners if they initiate the use of contraception. To explore young adults' reactions to contraceptive use, 160 college students evaluated a description of an unmarried young couple which varied the length of time…

This paper presents a model for the development, implementation, and utilization of a health education, counseling, case management, and advocacy program for teenage parents. It describes the Teen Parent Advocate Program, a rurally based program designed to reduce the incidence of repeat teenage pregnancy, develop more effective contraceptive…

This story, one of three in The Sexuality Decision-Making Series for Teens, contains several different possible plot lines depending on the decisions the reader makes for the characters at varous "choice points." The study focuses on the theme of birth control: when Christy and David decide to have sex, they have to face the…

Due to indiscriminate experimentation with drugs and sex, teens are increasingly at risk of contracting AIDS. Goals of prevention include reducing the panic and misinformation surrounding the disease, helping teenagers delay sexual intercourse, ensuring condom use, and preventing I.V. drug use. AIDS prevention as a shared responsibility includes…

State governments, school systems, and local communities are increasingly aware that social problems must be addressed in the context of education reform since many of these problems limit students' ability to learn. Unchecked, these problems have a high social and financial cost in that they prevent young people from becoming self-sufficient…

Current data on the widespread nature of sexual activity among unmarried teenagers and young adults and the rise in unplanned pregnancy among these groups offer evidence of a lack of knowledge about reproduction and contraception. Male (N=75) and female (N=78) university students participated in a study of the effects of authoritarianism,…

This booklet presents evidence which links the effects of unplanned pregnancies on the health of the mother and child. The first section identifies the causes of high mortality and morbidity rates among children. Teenage child-bearing, child-bearing past the age of 35, family size and birth intervals are discussed. The second section presents…

This implementation manual for a sex education course is designed for the following purposes: offers a step-by-step guide to involving a broad base of community agencies in sex education; provides detailed curriculum plans for implementing a sex education program for parents and adolescents, and for adolescents only; presents a variety of…