A study investigated the coital behavior, contraceptive use, and attitudes of 20-year-old male and female college students who experienced sexual intercourse early in adolescence (at 16 or younger) as contrasted to those who experienced coitus in late adolescence. Results indicate that older adolescents were more likely to use contraceptives and,…

University females were classified into three groups according to their sexual and contraceptive experience, and viewed a birth control film. Perceived change measures appeared sensitive to aspects of change, particularly attitude reinforcement, which were not measured by computed change. (Author/BW)

Alienated adolescent girls tend to be sexually active, tend not to use contraception effectively, and tend not to terminate pregnancy. Although they welcome a baby as a solution to lifelong problems, their poverty and drug abuse, inadequate nutrition, and lack of prenatal care put offspring at high risk. (Author/NRB)

Motivations underlying maladaptive decisions by college males in the areas of sexual intercourse, contraception, and partner pleasure are examined. (Author/JD)

Analysis indicates qualities of the interpersonal relationship of the adolescent dyad are consistently associated with exposure to pregnancy risk. Certain qualities have a counterbalancing influence on pregnancy risk in that they are positively related to the frequency of sexual intercourse while being positively related to regularity of effective…

Describes how self-constructed models of the male and female reproductive systems are used to simulate sexual intercourse and the actions of contraceptive devices in preventing conception and sexually transmitted diseases. (Author/YDS)

Used data from 1985 United States Current Population Survey to examine trends and sociodemographic differentials in child spacing. Concluded that younger women were less likely to experience short birth intervals and that sociodemographic differentials in spacing have been reduced in past years. Findings are likely due to increases in effective…

Explored the level of scientific knowledge regarding sexuality and contraception of Black and Hispanic inner-city adolescents. Results indicated that Hispanic males were the most knowledgeable, Hispanic females the least, and Black males and females were intermediate. A cultural basis for this difference is considered, and the need to design…

Examined condom use among 1,312 male adolescents. Found that subjects had become sexually active, on average, at 13.9 years. Sixty percent reported using condom at first intercourse; its use decreased to one-third when utilization at each intercourse was examined. Condom use was greatest in 14-year olds and decreased in older adolescents, being…

Critiques prior scholarship that argues Margaret Sanger's magazine "The Woman Rebel" was a failure. Argues that it was a strategic and rhetorical success, offering a coherent description of what is now socialist feminism, and addressing its primary audience of working-class women primarily through simplistic moral reasoning and…

Findings from 60 sexually active, unmarried females, ages 14 through 18, revealed that cognitive capacity and cognitive egocentrism variables as well as age, grade, and ethnic status significantly predicted 6 of 7 decision-making variables in contraceptive use model. One cognitive capacity variable and one sexual contraceptive behavior variable…

Semistructured interviews with 50 professionals found that opinions about sterilization of people with disabilities were integrally related to attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, as well as toward their parenting skills and general sexuality. Interviewees were concerned about present practices, but little consensus was exhibited about…

This article examines the historical, legal, and ethical concerns regarding sterilization for persons with mental retardation and offers guidelines to help counsel individuals with disabilities or their families regarding decision making about sterilization. (DB)

This study analyzes data on 212 individuals with mental retardation who were sterilized while residents of the Central Virginia Training Center and discharged from the facility between 1969 and 1989. The analysis includes gender, age at and date of sterilization, level of mental retardation, and location of subsequent discharge. (Author/JDD)

Used an empowerment perspective to consider the degree to which intrapersonal and interpersonal power dynamics in heterosexual relations have an impact on condom use among high risk youth. Results from 333 African American and European American urban youth show the model to be most useful in predicting condom use among female participants. (SLD)