Teenage belief systems about sexual health.

A belief is a conviction adhered to often in the face of factual evidence to the contrary. This paper inevitably represents my beliefs moulded by my experience of working with teenagers in London and tempered by my knowledge of the work of my colleagues. It is only by understanding the belief systems of the adolescent and his or her peer group that we can effectively interact with that young person in a way which has relevance and meaning. The very best of counselling, contraceptive, antenatal or any other service will fail if the client group, in this case the adolescent, does not believe that he needs them. Where do these beliefs stem from? (Fig. 1) Parental, cultural and religious beliefs and myths form a basis upon which more contemporary 'up market' beliefs are built-for instance the current peer group stance or the 'dish of the day' in terms of the media 'hero'. Currently 16-year-old Tiffany is at number one in the pop charts encouraging secret sexual encounters: