This paper examines the impacts of four abstinence-only education programs on adolescent sexual activity and risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Based on an experimental design, the impact analysis uses survey data collected in 2005 and early 2006 from more than 2,000 teens who had been randomly assigned to either a program group that was eligible to participate in one ...

OBJECTIVES We explored long-term health consequences of age at sexual initiation and of abstinence until marriage to evaluate empirical support for the claim that postponing sexual initiation has beneficial health effects. METHODS We analyzed data from the 1996 National Sexual Health Survey, a cross-sectional study of the US adult population. We compared sexual health outcomes among individua...

In the United States, Latino youth experience disproportionately higher rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than non-Latino Whites. As a result, organizations serving Latino youth seek culturally appropriate evidence-based prevention programs that promote sexual abstinence and condom use. Cuídate! is an efficacious HIV sexual risk reduction program for Latino yout...

Receiving more parent sexual communication is generally linked to a later age of first sexual intercourse and less sexual risk taking. However, Asian American youth report minimal parent sexual communication, later sexual initiation, and fewer sexual risks than their counterparts. What contributes to this unexpected pattern of sexual communication and sexual behaviors? To answer this question, ...

Maternal disapproval of premarital sex, maternal discussions about birth control and the quality of the parent-child relationship may have an important influence on adolescents' sexual activity and the consistency of their contraceptive use. Findings from a survey of 751 black youths showed that adolescent perceptions of maternal disapproval of premarital sex and satisfaction with the mother-ch...

A working knowledge of contraception will assist the pediatrician in both sexual health promotion as well as treatment of common adolescent gynecologic problems. Best practices in adolescent anticipatory guidance and screening include a sexual health history, screening for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, counseling, and if indicated, providing access to contraceptives. Pediatrici...

This paper explores the influence of ethnicity on attitudes towards sexual behavior of British-born Chinese teenagers. Using an ethnographic approach and snowball sampling, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 British-born Chinese teenagers and 20 Chinese-born parents. The parents highlighted the influence of Chinese culture and religion on their sexual values and wanted to c...

A working knowledge of contraception will assist the pediatrician in both sexual health promotion as well as treatment of common adolescent gynecologic problems. Best practices in adolescent anticipatory guidance and screening include a sexual health history, screening for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, counseling, and if indicated, providing access to contraceptives. Pediatrici...

BACKGROUND Young people aged 10-24 years represent one-third of the Ghanaian population. Many are sexually active and are at considerable risk of negative health outcomes due to inadequate sexual and reproductive health knowledge. Although growing international evidence suggests that parent-child sexual communication has positive influence on young people's sexual behaviours, this subject has b...

A number of studies have shown that teenagers who abstain from sex are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college than their sexually active peers. However, it is unclear whether this association represents a causal relationship or can be explained by unmeasured heterogeneity. This study employs a variety of econometric techniques to distinguish between these hypotheses using d...