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PubMedDate not supplied

Adolescents' experiences of childbirth: contrasts with adults.

Most of what is known about the meaning women assign to the experience of childbirth in the United States is based primarily on studies of Euro American, highly educated, married women of middle to higher income levels. Yet almost half a million adolescents give birth annually. This exploratory, qualitative study was conducted with 25 adolescents in an alternative school, partnered with the juvenile justice system, who had given birth. An open-ended question format was used for the interviews, and analysis was conducted by using extended case methodology. The study revealed a number of differences between the existing literature reports about women's interpretations of birth and the meanings assigned to childbirth experiences by the adolescents in this study. A key difference was the relationship between the pain of childbirth and responsibility for their child. The results provide an entrée into understanding unique characteristics of giving birth as an adolescent and potential roles health care providers can play to promote a positive experience.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Early childhood exposure to parental nudity and scenes of parental sexuality ("primal scenes"): an 18-year longitudinal study of outcome.

As part of the UCLA Family Lifestyles Project (FLS), 200 male and female children participated in an 18-year longitudinal outcome study of early childhood exposure to parental nudity and scenes of parental sexuality ("primal scenes"). At age 17-18, participants were assessed for levels of self-acceptance; relations with peers, parents, and other adults; antisocial and criminal behavior; substance use; suicidal ideation; quality of sexual relationships; and problems associated with sexual relations. No harmful "main effect" correlates of the predictor variables were found. A significant crossover Sex of Participant X Primal Scenes interaction was found such that boys exposed to primal scenes before age 6 had reduced risk of STD transmission or having impregnated someone in adolescence. In contrast, girls exposed to primal scenes before age 6 had increased risk of STD transmission or having become pregnant. A number of main effect trends in the data (nonsignificant at p < 0.05, following the Bonferonni correction) linked exposure to nudity and exposure to primal scenes with beneficial outcomes. However, a number of these findings were mediated by sex of participant interactions showing that the effects were attenuated or absent for girls. All effects were independent of family stability, pathology, or child-rearing ideology; sex of participant; SES; and beliefs and attitudes toward sexuality. Limitations of the data and of long-term regression studies in general are discussed, and the sex of participant interactions are interpreted speculatively. It is suggested that pervasive beliefs in the harmfulness of the predictor variables are exaggerated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Validity of adolescents' report of maternal age.

Examined the validity of adolescents' reports of their mother's age. Most research on the validity of self-report focuses on personal behaviors such as alcohol and substance use, or response bias due to social desirability. Few studies investigate the validity of adolescents reporting of nonsensitive information. Data from 80 mother-adolescent pairs were collected. The sample included 9th graders from four high school English classes, equal numbers of males and females, and 15% African Americans. The correlation between mothers' reports and youths' reports of mother's age was .99, and 95% of the youth were within a year of their mother's correct age. No race or gender differences were found. These results allow researchers to examine adolescent outcomes for youth born to teen mothers without the expense of also collecting data from their mothers. Results also suggest that adolescents' self-reports of other nonsensitive familial data may also be valid.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

G. Stanley Hall and his times: Too much so, yet not enough.

Early in his career, G. Stanley Hall was an innovator, even a rebel in his thinking--for example, about religion and evolution. He maintained these ideas throughout his career, even into his 70s. Consequently, he became ever more distanced from the thinking of his scientific colleagues. This perspective may help psychologists understand better Hall's monumental Adolescence: Its psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, which to contemporary readers may appear full of errors, pedantry, and eccentricities.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed1999

The adolescent parenting program: improving outcomes through mentorship.

Adolescent parents and their infants are a population at risk. Infant mortality, low-birthweight, and child maltreatment are inordinately higher within this population than within slightly older cohorts. The purpose of this one group pretest-posttest intervention study was to analyze the efficacy of a program designed to improve infant outcomes through the enhancement of health practices and parenting skills in a sample of 137 low-income, pregnant and parenting adolescents who reside in an urban area and who screened positive for risk of child maltreatment. Based on theories of mentorship and social support, the program provided intensive home visitation by nursing paraprofessionals, indigenous to the community, for the 2 year study period. Program outcomes were compared to local and national data. Findings revealed only 4.6% of program infants were low-birthweight compared to local and national percentages of 13.5% and 9.42%. The mean length of gestation was 39.27 weeks (SD = 1.55). The incidence of infant mortality was zero, comparing favorably with national data as well as the local infant mortality rate (almost twice the state average). There were only four cases of child neglect, representing only 2.91% of the sample. This finding also compares favorably with national data.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Factors associated with adolescent pregnancy- a sample of Taiwanese female adolescents.

This study was designed to explore the factors that differentiate sexually experienced teenagers who become pregnant from those who do not. The study examined the differences between pregnant and never-pregnant female adolescents in personal background characteristics, family characteristics, substance use, contraceptive attitude, contraceptive knowledge, contraceptive self-efficacy, sexual history, and effective contraceptive use. Sexually experienced but never-pregnant female adolescents were selected from two vocational high schools. Pregnant adolescents were recruited by convenience sampling from obstetric clinics and health stations in Tainan City, Taiwan. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified six factors associated with pregnancy: poor contraceptive knowledge, poor contraceptive self-efficacy, low socioeconomic status, low effective contraceptive use scores, more frequent sexual intercourse, and older age. The results of this study provide health professionals with information to develop more-effective prevention and intervention programs to reduce adolescent pregnancy. The results also could be used as a reference for related research and policy development in other countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Predictors of risk for adolescent childbearing.

The purpose of this research was to develop a predictive model that identifies young women at risk for adolescent motherhood. A stratified sample of 357 adolescents was drawn from public health units and public schools in six randomly selected counties in North Central Florida. Data were collected regarding the environmental context (social and family), individual perceptions of self and trajectory, and adolescent motherhood status. A stepwise logistic regression was used to investigate the combined effects of these variables for identification of risk for adolescent motherhood. Using the combination of these variables, practitioners can identify adolescents at highest risk for early motherhood (97.66%) and those with the least risk of adolescent motherhood (approximately 1%).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Psychometric characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

The initial study describing the development of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) indicated that it was a psychometrically sound instrument (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). The current study attempted to extend the initial findings by demonstrating the internal reliability, factorial validity, and subscale validity of the MSPSS using three different subject groups: (a) 265 pregnant women, (b) 74 adolescents living in Europe with their families, and (c) 55 pediatric residents. The MSPSS was found to have good internal reliability across subject groups. In addition, strong factorial validity was demonstrated, confirming the three-subscale structure of the MSPSS: Family, Friends, and Significant Other. Finally, strong support was also found for the validity of the Family and Significant Other subscales.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Family influences on adolescent sexual and contraceptive behavior.

Studies of adolescent pregnancy risk are relevant to understanding responsible adolescent sexual behavior because most investigators have focused on the key proximal determinants of pregnancy--sexual intercourse and contraceptive use--rather than analyzing pregnancy status per se. Lesser pregnancy risk is associated with teens remaining sexually abstinent, postponing onset of intercourse, and having intercourse less often or with fewer partners, as well as by using contraception at first or most recent intercourse and by using contraception consistently over time. Living with a single parent, in a lower SES family, having older sexually active siblings or pregnant/parenting teenage sisters, being a victim of sexual abuse, and residing in disorganized/dangerous neighborhoods all place teens at elevated risk of adolescent pregnancy. Parent-child closeness or connectedness, and parental supervision or regulation of children, in combination with parents values against teen intercourse (or unprotected intercourse), decrease the risk of adolescent pregnancy. Studies about parent-child sexual communication and adolescent pregnancy risk are less conclusive, largely because of methodological complexities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The impact of schools and school programs upon adolescent sexual behavior.

Because most youth are enrolled in school for many years before they initiate sex and when they initiate sex, schools have the potential for reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking. This paper reviews studies which examine the impact upon sexual risk-taking of school involvement, school characteristics, specific programs in school that do not address sexual behavior, and specific programs that do address sexual risk-taking. Multiple studies support several conclusions. First, involvement in and attachment to school and plans to attend higher education are all related to less sexual risk-taking and lower pregnancy rates. Second, students in schools with manifestations of poverty and disorganization are more likely to become pregnant. Third, some school programs specifically designed to increase attachment to school or reduce school dropout effectively delayed sex or reduced pregnancy rate, even when they did not address sexuality. Fourth, sex and HIV education programs do not increase sexual behavior, and some programs decrease sexual activity and increase condom or contraceptive use. Fifth, school-based clinics and school condom-availability programs do not increase sexual activity, and either may or may not increase condom or contraceptive use. Other studies reveal that there is very broad support for comprehensive sex- and HIV-education programs, and accordingly, most youth receive some amount of sex or HIV education. However, important topics are not covered in many schools.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Effective approaches to reducing adolescent unprotected sex, pregnancy, and childbearing.

In the United States, there exist a multitude of different approaches to reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking, unintended pregnancy, childbearing, and sexually transmitted disease, including HIV. While many of these approaches have some positive effects upon some outcomes (such as greater knowledge), only some of these programs actually delay the initiation of sex, increase condom or contraceptive use, and reduce unprotected sex among youth. This article summarizes a review of 73 studies and their respective programs, and describes four groups of programs which have reasonably strong evidence that they delay sex, increase condom or contraceptive use, or reduce teen pregnancy or childbearing. These four groups of programs include (a) sex and HIV education curricula with specified characteristics, (b) one-on-one clinician-patient protocols in health settings with some common qualities, (c) service learning programs, and (d) a particular intensive youth development program with multiple components.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Coital debut: the role of religiosity and sex attitudes in the Add Health Survey.

Recent reviews suggest that religiosity is associated with the delay of adolescent coital debut (Rostosky, Wilcox, Wright, Randall, in press; Wilcox, Rostosky, Randall, Wright, 2001). Few studies, however, have examined this association using longitudinal data to test theoretically driven models. We analyzed data from 3,691 adolescents (ages 15-21), testing the hypothesis that adolescent religiosity and sex attitudes (at Wave 1) predict later coital debut (at Wave 2) and that these predictive relationships vary by gender. Findings indicated that beyond demographic factors and number of romantic partners, religiosity reduced the likelihood of coital debut for both males and females. After accounting for the effects of religiosity, anticipation of negative emotions after coital debut (sex attitude factor 1) further reduced its likelihood for females and males. Finally, adolescent girls - but not boys - who anticipated positive emotions following sexual intercourse (sex attitude factor 2) were more likely to debut. While virginity pledge status was associated with coital debut for boys and girls, more conservative beliefs about sex appeared to mediate its effect. Finally, a significant interaction between race and religiosity indicated that African American adolescent males who had either signed a virginity pledge or were more religious were significantly more likely to debut than both White non-Hispanic males and African American males who were less religious and/or who had not signed a pledge. The implications of these results for adolescent pregnancy prevention programming are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Evaluation of two school-based HIV prevention interventions in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico.

This research project examined the individual and combined effectiveness of an HIV prevention workshop and a free condom distribution program in four high schools in Tijuana, Mexico. Adolescents (N = 320) completed baseline measures on sexual practices and theoretical correlates and participated in a two-part study. In Study 1, students were randomly assigned to an HIV prevention workshop or a control condition, with a 3-month follow-up assessment. Results indicate three significant workshop benefits regarding HIV transmission by altering sexual initiation, access to condoms, and traditional beliefs regarding condoms. In Study 2, we set up a condom distribution program at two of the participating schools, and students completed a 6-month follow-up assessment. Results indicate that exposure to the workshop followed by access to the condom distribution program yielded two beneficial results for reducing HIV transmission: moderating sexual initiation and increasing condom acquisition. Access to the condom distribution program alone had no effects on behavioral and psychosocial correlates of HIV transmission. We discuss implications of these results.

Adolescent↗