We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Applying ecological perspectives to adolescent sexual health in the United States: rhetoric or reality?
- Authors
Salazar, Laura F.; Bradley, Erin L. P.; Younge, Sinead N.; Daluga, Nichole A.; Crosby, Richard A.; Lang, Delia L.; DiClemente, Ralph J.
- Abstract
This study sought to determine the perspective taken toward understanding adolescent sexual risk behaviors and related biological outcomes (i.e. pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases) since 1990. We content analyzed 324 abstracts representing observational research published between January 1990 and December 2007 for inclusion of ecological (environmental) factors, level of analysis, sample composition and type of behavioral and biological outcomes. A majority (95%) of studies included individual characteristics; half were void of any environmental factors. Of those including environmental factors, 27% included familial, 23% community, 13% relational and 3% societal factors. Most (80%) were positioned at the individual level of analysis. Samples were diverse (43%) and of mixed gender (71%). Biomarkers of sexually transmitted diseases (7.5%) or pregnancy outcomes (2%) were rare. Ecological inclusion was not related to year of publication. Despite the rhetoric highlighting, the importance of an ecological perspective in understanding adolescent sexual risk behavior, much published research, excludes environmental influences.
- Subjects
UNITED States; TEENAGERS' sexual behavior; RISK-taking behavior in adolescence; TEENAGE pregnancy -- Risk factors; SEXUALLY transmitted diseases; ENVIRONMENTAL health; HUMAN ecology research; BIOMARKERS; MEDICAL research
- Publication
Health Education Research, 2010, Vol 25, Issue 4, p552
- ISSN
0268-1153
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/her/cyp065