Children and teens who engage in sexual behavior are at greater risk for emotional problems, pregnancy, dating violence, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). RAND studies have examined such topics as prevention and intervention strategies, virginity pledges, the influence of the media on adolescent sexual behavior, and the link between romantic teen relationships and later adult marriages.
REPORT
There is a lack of data that address new media use and its potential relationship with adolescent sexual risk behavior and sexual health. The authors developed this matrix of measures to summarize the state of measurement in this arena and set the stage for further research. The measures were extracted from studies of media use, media effects, and interventions that employ new media to improve sexual health. Several new items are also…
REPORT
An expert panel was convened to develop a working knowledge base about the use of new media (such as the Internet, social networking sites, cell phones, online video games, and MP3 players) among adolescents and the potential impact on their sexual health and also to identify appropriate measures for assessing this use, thus setting the stage for future research and intervention.
MULTIMEDIA
Madeline Di Nonno, executive director for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and Rebecca Collins, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, discuss how media images of girls influence how they see themselves and whether portrayals of sex in popular music, television, and film influence behavior.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Interventions need to recognize the importance of social networks of homeless youth in emerging adulthood by enhancing supportive bonds and reducing substance use and risky sex.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Summarizes research on Talking Parents, Healthy Teens, a worksite-based parenting program designed by RAND and University of California at Los Angeles researchers that improves communication between parents and their adolescents on sexual health.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Young homeless "travelers" engage in higher risk behavior than non-traveler homeless and may have different service needs and require different service approaches.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Longitudinal research has demonstrated a link between exposure to sexual content in media and subsequent changes in adolescent sexual behavior, including initiation of intercourse and various noncoital sexual activities.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A reanalysis of data from earlier studies continues to show associations between sex in the media and adolescent sexual outcomes. The evidence does not prove causality but suggests cautions for parents.
REPORT
Reviews the controversy over the true high school graduation rate in the United States, provides a comprehensive review of the debate, discusses shortcomings of current methods, and proposes new methods that address those shortcomings.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study examined whether specific parenting factors can be used to predict adolescent problem behaviors in intervention studies.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Examines parent-child discussions of sexual behavior. Finds consistency in the timing and content of such discussions; however, many parents and children do not discuss key topics, such as birth control, before adolescents become sexually active.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Sexual behavior among adolescents with HIV-positive mothers was less prevalent than among other adolescents, but was more likely to occur with adolescent alcohol use, lack of parental monitoring, and poorer physical functioning of HIV-positive mothers.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Two recent studies led by RAND Health behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins examined the impact of TV sex on teenagers’ sexual beliefs and activities.
NEWS RELEASE
School-based drug education programs for adolescents can have a long-term positive impact on sexual behavior in addition to curbing substance abuse.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
School-based drug education programs for adolescents can have a long-term positive impact on sexual behavior in addition to curbing substance abuse.
COMMENTARY
Essentially, the available research suggests that teaching abstinence alone to teenagers does not work — they are no more likely to delay the start of sexual activity than other teenagers. But research has not been so clear regarding virginity pledges specifically, writes Steven Martino.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Interventions that limit teenagers' exposure to televised sexual content, that provide a more accurate portrayal of sexuality than typically depicted on television or that help adolescents think critically about televised sexual content may help teenagers make more carefully considered decisions about sexual debut.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article examines data from 2,575 high school students who participated in a teen-dating violence intervention study. The majority of participants were Latino (91%), and the sample was nearly evenly split with respect to gender (51% female). Items from two scales (boy-on-girl violence; girl-on-boy violence) reflecting teens' attitudes about dating violence were calibrated with the graded item response theory (IRT) model and evaluated…
NEWS RELEASE
Adolescents who have high levels of exposure to television programs that contain sexual content are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the following three years as their peers who watch few such shows.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Offers some practical implications based on the first study to demonstrate a link between exposure to sexual content on TV and subsequently becoming pregnant or being responsible for a pregnancy before the age of 20.
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