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Juvenile Sexual Behaviors

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.

News Release
Adolescents Who Listen to a Great Deal of Music with Degrading Sexual Lyrics Have Sex Sooner
August 7, 2006 News Release: RAND Study Finds Adolescents Who Listen to a Great Deal of Music with Degrading Sexual Lyrics Have Sex Sooner.
Aug 7, 2006
Journal Article
Precocious Behaviors in Early Adolescence: Employment and the Transition to First Sexual Intercourse
This article explores the relationship between employment and first sexual intercourse in the early teen years.
Feb 1, 2006
Report
Program for Parents Helps to Promote Adolescent Sexual Health
Parents play an important role in the sexual health of their adolescent children. Talking Parents, Healthy Teens is an intervention designed to help parents improve communication with their adolescent children, promote healthy adolescent sexual development, and reduce adolescent sexual risk behaviors.
Jan 1, 2006
Journal Article
Adolescents Who Listen to Degrading Sexual Lyrics Have Sex Sooner
The more time adolescents spend listening to music with sexually degrading lyrics, the more likely they are to initiate intercourse and other sexual activities. This holds true for boys and girls as well as for whites and nonwhites.
Dec 31, 2005
Report
Social Cognitive Processes Mediating the Relationship Between Exposure to Television's Sexual Content and Adolescents' Sexual Behavior
Tests a model explaining the association between exposure to televised sexual content and initiation of intercourse among an ethnically diverse national sample of 1,292 adolescents.
Jan 1, 2005
Journal Article
Sex on Television and Its Impact on American Youth: Background and Results from the RAND Television and Adolescent Sexuality Study
Discusses the results of several new studies based on the RAND Television and Adolescent Sexuality data set.
Jan 1, 2005
Journal Article
Worksite-based Parenting Programs to Promote Healthy Adolescent Sexual Development: A Qualitative Study of Feasibility and Potential Content
A worksite-based program designed to help parents of adolescents develop communication and parenting skills could provide a way to reach busy parents.
Jan 1, 2005
Journal Article
Sexual Orientation in Child and Adolescent Health Care
Book review of: Ellen C. Perrin, Sexual Orientation in Child and Adolescent Health Care (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2002).
Jan 1, 2005
Research Brief
Does Watching Sex on Television Influence Teens’ Sexual Activity?
Two recent studies led by RAND Health behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins examined the impact of TV sex on teenagers’ sexual beliefs and activities.
Jan 1, 2004
Journal Article
Sexual Victimization Among a National Probability Sample of Adolescent Women
Health care providers, teachers and school counselors can play key roles in identifying adolescent women at high risk for sexual victimization.
Jan 1, 2004
News Release
RAND Study Finds Entertainment TV Can Help Teach Teens Responsible Sex Messages
TV entertainment programs can be a responsible sex educator for teenagers, and the likelihood that teens will learn an accurate lesson increases with parental reinforcement.
Nov 2, 2003
Commentary
Talking to Your Child About Kobe
Published commentary by RAND staff.
Sep 8, 2003
Journal Article
Screening for Sexually Transmitted Diseases During Preparticipation Sports Examination of High School Adolescents
Sports physicals offered a unique opportunity to screen and treat adolescents for STDs and to provide STD-prevention counseling.
Jan 1, 2003
Commercial Book
Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They'd Ask)
Smart, frank, and occasionally hilarious, this comprehensive guide offers practical and often surprising answers to the questions that bedevil parents at every stage in their children's coming-of-age. Packed with the latest research on parenting tech...
Jan 1, 2003
Journal Article
Entertainment Television as a Healthy Sex Educator: The Impact of Condom-Efficacy Information in an Episode of Friends
Television is often decried as a negative influence on the sexual attitudes and behavior of America's adolescents.
Dec 31, 2002
Journal Article
An Economic Evaluation of a School-Based Sexually Transmitted Disease Screening Program
School-based screening programs of this type are likely to be a cost-effective use of public funds and can reduce the burden of STDs among adolescents
Jan 1, 2002
Research Brief
Understanding the Sexual Behavior of Adolescents
As part of an ongoing program of research on risk behavior, Mark Schuster and his colleagues examined the range of adolescent sexual activity.
Jan 1, 2002
Journal Article
Screening for Chlamydia in Adolescents and Young Women
There is room for improvement in rates of chlamydia screening in sexually active females aged 15 to 25 years.
Jan 1, 2000
Report
Students' Acquisition and Use of School Condoms in a High School Condom Availability Program
Describes the impact of a condom availability program located in an urban high school that serves a racially and socioeconomically diverse community in Los Angeles County.
Jan 1, 1998
Report
Communication Between Adolescents and Physicians About Sexual Behavior and Risk Prevention
For adolescents who knew that physicians in their state do not have to tell parents about sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, levels of trust rose, but only to 54%.
Jan 1, 1996

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RAND Topic:
Juvenile Sexual Behaviors

Research conducted by

RAND Health Care