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How Patterns of Learning About Sexual Information Among Adolescents Are Related to Sexual Behaviors
Author(s) -
Bleakley Amy,
Khurana Atika,
Hennessy Michael,
Ellithorpe Morgan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
perspectives on sexual and reproductive health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.818
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1931-2393
pISSN - 1538-6341
DOI - 10.1363/psrh.12053
Subject(s) - condom , psychology , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , birth control , psychological intervention , reproductive health , odds , social psychology , family planning , population , demography , medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , logistic regression , paleontology , syphilis , family medicine , psychiatry , sociology , biology , research methodology
CONTEXT Parents, peers and media are informal sources of sexual information for adolescents. Although the content of sexual information communicated by these sources is known to vary, little is known about what adolescents report actually learning from each source. METHODS Data from 1,990 U.S.14–17‐year‐olds who participated in an online survey in 2015 were used to assess learning about four topics (sex, condoms, hormonal birth control and romantic relationships) from three informal sources (parents, peers, and television and movies). Gender and race differences in learning by source and topic were assessed using t tests. Following a factor analysis, learning about all topics was grouped by source, and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between learning from each source and three outcomes: sexual activity, condom use and hormonal birth control use. Models included interactions between information sources and race and gender. RESULTS White adolescents reported learning more from parents and less from media than black adolescents. Compared with males, females learned more about hormonal birth control and less about condoms from their parents, and more about relationships from peers and media. Learning from parents and from peers were positively associated with adolescents’ sexual activity (unstandardized coefficients, 0.26 and 0.52, respectively). Learning from parents was positively associated with condom use (odds ratio, 1.5). CONCLUSION Adolescents’ learning about sex from informal sources varies by race and gender. Future research should examine whether sexual health interventions and message development can capitalize on these differences.