Surveys of risk behaviors have been hobbled by their reliance on respondents to report accurately about engaging in behaviors that are highly sensitive and may be illegal. An audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) technology for measuring those behaviors was tested with 1690 respondents in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. The respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions using either audio-CASI or a more traditional self-administered questionnaire. Estimates of the prevalence of male-male sex, injection drug use, and sexual contact with intravenous drug users were higher by factors of 3 or more when audio-CASI was used. Increased reporting was also found for several other risk behaviors.

This paper calls attention to the impact of masculinity ideology, an aspect of gender‐related attitudes, on adolescent males' heterosexual relationships. Previous approaches to the male gender role and close relationships, and attitudes toward the male gender role (the operationalization of masculinity ideology), are briefly reviewed. Data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males are reported. With sociodemographic and personal background factors controlled, males who hold traditional attitudes toward masculinity indicate having more sexual partners in the last year, a less intimate relationship at last intercourse with the current partner, and greater belief that relationships between women and men are adversarial—characteristics suggesting less intimacy in their heterosexual relationships. They also report less consistent use of condoms, specific attitudes about condoms associated with low condom use, less belief in male responsibility to prevent pregnancy, and greater belief that pregnancy validates masculinity. These associations persist when more global gender role attitudes are controlled. Traditional masculinity ideology is thus associated with characteristics suggesting limitations in the quality of adolescent males' close heterosexual relationships, and increased risk of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

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According to data from the 1991 National Survey of Adolescent Males, condom use is likely to be highest at the beginning of relationships and to decline as the relationship continues. The proportion of sexually active men aged 17-22 who used a condom with their most recent partner declined from 53% the first time they had intercourse with that partner to 44% at the most recent episode. Condom use also decreases with age; 59% of 17-18-year-olds used a condom the first time they had intercourse with their most recent partner, compared with 56% of 19-20-year-olds and 46% of 21-22-year-olds. However, the probability that the female partner used the pill the first time that the couple had sex increased with the man's age--from 21% among 17-18-year-olds to 35% among 21-22-year-olds. Young men were more likely to have used a condom if they thought their partner was sexually inexperienced, and less likely to have done so if they suspected their partner was at high risk for an STD.

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Background The impact of pregnancy on the health and livelihood of adolescents aged 15–19 is substantial. This study explored sociodemographic, behavioral and environmental-level factors associated with adolescent pregnancy across 5 urban disadvantaged settings. Methods The Well Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments study used Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) to recruit males and females from Baltimore (456), Johannesburg (496), Ibadan (449), Delhi (500) and Shanghai(438). RDS-II and post-stratification age weights were used to explore the odds associated with “ever had sex” and “ever pregnant”; adjusted odds of pregnancy and 95% CI were developed by site and gender. Results Among the sexually experienced, pregnancy was most common in Baltimore (females 53%, males 25%) and Johannesburg (females 29%, males 22%). Heterosexual experience and therefore pregnancy were rare in Ibadan, Delhi and Shanghai. Current schooling and condom use at first sex decreased the odds of pregnancy among females in Baltimore and Johannesburg participants. Factors associated with higher odds of pregnancy were: early sexual debut (Johannesburg participants, Baltimore females) being raised by someone other than 2 parents (Johannesburg females); alcohol use and binge drinking in the past month (Baltimore participants); greater community violence and poor physical environment (Baltimore males, Johannesburg participants). Conclusions The reported prevalence of adolescent pregnancy varies substantially across similarly economically disadvantaged urban settings. These differences are related to large differences in sexual experience, which may be underreported, as well as differences in environmental contexts. Pregnancy risk needs to be understood within the specific context that adolescents reside, with particular attention to neighborhood-level factors.

New data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate that 60 percent of never-married young men ages 15-19 are sexually active. Among 17-19-year-old males living in metropolitan areas, the rate of sexual activity reported in 1988 was 15 percent higher than that reported in 1979. This increase encompasses a rise of 23 percent among black males and 13 percent among nonblack males. Slightly more than half of the sexually active males in the 1988 survey reported that they had used a condom the last time they had had intercourse. Among both black and nonblack youths aged 17-19 living in metropolitan areas, rates of reported condom use at last intercourse more than doubled between 1979 and 1988. Conversely, reported reliance on ineffective methods of contraception or use of no method at last intercourse was 60 percent lower. When first intercourse occurred within two years of the 1988 survey, the odds of using a condom were increased by 110 percent over the odds when intercourse occurred between 1975 and 1982, after controlling for the effects of age at first intercourse, race and ethnicity. The young men in the sample were very knowledgeable about how the human immunodeficiency virus is transmitted, and over three-quarters of the sample did not dismiss the disease as uncommon, nor did they think that using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS was too much trouble. The rates of condom use were significantly lower than average, however, among young men who had ever used drugs intravenously or whose partners had done so, young men who had ever had sex with a prostitute and those who had had five sexual partners or more in the past year.

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