Interventions aimed at encouraging parents to talk to their children about sex should enhance parents' understanding of the stages of children's sexual development and focus on the parents of young children. In addition, interventions should support parents in a range of strategies that complement discussions about sex.
Much attention has been focused on efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy by improving contraceptive use among high-risk women; however, there is limited information to guide interventions to engage young men in contraceptive decision-making. We conducted focus groups of young men, ages 19–26, from diverse racial backgrounds from low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area to examine social norms about sexual relationships and how they impact on contraceptive use. The data were analysed using content analysis. A range of relationships were described, however casual relationships predominated. While young men expressed strong desires to avoid pregnancy in casual relationships, the unpredictable nature of relationships, together with low communication and regard for the women involved, made stressing consistent contraceptive use among partners unlikely. The themes expressed by these young men about sex and behaviour in different relationships illustrate a spectrum of decision-making dilemmas and illustrate the inherent difficulty in fully engaging young men in contraceptive decision-making. A strategy is needed to address relationship values, dynamics, and condom use beyond STI prevention frameworks, and young women’s ability to make appropriate contraceptive choices in light of the inherent difficulties and uncertainty associated with casual relationships.
Recent research has shown that 82% of adolescent pregnancies are unintended. Social marketing has potential to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancy but its effectiveness in this area has not been thoroughly evaluated. This article reviews the literature on social marketing and assesses its potential to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancy. We identified five communication principles as relevant to adolescent reproductive health messaging: Countermarketing, making credible and likeable "arguments" for behavior change, use of theory-based models, social modeling and behavioral alternatives, and risk communication when the behavioral choices are clear. We examine studies of social marketing on other health risk behaviors and a case study of a recent campaign to promote parent-child communication about waiting to have sex. Findings suggest that to reduce unintended pregnancy and improve reproductive health outcomes among adolescents, there is a need for targeted prevention messages and social marketing approaches.
Promoting parent-child communication through the use of print materials may be an important health communication approach for preventing teen sexual activity in the United States. Although prior work has suggested successful methods of disseminating print materials, research has not examined dissemination approaches across organization types. Understanding the use and dissemination of print materials among different organizations is crucial to guiding materials development in a way that maximizes uptake and effectiveness among consumers. Accordingly, this study examined the use of a booklet for parents that encouraged parent-child communication about waiting to have sex as collateral material for a national media campaign. We interviewed staff at 9 community organizations, 9 health care facilities, 5 school-based organizations, and 3 campaign outreach centers. Results suggested variability within and across organization types regarding use of the booklet. Community and outreach center staff tended to walk through the booklet content with parents; health care facilities and education-oriented organizations usually reported both direct and indirect distribution approaches. Staff identified useful elements of the booklet and made suggestions for
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