An investigation of verbal interaction, knowledge of sexual behavior and self-concept in adolescent mothers

Variables commonly considered to be major factors in contributing to the incidence of adolescent pregnancy may be only part of the total pattern. This study sought to examine the adolescent mothers' communication with significant others and their knowledge about sex, pregnancy, and birth control methods. Self-concepts of the adolescent mothers were compared with those of the published norms of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. The study included 23 adolescent mothers between the ages of 13 and 19 who were gravida 1 as indicated by their medical records. They were given a questionnaire constructed from previous research. They also completed a communication scale and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. The findings of the present study indicated that most adolescent mothers considered their communication with their parent mothers to be one of mutual understanding. However, it appears that most adolescent mothers obtain much of their information about sex, pregnancy, and birth control methods from significant others. The self-concepts of these adolescent mothers were lower in comparison to the norm. The results indicate a need for further research in the area of adolescent sexual development, sex education in the school, and increased involvement of parents in the communication of sexual mores.     

Sex Biases in Subject Selection: A Survey of Articles Published in American Medical Journals

This study discusses the results of a survey of 1,800 articles published in American medical journals from 1985--1996. The study finds 9% of these articles reported research that uses only male subjects to examine medical conditions that affect both sexes; the ratio of research on female to male conditions among these articles was greater than 5:1; but 76.5% of the articles reported research that includes both male and female subjects. The study also discusses evidence that sex biases against women (and men) are decreasing. This study also offers some possible psychological, institutional, medical, and economic explanations of the sex biases in medical research published in American journals, and discusses some policy implications of sex biases in medical research. The study concludes by urging others to conduct more empirical research on sex biases in medical research.     

青少年异性交往心理问题研究综述

异性交往对青少年的成长与发展具有极其积傲的功能：(1)能够促进自我同一感的发展;(2)有利于增进心理健康;(3)有助于增进友谊．并为日后获得成熟爱情积累经验：同时．青少年异性交往存在不少心理问题。并且．对青少年的异性交往仍存在着教育误区．主要表现为不当的教育观念和教育方式,当前．有关青少年异性交往的研究主要集中在：e3q青a少年异性交往的发展阶段、特点、影响因素和教育构想,缺乏对青少年异性交往心理问题的研究,研究领域较为狭窄;理论研究多．实证研究少;缺乏专门、科学的测量工具。     

Current theoretical perspectives on adolescent pregnancy and childbearing in the United States

"The purpose of this article is to synthesize and place in perspective contemporary theories and explanations of the high rates of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing in the United States. The study examined the strengths and weaknesses of the more prominent explanations of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing in light of current research.... This article casts doubt on the hypothesis that the lack of reproductive information is in and of itself an important determinant of adolescent pregnancy in the United States. Many other factors are discussed that intervene to negate the effect of reproductive knowledge alone as a deterrent to adolescent pregnancy and childbearing. Suggestions for an integrative research agenda, as well as educational and health strategies focusing on adolescent pregnancy and childbearing are proposed."     

Rorschach comparisons of male juvenile sex offenders and nonsex offenders

Published research is limited on the psychological characteristics of juvenile sex offenders as a subgroup separate from other juvenile delinquents. This study compares 45 male adolescent sex offenders on the Rorschach with a matched group of nonsex adolescent offenders. The two groups differed in total number of responses. Eliminating those protocols of questionable validity due to low productivity in combination with a high lamba, a statistically significant difference in the number of anatomy responses given by the two groups was found. With this exception, the personality characteristics of adolescent sex offenders were similar to those of adolescents who commit only nonsexual crimes. It should be noted, however, that the scoring categories analysed were not exhaustive and that the groups may differ on more recently proposed Rorschach subscales.     

Rorschach Comparisons of Male Juvenile Sex Offenders and Nonsex Offenders

Published research is limited on the psychological characteristics of juvenile sex offenders as a subgroup separate from other juvenile delinquents. This study compares 45 male adolescent sex offenders on the Rorschach with a matched group of nonsex adolescent offenders. The two groups differed in total number of responses. Eliminating those protocols of questionable validity due to low productivity in combination with a high lamba, a statistically significant difference in the number of anatomy responses given by the two groups was found. With this exception, the personality characteristics of adolescent sex offenders were similar to those at adolescents who commit only nonsexual crimes. It should be noted, however, that the scoring categories analyzed were not exhaustive and that the groups may differ on more recently proposed Rorschach subscales (e.g., Isolation Index, Depression Index, and Morbid Content).     

Public Policy and Public Opinion Toward Sex Education and Birth Control for Teenagers

That government policy toward provision of sex education and contraception for adolescents may be influenced by public opinion is reflected in the fact that recent program formulation appears to follow the conventional wisdom of a general conservative shift among the American public, i.e., recent policy toward adolescent pregnancy is conservative in the sense of being reactive rather than preventive. A cheek on the validity of this conventional wisdom was accomplished by integrating available data on public opinion toward sex education and brth control services for teenagers. These data reveal an upward trend in public approval of such services for adolescents that runs counter to the conventional wisdom. This is because the conventional wisdom is not firmly supported by the available data on American opinions and values which demonstrate that the overall movement in attitudes decisively contradicts the idea of a simple conservative swing. Provision of more and better contraceptive services and sex education to teenagers is an important policy goal that would lower the incidence of adolescent pregnancy and would be supported by the American people.     

Characteristics of adolescent sex offenders: A review of the research

While significant research has been completed on adult sex offenders, this has yet to be the case for adolescent offenders. This article reviews current research on adolescent sex offenders, discusses the importance of research in this area, and describes directions for future study.     

Sexual attitudes and behavior of Guatemalan teenagers: considerations for prevention of adolescent pregnancy

Two studies were conducted to explore the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in Guatemala, and to identify the level of contraception. The first study assessed sexual attitudes and behavior of 850 adolescents. In this group, 89% of the males and 38% of the females said they had experienced coitus. Youngsters of upper-middle and lower-middle socioeconomic status had higher rates of coital activity than did those of the middle class. Only 10% of the sexually active couples were using some type of contraception. Boys indicated greater inclination toward "recreational" sex, while girls tended to be more affectively involved with their lovers. Ninety-six percent of sexually active girls planned to marry their current sexual partner, while 5.5% of the boys planned to do so. The second study assessed the prevalence of pregnancy in minors (17 years or younger) attending the gynecology department at a local general hospital. Over a period of two years, 551 cases were identified. Although rates of pregnancy increased with age, the rate of annual increase was dramatically highest from ages 13 to 14, after which it decreased progressively with age. Based on these results, it is recommended that, at least in the Guatemalan population, sex education be implemented at an early age in order to prevent adolescent pregnancy.     

Maternal Prenatal Stress and Other Developmental Risk Factors for Adolescent Depression: Spotlight on Sex Differences

Maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to premorbid abnormalities associated with depression (e.g., difficult temperament, cognitive deficits) in offspring. However, few studies have looked across developmental periods to examine maternal stress during pregnancy and offspring depression during adolescence and whether these associations differ by sex. The current study used data from 1711 mother-offspring dyads (offspring sex: 49.8% male) in a longitudinal birth cohort study. Maternal narratives collected during pregnancy were qualitatively coded for stress-related themes by independent raters. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified distinct subgroups of offspring based on exposure to maternal prenatal stress and other developmental factors from the prenatal, childhood, and adolescent periods that have been associated with depression and/or maternal prenatal stress. LCA identified subgroups that were compared to determine whether and to what extent they differed on adolescent depressive symptoms. LCA revealed a subgroup of “high-risk” individuals, characterized by maternal factors during pregnancy (higher ambivalence/negativity and lower positivity towards the pregnancy, higher levels of hassles, lower maternal education and higher maternal age at birth, higher pre-pregnancy BMI) and offspring developmental factors (decreased cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence, lower perceived parental support during adolescence, and higher levels of maternal depression during adolescence). High-risk females exhibited elevated conduct symptoms and higher birth order, while high-risk males exhibited decreased internalizing symptoms and lower birth order. Both high-risk males and females reported elevated depressive symptoms during adolescence relative to their “low-risk” counterparts.     

Psychosocial characteristics of pregnant and nulliparous adolescents

A case control study was carried out with 19 pregnant and 20 nulliparous fifteen- and sixteen-year-old black teenage women patients at an adolescent clinic. Both groups were measured on twenty-one variables, which included personal and family history information as well as scores on twelve scales of adolescent psychosocial adjustment. A stepwise discriminant analysis was carried out comparing both groups. The first analysis using only psychosocial adjustment variables did not significantly discriminate between the two groups. The second analysis used family history and psychosocial adjustment variables and had a multiple correlation of .65, with p = .008. The discriminant function generated was able to correctly classify 89.5% of the pregnant group and 80% of the nulliparous group. The pregnant group had lower maternal educational level, later sex education, more brothers, better family adjustment, but poorer vocational adjustment. The study suggests that distinct characteristics do exist for the pregnant adolescent in the population studied, but that such characteristics do not indicate family or psychological disturbance in pregnant adolescents. Further, the importance of the meaning of adolescent pregnancy within different cultural and socioeconomic contexts is discussed.     

Neoliberal Beliefs and Perceptions of Unintended Adolescent Pregnancy after Consensual or Forced Sex

From a neoliberal perspective, young women are free to make autonomous choices and are personally responsible for the outcomes of these choices. Neoliberal ideals may appear to empower women as free sexual agents; however, an individualistic focus on self-sufficiency and personal responsibility may lead to harsh, decontextualized responses to those who experience unintended outcomes. We hypothesized that observers with stronger neoliberal beliefs would show more stigmatizing responses to an unintentionally pregnant adolescent. We also explored whether these expected associations would be moderated by whether or not the young woman chose to consent to sex. U.S. undergraduate students (n = 200) completed a measure of neoliberal beliefs and were randomly assigned to read one of two scenarios in which an adolescent became pregnant after either consensual or forced sex. As expected, participants with stronger neoliberal beliefs were more blaming toward the adolescent for becoming pregnant, felt less sympathy toward her, and had less positive attitudes about her receiving help. These associations remained after controlling for general political ideology and regardless of whether the pregnancy was due to consensual or forced sex. Our results suggest that, for the neoliberal observer, young women are held personally responsible for even uncontrollable sexual and reproductive outcomes.     

The contingent smile: a meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling

The authors present a meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling based on 448 effect sizes derivedfrom 162 research reports. There was a statistically significant tendency for women and adolescent girls to smile more than men and adolescent boys (d = 0.41). The authors hypothesized that sex differences in smiling would be larger when concerns about gender-appropriate behavior were made more conspicuous, situational constraints were absent or ambiguous, or emotion (especially negative) was salient. It was also predicted that the size of the sex difference in smiling would vary by culture and age. Moderator analysis supported these predictions. Although men tend to smile less than women, the degree to which this is so is contingent on rules and roles.     

Inadequacy of sex knowledge of adolescents: implications for counselling and sex education

There is abundant evidence relating to the paucity of sex-oriented knowledge by the average adolescent across cultures. Investigations have demonstrated that such sex learning, generally colored with misconceptions and misinformation, is obtained almost entirely from the peer group since cultural inhibitions and puritan attitudes often prevent open discussions of the subject of sex with teachers, parents or other adults. There is also every indication that adolescents' natural interest in and preoccupation with human sexuality is on the increase, aided by the current massive circulation of pornographic literature, adult examples of sexual irresponsibility and the strong desire to conform with peer norms. This paper therefore suggests that if premature teenage pregnancy as well as social, emotional and psychological consequences of teenage genital exploration is to be avoided or controlled, then a comprehensive program of sex education and sex counselling for boys and girls in the second decade of the life cycle is overdue.     

Right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation differentially predict biased evaluations of media reports

This study tested the dual‐process motivational (DPM) model, which posits that right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) differentially predict attitudes toward socially threatening or subordinate groups, respectively. Participants read articles on same‐sex relationships and affirmative action and evaluated the article content and the biases of the article authors. The article conclusions (i.e., pro‐ or anti‐same‐sex relationships and affirmative action) were varied between subjects. As expected, only RWA predicted evaluations of the same‐sex relationships articles and authors, whereas only SDO predicted evaluations of the affirmative action articles and authors. These results extend applications of the dual‐process model by demonstrating that RWA and SDO differentially predict evaluations of political information that pertains to socially threatening or subordinate groups, respectively.     

All Giraffes Have Female‐Specific Properties: Influence of Grammatical Gender on Deductive Reasoning About Sex‐Specific Properties in German Speakers

Grammatical gender is independent of biological sex for the majority of animal names (e.g., any giraffe, be it male or female, is grammatically treated as feminine). However, there is apparent semantic motivation for grammatical gender classes, especially in mapping human terms to gender. This research investigated whether this motivation affects deductive inference in native German speakers. We compared German with Japanese speakers (a language without grammatical gender) when making inferences about sex‐specific biological properties. We found that German speakers tended to erroneously draw inferences when the sex in the premise and grammatical gender of the target animal agreed. An over‐generalization of the grammar–semantics mapping was found even when the sex of the target was explicitly indicated. However, these effects occurred only when gender‐marking articles accompanied the nouns. These results suggest that German speakers project sex‐specific biological properties onto gender‐marking articles but not onto conceptual representations of animals per se.     

Correlates of adolescent pregnancy in La Paz,Bolivia: findings from a quantitative-qualitative study

Recent data indicate that nearly one in three Bolivian adolescent females becomes pregnant prior to reaching age twenty. This article presents the results of a study undertaken to address the question of why some female adolescents in La Paz, Bolivia, become pregnant while others in similar circumstances avoid early pregnancy. The study utilized mixed qualitative-quantitative methods based on a case-control design. Among the potential explanatory factors considered were family structure, parental relationships, partner relationships, knowledge of pregnancy risks, self-esteem, and locus of control. Significant differences between girls experiencing a pregnancy and those who had not were observed on two of the six factors considered-relationships with parents and self-esteem. Girls who had experienced a pregnancy were less likely to have reported affectionate and supportive parents, more likely to have reported fighting in their home, and exhibited lower levels of self-esteem than those who had never been pregnant. Focus-group discussions suggested that adolescent females in La Paz lack trustworthy support networks that would empower them to seek information regarding sex and contraception and to act upon such information.     

A narrative review of research on clinical responses to the problem of sexual offenses in the last decade

Research on the treatment and programs for people who have committed sexual offenses has greatly increased in the past decade. The aim of this review is to discuss research that has been published over that period (2010–2019) that is relevant for treatment providers. The articles included in this review were found through PsycINFO and PubMed (Medline) using the keywords “treatment or therapy” and “sex offen*”. The inclusion criteria were publications that discuss treatment of persons who have committed sexual offenses (written in the English language only). Any articles that examined only special populations were excluded, such as those that examined persons who committed sexual offenses who were female, had intellectual disabilities, deafness, juveniles, etc., because these groups will likely have needs and responsivity factors that differ from the “average” natal-born male sex offender. Results showed that several meta-analyses indicate that treatment is effective in reducing sexual recidivism. The most frequently used treatment for sex offenders is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is often provided in conjunction with pharmacological treatment to reduce sexual impulsivity and/or sex drive. This review is limited to the specific key search terms. The findings of this review support the use of treatment and a community reintegration approach when treating persons who have committed sexual crimes to prevent sexual recidivism.     

Relationships between demographic variables and immigrant parents’ perceptions of assimilative adolescent behaviours

This research examined relationships between parental age, education, family size, length of residence in Canada, dyad type (same-sex parent-adolescent dyad versus opposite-sex parent-adolescent dyad) and immigrant parents’ perceptions of assimilative behaviours that adolescents are likely to display as a result of their involvement in the Canadian school system. An ethnically mixed sample of 36 parents and their adolescents responded to a questionnaire that solicited ratings of the degree of acceptability of prototypical assimilative adolescent behaviours. Analysis of Variance indicated that the match or mismatch between the sex of the parent and adolescent did not affect behavior ratings. Multiple Regression Analyses revealed that parental education was the only variable that significantly predicted parental approval or disapproval of adolescents’ behavioral shifts towards Western norms.