Preventing adolescent pregnancy with social and cognitive skills

A 15-session sex education program was delivered by teachers to 586 10th graders using techniques based on social learning theory, including modeling, in-class and out-of-class practice of skills for abstaining from sexual intercourse, and for contraception. Knowledge about reproduction and birth control, intentions to use skills to avoid pregnancy, and communication with parents about pregnancy prevention were significantly greater at posttest and 6-month follow-up for the trained group than for the control group. Members of the trained group tended to use birth control more often, especially those who started to have sexual intercourse subsequent to the program. No differences in the frequency of sexual intercourse, pregnancy scares, or pregnancies were found. Satisfaction with the program was high. Although skill training by itself may not be sufficient to significantly prevent pregnancies, this program offers promise of being a useful component of combined school, home, and community activities to prevent pregnancy.     

Connotative Interpretations of Sexuality-Related Terms

In this study we examined the connotative interpretations of selected sexuality-related terms by a cohort of university undergraduate students (n=567). Forty-two sexuality-relevant constructs were rated on thirty 7-point semantic differential scales. Means of the scale sum scores for men and women were compared using t tests. Among women the most favorably rated constructs were orgasm, vaginal sex, sexual intercourse, virginity, masturbation, oral sex, pro-choice, pregnancy, erection, and heterosexual. The most negatively evaluated terms were date rape, sexual abuse, rape, sexual assault, HPV, and HIV/AIDS. For men, the most favorably rated constructs were sexual monogamy, virginity, orgasm, vaginal sex, and heterosexual. The most negatively evaluated terms were rape, HPV, date rape, and sexual abuse. There were statistically significant gender differences in the evaluation of 12 terms (p<.05). The evaluations assigned to 30 possible attributes suggest that some sexuality-related terms elicit strong visceral responses from university students. A discussion of the psychological and emotional impact of sexuality-related terms (i.e., connotative meanings) may be warranted whenever dictionary definitions (i.e., denotative meanings) are presented to students, other groups of learners, and persons in health care and other settings. Moreover, a practitioner's use of language may elicit connotatively different responses for women and men.