This study sought to determine the perspective taken toward understanding adolescent sexual risk behaviors and related biological outcomes (i.e. pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases) since 1990. We content analyzed 324 abstracts representing observational research published between January 1990 and December 2007 for inclusion of ecological…

This study examined associations between African American adolescent girls' desire to become pregnant and their sexual and relationship practices. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to detect significant associations between pregnancy desire and the assessed correlates. Of 522 participants (14 to 18 years old), 67 (12.8%) were…

Theories of health behavior posit that change is accomplished by modifying factors deemed as mediators. A set of mediators from several theoretical models used in sexual risk reduction programs was assessed among a sample of 522 African American female adolescents. The goal was to determine whether self-esteem was associated with sexually…

Published reports have not investigated the issue of voluntary HIV testing among detained youth, a population disproportionately infected with HIV compared to other adolescent groups. Data were collected from 467 sexually active detained adolescents in Georgia on demographic, environmental, and drug and sexual history variables, to explore…