Original articleSexual Communication and Contraceptive Use in Adolescent Dating Couples
Section snippets
General sexual communication and contraceptive use
The benefits of general sexual communication for adolescent contraceptive use, beyond the benefits of contraception-specific communication, are unclear. At least three studies have targeted adolescent populations to explore these benefits [7], [10], [13], with mixed results. Two studies sampling only females demonstrated no significant effects of sexual communication on contraceptive use [7], [10], whereas a third study sampling predominantly males demonstrated that communicating about sexual
Predictors of open general sexual communication
Although sexual communication may be important for adolescent health, it is clearly difficult for some adolescents [4], [5]. Yet, little is known about the factors that account for this poor communication. Whereas some attention has been devoted to understanding sexual communication between adolescents and their friends [14], [15] or parents [16], [17], [18], a paucity of research exists that explores open communication between adolescent sexual partners themselves. Particularly sparse are
Participants and procedure
Data for this investigation come from the Study of Tennessee Adolescent Romantic Relationships (STARR). Participants in the STARR study were from a prior study of over 2000 high school students who indicated interest in future research participation. Interested students were contacted by telephone and provided information regarding the purpose and procedures of STARR. Adolescents who were in a romantic relationship and met the age criteria were mailed consent forms and contacted one week later
Sample Profile
Descriptive statistics are reported in Table 1. As shown in the table, both male and female adolescents in these established relationships appeared relatively satisfied and committed, and tended to engage in moderate levels of contraceptive communication and general sexual communication. Paired sample t-tests revealed that males were older than females, t(72) = −4.8, p < .001, and silenced themselves more in their relationships, t(72) = −5.3, p < .001; whereas females reported more open
Discussion
The present study explored adolescent contraceptive use and sexual communication in the context of established romantic relationships. Findings revealed that a sizeable minority of sexually active adolescents involved in established romantic relationships failed to consistently use contraception. Specifically, almost 30% of adolescent couples failed to use contraception the first time they had sex and nearly half of these couples did not use contraception every time they had sex. These
Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by Grant HD39931 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Deborah Welsh. We gratefully acknowledge the numerous graduate and undergraduate researchers who assisted in data collection on this project. Our gratitude is also extended to the adolescent couples that participated in this study and generously shared important parts of their lives with us.
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