According to the CDC, the majority of female adolescents will have had at least one sexual partner by the time they reach the age of 18. Once reserved for high school students, sex ed is now being introduced in junior high and even elementary schools. It is undeniable that our teenagers are becoming sexually active earlier and inevitably, are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and HIV. While it is impossible to alter the choices of sexually active teens once they have been made, it is a mandate for those who interact with them to equip teens with the proper resources to make smart choices and offer suggestions to modify risky behavior.
The aim of this particular study was two-fold. First, the authors studied the possibility and practicality of reducing the HIV risk among adolescent girls through the utilization of a small group, community-based setting. Secondly, the effectiveness and usefulness of such an intervention was determined and further analyzed using a controlled design.
In the examination of statistical conclusion validity pertaining to this study, one threat that is imperative for the reader to consider lies in the low statistical power of the study. With 129 girls recruited, less than half (62) attended either the HIV or control intervention groups with only 48 completing the three month follow up session. Polit and Beck states that studies with low statistical power may not succeed in establishing a relationship between the variables. As a pilot study, it is hardly dismissive and worth noting that, at best, a relationship may be present or could be present between the two variables, however, the low statistical power causes me to hesitate to assign an irrefutable relationship between the intervention group and reduced risk behavior as demonstrated by the behavioral changes (decreased substance abuse, increased knowledge on HIV prevention, fewer engagement in risky sexual behavior). The authors acknowledged this threat to the statistical conclusion validity but also noted that outcomes were “encouraging”.
Attrition presents a threat to both statistical conclusion and internal validity. In the aforementioned statistics, it is obvious to deduce that attrition was a direct result of the unavailability of many girls, which consequently resulted in low statistical power. The attrition rate in this study can be considered random as it was blamed on work schedules and inability to form contact and did not alter extraneous characteristics of those remaining in the study.
“Clinically, the HIV infected adolescents present as physically stunted individuals, with delayed puberty and adrenarche. Mental illness and substance abuse are important co-morbidities” (Naswa, 2010). Naswa, 2010 also reports that adolescences with HIV have a higher susceptibility rate to contract STD’s that the average individual due to the thinner lining of mucus in the ovaries at this stage of their development. The stigma of living with HIV is also a factor for her psychosocial development. The fact that she contracted this disease from her father further contributes to emotional trauma.
In developing this guide, ARHP/SRHU was addressing a major concern in regards to adolescent sexual and reproductive health: knowledge about accessibility of resources and the proper contraceptive methods to use for optimal protection against pregnancy and STIs. The workshop developed by ARHP had been designed with pre and post surveys in order to accurately assess the impact of the workshop on the participants. The surveys assessed the teens knowledge about parental permission, free services, whether ...
Today’s young Americans face strong peer pressure to be sexually active and engage themselves in risky behaviors (Merino 100-109). Anyone deciding to have sex must first think about all the risks involved. Kekla Magoon, author of Sex Education in Schools, says that “half of all teens aged 15 to 19 years old in the United States have had sex” (Magoon 64-65). It is currently not required by federal law for schools to teach Sex education and those few schools that do teach Sex education have the decision to determine how much information is allowed. Advocates from both sides of the Sex education debate agree that teens need positive influences in order to make practical decisions (Magoon 88-89). Opponents of Abstinence-only education believe it fails because it does not prepare teens for all the risks of sex (Magoon 64-65).
The article has changed my knowledge and opinion about HIV prevention because it provided me with a multidimensional view on the gender roles that affect society that have been ignored in many prevention programs. We must consider the role of men in women’s risk especially the beliefs, values, norms, attitudes towards women and the power in males in relationships. The article provided a new insight on how to implement new prevention programs for women.
Kirby D. (2007) “Sex and HIV Programs: Their Impact on Sexual Behaviors of Young People Throughout the World.” Journal of Adol
The authors worked for the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies which belongs to AIDS resea...
Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in the early 1980s the issue of sex education for American youth has had the attention of the nation. There are about 400,000 teen births every year in the U.S, with about 9 billion in associated public costs. STI contraction in general, as well as teen pregnancy, have put the subject even more so on the forefront of the nation’s leading issues. The approach and method for proper and effective sex education has been hotly debated. Some believe that teaching abstinence-only until marriage is the best method while others believe that a more comprehensive approach, which includes abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive information, is necessary. Abstinence-only program curriculums disregard medical ethics and scientific accuracy, and have been empirically proven to be ineffective; therefore, comprehensive sex education programs which are medically accurate, science-based and empirically proven should be the standard method of sex education for students/children in the U.S.
During the 1980s, efforts increased to alert the public to the dangers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy, yet these problems have increased. Adolescents and young adults have been especially hard hit. Pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers are at their highest levels in two decades.
The social problem that the research addresses is the outrageously high rate of unprotected teenage sexual engagement and encounters. The problem was made apparent due to a survey that disclosed that not only had “three quarters of the 2,439 participants engage in sexual intercourse by their senior year, half of the participants reported that they did not use condoms and one third of the population failed to allocate the use of birth control at all; drastically increasing their exposure to HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy”. (Steele, 1999, p. 339). The research is most guided by a theoretical framework called the Grounded Theory Approach. The Grounded Theory Approach (GT), first described by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, is an inductively formatted, general method of research that is aimed towards theory development through the data collection process and constant comparative analysis of that data. (Cohen and
There is no one fool proof method of preventing sexual activity in teenager or adolescents –the current strategies are now geared towards reducing the number of STD cases and encourage safe sex among teenagers. However, it is also important to remember that health resources have a limit and one simply cannot go on providing condoms ad lib, if they are not going to be used. One has to accept the fact there there will always be a certain population that will remain noncompliant with behavior strategies or use of condoms. The name of the game is not to have zero sexual activity or no STDs among teenagers, but just safe sex with the least number of infections.
Three million teenagers will contract a sexually transmitted disease and one in three women will become pregnant before they are twenty years old. Teens are contracting sexually transmitted diseases and getting pregnant at an alarming rate causing the government, schools, and parents to scratch their heads. America is the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. Many are wondering what can be done to stop this. A debate has been going on about whether abstinence only education is doing any good for high school students in America. Abstinence only education teaches teenagers to abstain from all sexual acts until they are married. It does not teach about pregnancy or the different types of contraceptives that are available to prevent pregnancy. On the other hand, there is safe sex education. Safe sex education teaches teenagers facts about intercourse they need to know, acknowledges the potential consequences or risks of sexual behavior, and helps them make better decisions to protect themselves and their bodies.
Aggleton shows teens the truth about sex instead of something seen as romantic and a risk, and they seeing themselves as people who are experimenting with new things. However, to others it is not a sign of romance but a risk that keeps haunting teenagers with AIDS and pregnancy. Even though young people are stereotyped as being more negative when it comes to the issue of sex, not all teenagers are that concerned with it. The author states more teenagers are looking at the outcome of having sex and thinking about the STD issue. Another issue is sex when it comes to parties and drugs. It seems that more and more girls are not getting the necessary understandings of the risks of sex, therefore having it at a younger age. While males are having sex for reasons just to try it out, or because they think they are cool. So the problem is teens are having sex for the wrong reasons without looking into the consequences.
Martinez, Gladys, Joyce Abma, and Casey Copen. “Educating Teenagers About Sex In The United States”. CDC.GOV. Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Feb.2014
Rates of sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancy are higher in the United States than in any other domesticated country. Not surprising since American culture has brought sex to the forefront over the last few decades. The need for comprehensive sex education in schools can teach children that the romanticized relationships and sexual interactions in the media aren’t showing the whole story. For children with ...
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.