School-Based Sex Education and Neuroscience: What We Know About Sex, Romance, Marriage, and Adolescent Brain Development

The romantic relationships of adopted adolescents

INTRODUCTION

There is a gap in the literature on the romantic relationships of adopted adolescents. To address this issue, the present study has three aims: (1) to explore differences between adopted and non-adopted adolescents in terms of their involvement in and the length of their romantic relationships; (2) to explore the quality of these relationships; and (3) to analyze associations between affective relationships and well-being in both groups.

METHOD

The sample comprised 276 adopted (64.5% girls; mean age 16.3 years, 73.9% international adoptees) and 276 non-adopted (48.3% girls; mean age 16.3 years) adolescents, all of whom participated in the Spanish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey.

RESULTS

Similar romantic relationship rates and lengths were found among adoptees and non-adoptees, as well as between international and domestic adoptees. Adoptees reported more emotional support and conflicts in their romantic relationships than their non-adopted peers. Finally, associations between the quality of the romantic relationships and well-being were similar for both groups, with more conflicts being linked to lower levels of well-being, and more emotional support and affection correlating with higher levels of well-being.

DISCUSSION

The data suggest more similarities than differences between adopted and non-adopted adolescents. However, although this indicates that romantic relationships are yet another example of recovery for adopted boys and girls, further research is required, with larger and more diverse samples from multiple countries, to explore the differences observed in more detail.

Timing of Sexuality Education: Hong Kong Preteens' Perception of Sexual Health

Although young people want to know more about sexuality, they do not feel they have received what they need to learn. In Chinese societies, scant research has solicited direct input from the youth to obtain their views on sexuality education (SE) deliverables. We found research gaps in the lack of Chinese preteens' input regarding SE timing, knowledge perception, learning readiness, and preteens' reasons for obtaining information about sexual health. In Hong Kong, a not-for-profit agency collected data from Chinese preadolescents who expressed opinions through a general survey. This agency surveyed students from 24 primary schools and provided anonymous secondary data for this team to analyze further. Among 4569 fifth- and sixth-grade students (average 11 years old), girls were more likely than boys to seek sex-related information from teachers, library books, and mothers. In contrast, boys were more likely than girls to obtain information from friends, pornographic comics, and the internet. Logistic regression analysis indicated that gender, age, instructional sources, openness to sexual health knowledge, and perceived and actual levels of knowledge predicted preteens' desire to receive SE earlier in grade school. Girls and older students were significantly more likely to report their preference to receive SE in an earlier grade. We recommend that preteens and their parents be encouraged to collaborate with teachers to participate in school-based SE programming.

Environmental scan of mobile apps for promoting sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in low- and middle-income countries

Background

Adolescence is a period of emotional, mental, and physical change. To increase health seeking behaviors, reduce risky sexual behavior, and improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, adolescents require support and access to SRH services. Providing evidence-informed SRH knowledge to adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be a challenge as they face unique barriers such as lack of confidentiality, fear of refusal, and stigma from cultural norms. Increasing availability of mobile apps necessitates a comprehensive evaluation of the quality and classification of these SRH mobile applications so that accurate and evidence-based information is reaching its users. Failure to provide SRH services can have damaging effects throughout their development.

Objective

Provide an overview of current adolescent SRH (ASRH) mobile applications targeting adolescents in LMICs by evaluating their quality and classifying their characteristics.

Methods

21 search terms related to ASRH mobile apps was developed. These terms were searched in the Apple IOS store and Google Play stores. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to screen these apps. Resulting apps were assessed using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) tool. Data extracted was used to rank order each app and identify any gaps in quality.

Results

Search strategy yielded 2,165 mobile apps. Of these, only 8 were assessed using the MARS tool. Functionality subdomain scored highest at 4.6, while Information scored lowest at 2.5. None of the assessed apps contained information on the MARS items: Evidence base and Goals. Too Shy to Ask had the highest individual app mean score of 4.1, while e-SRHR scored lowest at 2.3.

Conclusions

The goal of this study is to classify and rate the quality of mobile apps designed to promote ASRH behaviors and knowledge in LMICs. Numerous apps were reviewed and all of them failed to provide evidence-based and goal oriented SRH information. Strengths include ease of use, navigation, and gestural designs. Weaknesses include evidence base, goals, willingness to pay, customization, and interactivity. These findings can be potentially used to guide future app development and educate decision makers responsible for policy changes.

Self-efficacy and Unwanted Sexual Intercourse: 'Reproductive Health Education Programme for High-school Students in Vojvodina'

Introduction

Studies have shown the importance of self-efficacy in the domain of risky sexual behaviour. The aim of this study was to examine the association of unwanted sexual intercourse among secondary-school students with socio-demographic factors and perceived self-efficacy, and to assess the effectiveness of the programme on reproductive health.

Methods

The study involved 5,026 second-grade students in 72 high schools in the Province of Vojvodina, Serbia (APV). They were surveyed before and after the implementation of the extracurricular 'Reproductive health education programme for secondary-school students in APV'. A questionnaire consisting of 57 questions (socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of students regarding reproductive health, and a general self-efficacy scale) was used as the research instrument.

Results

One quarter of students had engaged in unwanted sexual intercourse on one or more occasions. Students with poor material status were twice as likely to engage in unwanted sexual intercourse (ОR=2.01; 95%CI=1.07-3.75) as students with average or good material status. Students who did not engage in unwanted sexual intercourse had a higher self-efficacy score than students who who did (t=2.903; p<0.01). After the programme was completed, there was an increase in general self-efficacy.

Conclusion

Poor material status is a predictor of unwanted sexual intercourse. Students who have a higher level of self-efficacy engaged to a lesser degree in unwanted sexual intercourse. The programme is effective in terms of increasing general self-efficacy, and can be applied to encourage responsible sexual behaviour.

Brain conditions mediate the association between aging and happiness

As the population ages, the realization of a long and happy life is becoming an increasingly important issue in many societies. Therefore, it is important to clarify how happiness and the brain change with aging. In this study, which was conducted with 417 healthy adults in Japan, the analysis showed that fractional anisotropy (FA) correlated with happiness, especially in the internal capsule, corona radiata, posterior thalamic radiation, cingulum, and superior longitudinal fasciculus. According to previous neuroscience studies, these regions are involved in emotional regulation. In psychological studies, emotional regulation has been associated with improvement in happiness. Therefore, this study is the first to show that FA mediates the relationship between age and subjective happiness in a way that bridges these different fields.

The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression

Objective

Sexual activity is a fundamental human function with short-term and long-term emotional, social, and physical benefits. Yet within healthcare, sexuality has been marginalized and many HCPs are unaware of its beneficial implications for immediate and long-term health.

Methods

To challenge this assumption we combined the data that already had been collected by the authors with an extensive search of articles on the various health benefits of sexual activity. The results of this process are displayed according to short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term benefits with some explanation about potential causal relationships.

Results

For the time being, it cannot yet be proved that "good sex promotes good health" since good health also favors good sex.

Conclusions

Despite lacking such convincing evidence, the article concludes with recommendations for the relevant professions. The balance of research supports that sexuality anyhow deserves greater attention among HCPs and that sexuality research needs better integration within health research.

"I can try and plan, but still get pregnant": The complexity of pregnancy intentions and reproductive health decision-making for adolescents

INTRODUCTION

Teen pregnancy rates have declined in the United States; however, disparities continue to persist particularly among minority, low-income adolescents. A greater understanding of how pregnancy intentions are conceptualized for adolescents, and the role of the social context may illuminate reasons for disparities. The aim of this study was to expand the lens in which adolescents' perspectives of pregnancy are studied by exploring the contextual factors that frame how pregnancy intentions are developed among urban adolescents.

METHODS

Thirteen focus groups (N = 46) were conducted with male and female adolescents 15-19 years old in Baltimore, Maryland. Participants were recruited from local high schools, and focus groups were stratified by sex and age (15-17 and 18-19). A phenomenological approach was applied to analyze the data both deductively and inductively, allowing for themes to emerge and align within an existing conceptual framework.

RESULTS

Two themes identified were stated pregnancy intentions and shared schemas of sex and pregnancy. Participants discussed a range of pregnancy intentions and expressed five social perspectives which informed those intentions: sex is a gendered responsibility, teen pregnancy is cyclical and common, teen pregnancy is not a completely negative experience, having a child fulfills emotional and relational voids, and pregnancy should happen early, just not too early.

CONCLUSION

Pregnancy intentions for adolescents are expansive and driven by complex social perspectives set in their context. More consideration of the context is needed to provide and offer adolescents, particularly those of vulnerable communities, supports that align with their reproductive health needs.

Broadening the Impact of Developmental Neuroscience on the Study of Adolescence

Having been a significance source of the renewed interested in the adolescent period, developmental neuroscience now needs to build upon its achievements to date and expand in several areas in order to broaden its impact upon the field. Addressing both typical and atypical development, examining the interaction between brain development and the social environment, studying change over time, and including attention to population diversity can help to produce a truly integrative science of adolescent development. The papers in the special section provide nice examples of how developmental neuroscience can make such expansions and continue to contribute to the field in the years to come.

Improving the paradigm of approaches to adolescent sexual and reproductive health

Traditional approaches to improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) have focused on changing individual behavior, with little emphasis on addressing the factors that contribute to this behavior: biological changes; the influence of family and friends; the communities in which young people live; and access to economic and academic opportunities. This article provides an overview of the various factors that influence ASRH behaviors and outcomes and suggests an approach grounded in the principles of positive youth development to reduce risk factors and improve the protective factors that contribute to adolescents' successful and healthy transition into adulthood.