Paper Title
Psychosocial conventionality, health orientation, and contraceptive use in adolescence
Keywords
- contraception
- psychosocial conventionality
- health orientation
- adolescence
- problem-behavior
- theory
- problem-behavior theory
- contraceptive use
- adolescent health
- sexual behavior
- health-protection behavior
- behavioral factors
- sociodemographic characteristics
- race and contraceptive use
- ethnic differences
- sexual activity
- family composition
- pregnancy experience
- contraceptive behavior
- adolescents' health
- african-american adolescents
- hispanic adolescents
- socioeconomic status
- family influence on contraception
- contraceptive decision-making
Journal
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 18 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 404–416
Published On
June, 1996
Downloads
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Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine psychosocial and behavioral factors that are associated with variation in contraceptive use among adolescents. Because regular use of contraception may be seen both as a conventional behavior and as a health-protective behavior, analyses assess the association between psychosocial conventionality and health orientation, on the one hand, and variation in contraceptive use, on the other. Methods: Analyses are based on an urban sample of 971 white, African-American, and Hispanic male and female sexually active high school students. Study participants filled out a 38-page questionnaire that included a wide range of measures derived from Problem-Behavior Theory. Results: Correlational analysis and hierarchical regression analysis indicate that more regular contraceptive use is associated with greater psychosocial conventionality and also with greater orientation toward health for both male and female adolescents. These relationships hold when the sociodemographic characteristics of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, grade in school, family composition, and pregnancy experience are controlled. The linkages of psychosocial conventionality and health orientation to contraceptive behavior are stronger for African-American than for white and Hispanic adolescents. Conclusions: The present findings establish a more comprehensive and more distal set of influences on regularity of contraceptive use. In its negative relationship to problem behavior and its positive linkage with health behavior, contraceptive behavior may be seen as part of a larger, organized system of behavior in this stage of development (i.e., a more conventional adolescent lifestyle).
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