Adolescents' Views of Sexual Decision‐Making

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the reasons adolescents give for abstinence, safer sex, and unprotected sexual intercourse. Participants were 115 high school students living in a midwestern state; average age was 17.5 years. Students completed a two-part questionnaire about (a) their expectations for the outcome of a vignette in which two teenagers had the opportunity for intercourse and (b) their ideas about the reasons, thoughts, and feelings associated with three possible endings to the vignette-abstinence, intercourse with a condom, unprotected intercourse. Content analysis of responses indicated that four interconnected factors are significant contributors to sexual behavior: social norms, fear, gratification or pleasure, and availability of condoms.