PIP: Adolescents have several reasons for wanting to be sexually active: to promote self esteem; to have someone to care about them and to care about someone else; to experiment; to accommodate peer pressure; to feel grown up; to touch someone and to be touched; to feel good; and to get even. Sorenson's National Survey on adolescent sexuality indicated that to love and be loved is a very powerful motivation behind the sexual behavior of adolescents and that a one to one relationship is preferred over having a variety of partners. Sexually active or not, all adolescents experience changes in their bodies, relationships, and sexual feelings and are concerned about whether their development is normal and whether it fits into what is acceptable by their peers. Thus, it is important to develop a comprehensive program for adolescents that takes into account all aspects of their development: cognitive; emotional; psychosocial; and sexual concerns. It is only through an awareness of adolescent sexual development that the health professional, educator, and parent can best help the adolescent to deal with sexuality. The health professional who is knowledgeable about the cognitive, emotional, and social domain of the adolescent will be better able to individualize counseling regarding sexual concerns. Although the basic strategies of using values clarification and decision making skills in the counseling process remains unchanged from adolescent to adolescents, the approach to the individual or group differs depending on the stage of development. The model of value clarification attempts to help adolescents understand what they believe in. The decision making model can be effective in helping the adolescent learn to make a choice about birth control, sexuality, and contraception rather than simply providing information about what to choose. The counselor can help the adolescent come to an understanding of his/her beliefs and based on that make decisions about behaviors that are congruent with those beliefs. Rather than delineating each of the phases of the decision making process, it is better to help the adolescent apply the process to everyday situations that dictate a decision. Due to the fact that younger adolescents may be more concrete in their thinking and more uncomfortable sharing ideas, the buddy system can be invaluable. The counseling of the individual adolescent uses principles and techniques similar to that of the buddy system. Exercises that can be adapted to use in counseling individual adolescents or buddies are presented.