Background: Adolescence is associated with risky behaviors related with social and developmental factors. Objectives were to describe social and developmental factors affecting Puerto Rican early adolescent by gender and type of school at study entry.
Methods: Cross-sectional study design. The study group was composed by 168 seventh grade adolescents from private and public schools. Descriptive and non-parametric comparisons were performed.
Results: Significance differences among proportions for gender by type of school were found in the following variables: self-esteem and HIV/AIDS attitudes in public school and peer pressure and sensation seeking in private school.
Discussion: Our study revealed that public school adolescents are characterized by males with higher self-esteem and less attitude for HIV/AIDS, while in private school the males has more peer pressure and seeking sensation than females. Future studies could analyze factors related with changes in developmental factors, this step is important to evaluate the effectiveness of ASUMA interventions.