Norms, Attitudes, and Preferences: Responses to a Survey of Teens about Sexually Transmitted Infection and Pregnancy Prevention

Abstract

Study objective: To assess the values and beliefs regarding sexual behavior, sexual decision-making, and reproductive health learning preferences among teens in Hawaii.

Design: Survey regarding teens' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about sexual behaviors and preferences for learning about reproductive health.

Setting: University of Hawaii Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology clinics in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Participants: Female patients and their male or female companions ages 14-19 years.

Interventions: A 30-question anonymous survey.

Main outcome measures: The main outcome was to describe the norms, attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of teens in this setting with regard to sexual health and sexual health education. For this, we provide a description of response frequencies and a comparison of mean scores across demographic characteristics.

Results: We analyzed a total of 100 surveys. Teens endorsed more values and norms protective against sexually transmitted infection than those protective against pregnancy. Younger teens expressed more protective values as a result of the influence of perceived parental values, whereas older teens expressed less protective values on the basis of the influence of peers. Respondents expressed comfort talking with their clinician about sexual health, and also expressed a slight preference that their clinicians initiate these conversations.

Conclusion: The influence of parental values and peer norms on sexual behavior must be taken into consideration when designing interventions to address adolescent sexual health. Additionally, teens' greater concern about the consequences of sexually transmitted infection could be leveraged by clinicians to initiate broader conversations about sexual health, and a variety of modalities, including online resources and in-person conversations, should be used to meet the diversity of preferences expressed by teens across demographic groups.

Keywords: Adolescents; Attitudes; Behaviors; Norms; Pregnancy; Prevention; Sexually transmitted infections; Surveys.