American Journal of Sexuality Education最新文献

Black women have disproportionate rates of HIV compared to women of all other racial groups. The purpose of this analysis was to investigate perceived HIV risk, HIV and STI testing behaviors, and PrEP knowledge and attitudes among Black sexual minority women (SMW) and examine differences based on their history of male sex partners. Secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Generations Study. This analysis used a sample of N=149 participants who identified as Black cisgender women. Results showed Black SMW with a history of male sex partners reported a higher perceived risk of contracting HIV and significantly more frequent HIV and STI testing than those without a history of male sex partners. Overall, most of the sample was not familiar with PrEP, but one-third had favorable attitudes towards it, and half felt like they did not know enough about PrEP to form an opinion. Implications for culturally relevant public health campaigns and comprehensive sexuality education that integrate PrEP are included.

Sexual communication skills are needed to create healthy romantic relationships. Arguably, these skills also can be used to prevent some instances of unwanted sex. This study presents a qualitative analysis of adolescents' comments after reading a teen-friendly article on sexual consent as part of a web-based sexual health promotion intervention. The sample was comprised predominantly of female adolescents recruited from a Midwest urban region in the United States. Adolescents varied with respect to self-efficacy to request, provide, and deny consent, as well as the perceived need to ask for consent in the context of established relationships. Many adolescents perceived that nonverbal methods of communication were sufficient to request, provide, or deny sexual consent. Factors that make it difficult to discuss sexual boundaries and say "no" to unwanted sex included low self-efficacy and an underlying desire to nurture or preserve a relationship. Cultural norms must be changed to support verbal, affirmative sexual consent. In addition, adolescents must be aided in the development of skills to request sexual consent, say "yes" to specific activities, and say "no" to others. Without supportive norms and skills to enhance self-efficacy, adolescents may be unwilling to engage in verbal communication about sexual consent and boundaries.

American Indian youth experience teen birth and school dropout at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Early childbearing is associated with adverse health and socioeconomic outcomes, including attenuated education. However, kinship childrearing norms among Northern Plains tribes can support positive experiences of early childbearing. Using a community based participatory research framework, this mixed methods exploratory study engaged high school students from a Northern Plains reservation community to examine youth perceptions of family support and belief in ability to stay in school should they have a child. We elicited youth observations of facilitators and inhibitors to academic achievement for young parents. This research supports the need for strengths-based, gender specific, and family inclusive sexuality education to support young people in their reproductive choices in reservation settings. We highlight the utility of including youth as co-authors and co-researchers in future studies.

As middle and high school students consume and create their own pornography or use it as a form of violence perpetration known as image-based sexual abuse, school staff struggle to find appropriate responses to these issues. As pornography use becomes more prevalent, and discourse on sexual violence more public, pornography education could become a tool for preventing sexual violence and promoting sexual health. In response, we explored the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of PopPorn, a 4-module pornography and IBSA professional development training program in a sample of staff who work for Midwestern public schools (i.e., schools providing free public education funded by tax dollars and maintained by local government). Results indicate that the majority of staff perceive student pornography use and IBSA perpetration to be critical problems that negatively impact school climate. Results also indicate that the PopPorn brief intervention increases staff knowledge of and efficacy in addressing pornography and IBSA-related problems and reduces harmful sexual double standard attitudes that have been linked to victim blaming in instances of sexual violence. This promising program adds to a growing number of media and pornography literacy interventions aimed at improving sexual violence prevention and response.