Teenagers and Safe Sex

Despite efforts to educate youth regarding safe sex, the practice of safer sex is still not at optimum levels. This is due to several factors, but chief among these is the belief of "invincibility" among youth, the belief that "it won't happen to me." In order to implement effective campaigns to increase safe sex practices in teenagers, education efforts must be directed to combat this false notion of safety, and problem-solving skills must be taught to facilitate the implementation of this knowledge.

Although sex education is a component in most schools' curricula, there is some question about the effectiveness of its message regarding safe sex. Since "by age 17 about half of both males and females report having had sexual intercourse" (Bee et al., 2003, p300), the necessity of delivering accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV / AIDS transmission is critical.

Bennett and...
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