PREVENTING SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES - HOW ADOLESCENTS PERCEIVE THE OPTIONS

To understand and improve adolescent decision making about STD prevent ion, there is a need to examine the initial phase in the decision-maki ng process, namely adolescents' perceptions of the set of possible pre vention measures. A relatively diverse sample of 48 sexually active ad olescents answered open-ended interview questions designed to elicit S TD prevention measures considered spontaneously. These adolescents pro duced 119 different STD prevention measures which fell into 16 differe nt substantive categories. The average adolescent knew of over 13 prev ention measures, 73% of which were individual actions and 27% of which were societal actions. Using condoms and abstaining from sexual activ ity were by far the most widely known prevention measures. The only me asure that a majority of these adolescents (87%) have personally used is condoms. The most effective measures were not necessarily those tha t come to mind most readily. Several significant gender differences in the salience of prevention measures were found.