Teenage Sexual Behavior

Developmental and clinical researchers have only just discovered the phenomenon of adolescent romance as a topic of serious scientific inquiry. This discovery may be related to the overwhelming evidence that adult romantic relationships are failing at alarming rates. Dramatic increases in the rates of divorce, out of wedlock childbirth, and relationship violence lead to questions about the developmental precursors of romantic love and commitment. What's wrong with love and can it be fixed? This book brings together a diverse group of experts from various disciplines to address a serious gap in the understanding of adolescent development. Part I focuses on romantic relations and sexual behavior from the perspective of normative adolescent development. Part II centers on high-risk adolescents and Part III explores the practical implications of current theory and research for clinicians, educators, and health administrators. Together the chapters in this integrative and clinically useful book lay a foundation for understanding how adolescents successfully navigate the tumultuous waters of young love.

Challenging much current thinking in the field that considers sexually aggressive youth a homogenous group, this volume applies a heterogeneous approach. Individualized treatment plans addressing a wide range of needs are presented. Practical and specific guidance about assessment, treatment and discharge planning is well-grounded in research, providing a solid theoretical and conceptual framework. Staff training, development and treatment outcome evaluation are also included.

Of those which deal with sex and love addiction, this work is alone in that it examines adolescents as a specific population. The number of case histories presented in the text are a prominent feature. The work should be of interest to clinicians and clients both. The book addresses the case of adolescent sex and love addicts as was done with adolescent chemical dependents 20 years ago.

The current generation of adolescents is experiencing more stressful and/or negative experiences at an earlier age in their development than previous generations. The consequence is that more and more teenagers are becoming casualties of drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, and mental illness. In this book, George R. Holmes provides caregivers and parents with specific tactics to move teenagers successfully through adolescence.

Westerners believe that love makes life worth living; that sex is a natural desire different in kind from love; and that only cynics reduce our love life to a calculation of economic or genetic factors. In this volume, essays explore these and other assumptions about the relationship between romantic love and sex. This represents the first interdisciplinary social science study of love and sex.

In the tradition of Irvin Yalom's Love's Executioner, Dr. Lynn Ponton's remarkable book takes readers inside the minds of 15 troubled adolescents to provide a compelling look at today's teenage experience. Included are Jill, a 13-year-old thrill-seeking runaway; Hannah, a privileged daughter of suburbia who suffers from anorexia; and Joe, a high school senior with a serious drinking problem. The case studies vary from the puzzling to the horrifying, but with her confident and engaging voice, Ponton brings out the unifying themes in all of them. She proposes that teenage "acting out" can be understood in terms of "risk-taking", and that by redirecting this natural impulse into healthy channels parents can minimize the dangers inherent in today's teen culture and help their children develop into mature individuals.

Challenging the traditional views of adolescence and offering a constructive new model for understanding teenage behavior, The Romance of Risk is an essential book for parents concerned about their children's well-being in this age of drug abuse, rampant violence, and AIDS.

This pioneering monograph integrates the major research findings of the past four decades and offers a new model for the study of human sexuality. The author examines the empirical literature on sexuality for the developmental stages of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood and for experiences of sexual aggression. He then uses symbolic interactionism to develop a theoretical model which integrates the research across the developmental periods and for instances of sexual aggression, providing one of the most comprehensive views of sexuality development that has yet been offered. The work investigates the role of family, peers, romantic partners, and personality in the development of sexual expression and offers a unique vision of how symbolic interactionism can inform one's understanding of sexual beliefs and behaviors through the developmental stages. By acknowledging developmental differences and changes in individuals and their interpersonal relationship context, a more integrated understanding emerges of how sexuality develops. This volume is intended for students and scholars interested in the influences on the development of sexual expression of youth and young adults. It will be of great interest to readers in psychology, family studies, communication, sociology, adolescent studies, and specialized areas of sexuality research. It is appropriate for undergraduate seminars and graduate-level courses on human sexuality, close relationships, family theory, sociology, communication, social psychology, developmental psychology, and related areas.