Friedman H L
Department of Adolescent Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
J Adolesc Health. 1992 Jul;13(5):345-50. doi: 10.1016/1054-139x(92)90026-8.
Sexuality is a fundamental quality of human life, important for health, happiness, individual development, and indeed for the preservation of the human race. During the dynamic period of adolescence in which the passage from childhood to maturity takes place, sexuality takes on new dimensions; feelings become more intense, relationships become more complex, and the consequences of sexual behavior are radically altered. This not only affects the behavior of young people but also of those who interact with them, their families and peers, and those who work in the health, education, youth, social welfare, and other sectors. In the contemporary world the conditions of life for many young people have also changed, and with it patterns of sexual behavior. In general, earlier puberty, later marriage, a decline in the family leading to less control and more autonomy, and intense exposure to sexual stimuli via the mass media and travel across cultural boundaries have made pre-marital adolescent sexual activity more common. This has added to traditional problems of early marriage, newer problems of early pregnancy, childbirth, and induced abortion outside of marriage, sexually transmitted diseases, and human immunodeficiency syndrome infection leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. But the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), along with many others in the field, strongly suggests that given appropriate information and services, trust and equity between the sexes, young people will behave responsibly and well. In this paper some of the findings from methods developed by WHO for research, training, advocacy, and evaluation, and findings in relation to patterns and determinants of sexual and reproductive health and development will be described, and future directions suggested.
性是人类生活的一项基本特质，对健康、幸福、个人发展乃至人类种族的存续都至关重要。在从童年向成熟过渡的青春期这一充满活力的阶段，性呈现出新的维度；情感变得更加强烈，人际关系变得更加复杂，性行为的后果也发生了根本性变化。这不仅影响年轻人的行为，还影响与他们互动的人，包括其家人和同龄人，以及在卫生、教育、青年、社会福利和其他领域工作的人员。在当代世界，许多年轻人的生活条件也发生了变化，性行为模式也随之改变。总体而言，青春期提前、结婚年龄延后、家庭影响力下降导致管控减少而自主性增强，以及通过大众媒体大量接触性刺激和跨越文化界限的旅行，使得婚前青少年性活动更为普遍。这加剧了早婚这一传统问题，还带来了诸如非婚早孕、分娩、人工流产、性传播疾病以及感染人类免疫缺陷病毒导致获得性免疫缺陷综合征等新问题。但是，世界卫生组织（WHO）以及该领域的许多其他机构的工作有力地表明，只要提供适当的信息和服务，实现两性之间的信任和平等，年轻人就会做出负责任的良好行为。本文将描述世界卫生组织为研究、培训、宣传和评估所开发的方法的一些 findings，以及与性健康和生殖健康及发展的模式和决定因素相关的 findings，并提出未来的方向。 （注：“findings”直译为“发现”，这里根据语境意译为“研究结果”更合适，但按照要求保留英文未翻译）
