Gage A J
USAID, G/PHN/POP/P&E, Washington, DC 20523-3601, USA.
Stud Fam Plann. 1998 Jun;29(2):154-66.
In light of the social consequences of early childbearing, unplanned pregnancy, and the transmission of AIDS, a great need exists to understand how adolescents make sexual and reproductive decisions. Drawing primarily on literature from sub-Saharan Africa, this article focuses on three behavioral outcomes: nonmarital sexual activity, contraceptive use, and condom use. It explores adolescent's perceptions of the costs and benefits of engaging in these behaviors, their assessment of their susceptibility to the potential consequences of their actions, and the role of family, peer, and dyadic factors in shaping their reproductive decisions. The literature reveals that cultural values regarding sexuality and gender roles, the power dimensions of adolescents' lives, and economic disadvantage exert powerful influences on the decisionmaking process. Decisions to engage in unprotected sex may also be based on insufficient knowledge and distorted judgements of the risks of becoming pregnant and acquiring sexually transmitted infections. Nondecisionmaking is found to be fairly common in some contexts.
鉴于早育、意外怀孕和艾滋病传播所带来的社会后果，对于了解青少年如何做出性与生殖决策存在着巨大需求。本文主要借鉴撒哈拉以南非洲地区的文献，聚焦于三个行为结果：非婚性行为、避孕措施使用和避孕套使用。文章探讨了青少年对参与这些行为的成本与收益的认知、他们对自身行为潜在后果易感性的评估，以及家庭、同伴和二元因素在塑造他们生殖决策过程中所起的作用。文献表明，关于性与性别角色的文化价值观、青少年生活中的权力维度以及经济劣势对决策过程产生着强大影响。进行无保护性行为的决策也可能基于对怀孕风险和感染性传播疾病风险的知识不足以及判断扭曲。在某些情况下，不做决策的情况相当普遍。
