Older adolescents discussed sexual behaviour with partners after trust had been built
Question How do older adolescents perceive communication with their partners about sexual risk behaviour (multiple partners; sexual intercourse without condoms; or sexual intercourse with partners who have HIV infection, have a sexually transmitted disease [STD], or who use or have used intravenous drugs)?
Design
Grounded theory.
Setting
A public university in south east US.
Participants
32 single adolescents (mean age 19 y, 56% women, 72% white, and mean age at first intercourse 17 y) who had never been pregnant or fathered a child and had had sexual intercourse.
Methods
A semistructured interview by a researcher of the same sex dealt with perceptions of decisions to have sexual intercourse and discussions with partners about birth control, previous sexual partners, STDs, and intravenous drug use. Interviews were analysed separately for men and women using constant comparative …
