Teen Questions About Sexual Health Influence Behavior

Newswise — Because today's teens live in an "e-world," it's natural for them to turn to the Internet for health information. To determine how adolescents use a sexual health website and what kinds of questions they ask, researchers analyzed thousands of questions posed by teens on www.sexetc.org, a website run by the Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers University.

According to the principal investigator, Temple University professor of public health, Clara Haignere, Ph.D., about two-thirds of the questioners were females age 15 to 17.

Most questions concerned sex (27.5%), pregnancy (22%), and female and male health (17%). Regarding sex, adolescents most often wanted to know about kinds of sex and orgasms. Pregnancy questions most often dealt with how pregnancy happens. And female and male health questions dealt with bodily functions, puberty, menstruation and going to a gynecologist.

"We suspect that repeat questions to the website might influence behavior," said Haignere. "About 17 percent of the adolescents submitted two or more questions. This level of dialogue between the adolescents and the responders could influence the adolescents' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Future research may demonstrate how tailored web intervention might lead to better adolescent decision making."