View Research by Author - Joseph H. Pleck

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/JosephHPleck

The authors analyze three cohorts of unmarried metropolitan teenage males: those aged 17-19 in 1979, in 1988 and in 1995. These time frames capture a period of increasing (1979 to 1988) then decreasing (1988 to 1995) sexual activity. By examining time periods with reversing trends, the authors offer a relatively strong framework within which to understand factors related to both increased and decreased sexual activity.

The percentage of teenage males who have ever had sexual intercourse has declined since 1988, while the use of contraception at first intercourse among teenage males increased, according to new data from the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. These findings parallel trends for teenage girls measured in the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. The consistency of results for teenage boys and girls provides greater confidence in the findings from both surveys. These data are compatible with the recent decline of births to teenage girls. In general, they indicate that American youth have become more responsible in both their sexual and contraceptive behaviors.

This document consists of a follow-up survey instrument for young men

This study focuses on three domains of risk behaviors: sexual behavior, substance use, and difficulties with social institutions (education, employment, and law). The specific outcomes investigated included risky sexual behavior, illicit drug use, alcohol use, education failure, social disconnection, and delinquency. The factors investigated here as potentially influencing change in male adolescents' risk behaviors were categorized as individual, family, or community variables. The study extends knowledge about the effects of community-level variables and attitudes toward masculinity on adolescent risk behaviors.

This report uses analyses of the National Survey of Adolescent Males to examine what is known about the factors related to condom use. The evidence about the extent of condom use is examined, and the factors that appear to influence young men to use condoms are summarized.

This paper examines the following: (1) patterns and trends in the use of contraception by males in the United States; (2) factors that appear to influence males' use of contraception; (3) studies of partner dynamics that explore the influence of male and female partners on each other's contraceptive behavior; (4) status of males' use of family planning services; and (5) how family planning policy and services might be more responsive to the reproductive needs of American males. To address the latter issue, the authors discuss barriers to male involvement in family planning services that have implications for administrators and staff of those services.

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