ReCAPP: Theories & Approaches: Risk and Protective Factors

	Search
	Index
	Topic in Brief
	Evidence-Based Programs
	Skills for Educators
	Skills for Youth
	Current Research
	Library
	Statistics
	Theories & Approaches
	Links
	Professional Credits
	Learning Activity
	Forums
	Archives

Sexual Risk and
Protective Factors:
Factors Affecting Teen Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, Childbearing,
and Sexually Transmitted Disease:
Which are Important?
Which can You Change?

by Douglas Kirby, Ph.D.
Gina Lepore, B.A.

Updated November 26, 2007

Welcome to Risk and Protective Factors!

In order to reduce the still high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States, it is important to address two primary questions:

What factors influence adolescents' decisions about sex?
Which of these factors can be altered?

By identifying and targeting those factors that both affect adolescents' decisions about sex and can be changed by interventions, the chances of reducing sexual risk-taking among teens are greatly improved. This newly updated paper provides an exhaustive analysis of the hundreds of factors that can affect teen sexual behavior.

Readers can review and download the executive summary, the entire document, and the matrix listing all 400+ risk and protective factors.

Sexual Risk and Protective Factors: Executive Summary

Sexual Risk and Protective Factors: Full Paper

Sexual Risk and Protective Factors: A Matrix of Those Factors Affecting Teen Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, Childbearing, and Sexually Transmitted Disease

NOTE: Readers in search of information on a particular risk or protective factor should consider downloading the matrix and using the find function (simultaneously pressing the "control" and "f" keys on a PC keyboard and the Apple icon and "f" keys on a Mac keyboard) to search for a particular word describing that factor, e.g., "income," "attachment," "self-esteem," or "attitudes."

top