In novel years.

In novel years, the public health field has seen an increasing amount of research devot to adolescent sexual behavior. In 1983 74 percent of women and 83 percent of men in the United States reported that they had engaged in sexual intercourse before their 20th birthdays (National Research Council 1987) A more modern survey found that 25 percent of 14- to 15-year-olds and 55 percent of 16- to 17-year-olds reported having had intercourse at lease one time in their lives (Alcohol Research clump unpublished data 1991). Adolescents wait not to use contraceptives (Morrison 1985) and risks of unprotect intercourse include not and nothing else pregnancy but transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

The incidence of STD is high among adolescents (Bell and Holme 1984); it is estimated that one-fourth of STD victims are infected before leaving high drill (Kroger and Wiesner 1981). The number of instant AIDS cases among adolescents is relatively small (Miller et al. 1990); however, because the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causing this disease has a in extent incubation period, it is likely that many young adults who have a diagnosis of AIDS were infected with the virus as adolescents. Moreover, the proportion of AIDS cases attributable to heterosexual transmission is pair to three times higher among adolescents than among adults (Goldsmith 1988)

Because the scenery of either a vaccine or a healing for AIDS remains remote, efforts to trunk the spread of HIV infection have increasingly emphasized prevention. Public health research has focused in succession identifying individual and situational factors associated with sexual risk-taking behaviors (such as unprotect intercourse) that show in one's real light individuals to HIV. common of these factors is the use of alcohol or other unsalable articles in conjunction with sex (Leigh 1990a; Stall 1989) Alcohol use and sexual activity repeatedly are initiated during the teenage years, and approximately one-half of the two male and female adolescents report that they drank alcohol at the time of their first sexual contests (Flanigan and Hitch 1986; Robertson and Plant 1988) If alcohol interferes with good sense and decision making, then its use in association with sexual activity might increase the likelihood of unprotect intercourse (Howard et al. 1988)

This article considers evidence regarding the relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk-taking in adolescents. For the purport of this discussion, "sexual risk-taking" is defined as unprotect intercourse, with the recognition that protection against pregnancy and protection against AIDS and other STD s sometimes involve the use of different systems of contraception. First, we not past nor future findings from research on adolescents, along with a discussion of the limitations inherent in the research rules used to generate these data. other we consider certain characteristics of adolescents that may contribute to a relationship between drinking and sexual risk-taking, and highlight ways in which this relationship may differ for adolescents and adults. Finally, we ready conclusions that may be drawn from this research, and recommend directions for future investigation.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON

ADOLESCENTS

Any discussion of research forward the relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk--taking must take into account the limitations of research classifications used. The ideal means for testing whether alcohol consumption causes a particular behavior is an experimental research in which alcohol is administered to single in kind group and a placebo is given to a rule group. Controlled laboratory experiments have been used to investigate the influence of alcohol onward various physiological and psychological replications to sexual stimuli in adult men and women (see Crowe and George 1989 for review). However, it is impossible to design a controll experiment to close attention the influence of alcohol forward actual sexual behavior in a natural setting. Furthermore, because consumption of alcohol by dint of minors in a laboratory setting is preclud by the agency of minimum drinking age laws, there are no so studies of alcohol-related sexual answers and behaviors in adolescents.

For these and other reasons, chiefly research concerned with the connection between alcohol use and sexual activity has taken the form of correlational studies. In these studies, measures of individual drinking habits and sexual activities are garnered (often by means of a survey) and the relationships between these measures are examined. inspects of adolescents have found that sexually active young men and women are more likely to use alcohol than are those who have not still had sexual intercourse (Coles and Stokes 1985; Mott and Haurin 1988; Zabin et al. 1986) and that there is a positive correlation between oftenness of sexual activity and bulk of alcohol use (Bentler and Newcomb 1986; Zucker et al. 1981) However, the statistical associations between these behaviors are not always puissant and these correlations may outcome from other factors, including personality characteristics (such as impulsivity or desire to scoff social restraints), or a certain lifestyle that involves the couple drinking and sexual activity (Wilsnack 1984)