Abstract

PIP: Decision making and socialization models have advanced our knowledge of adolescent contraceptive behavior. They also show the vital role values, attitudes, and beliefs play in contraceptive use. A social work professor builds on these models and adds values, attitudes, and beliefs to a new social learning model of contraceptive behavior to improve on the weaknesses of those models. This new model considers contraceptive behavior an active response instead of a passive response. It uses 3 major components to explain how adolescents learn and preserve contraceptive behaviors. They include environmental context, cognitive influences, and behavior executive constraints. Accurate sexuality information, available contraceptive services, and availability of role models constitute the environmental context. These environmental factors either support or limit contraceptive use. Perception of need and consequences is a cognitive influence and embraces judgment of immediate and delayed consequences and probability and susceptibility to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); perception of pregnancy/STD seriousness; and expectation regarding personal mastery. The other cognitive influence is decision making processed which involved generating, evaluating, and selecting alternatives. Advantages of this model are its flexibility to apply it to different groups of adolescents and its emphasis on reducing the risk of acquiring an STD as well as pregnancy prevention. Researchers of contraceptive behavior among adolescents should consider all 3 model components when designing research that aims to predict birth control behavior.