The physiology of adolescent sexual behaviour: A systematic review

Abstract Objectives: To examine physiological influences of adolescent sexual behaviour, including associated psychosocial factors. Methods: Systematic review. Results: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria relating to adolescents, physiology and sexual behaviour. We excluded studies relating to abnormal development. Findings highlighted hormonal and gender differences. Females appear to be more influenced by psychosocial aspects, including the effects of peers, than males. Males may be more inclined to engage in unprotected sex with a greater number of partners. Early maturing adolescents are more likely to be sexually active at an early age. Conclusions: Hormonal, psychosocial context, and sexual preference need to be acknowledged in intervention development. Stage of readiness to receive information may differ according to gender and physiological maturity.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  Cogent Social Sciences

• Publication date

  2017-01-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/23311886.2017.1368858PMID 29201945PMCID 5692360
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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