title: Sexuality and the adolescent: issues for the clinician.
abstract: The acquisition of a sexual identity is one of the key developmental tasks of adolescence. Physicians treating adolescents should be familiar with and comfortable with addressing both sexual behavioral norms and sexual dysfunction. This review attempts to describe current adolescent sexual belief systems and behaviors, as well as more problematic areas such as sexual dysfunction, unintended pregnancy, and sexual orientation issues. A developmentally based approach to addressing these issues is presented.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D005783:Gender Identity; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000523:psychology