title: Obtaining a personal and confidential history from adolescents. An opportunity for prevention.
abstract: Fifty adolescent girls ages 12-18 years (mean 14.9 years) were asked to complete a confidential questionnaire exploring many important issues of adolescence. The responses included the following: 38 (76%) girls did not wear seatbelts while riding in a car, 23 (46%) had used alcoholic beverages (10 at age less than or equal to 13 years), 17 (34%) had experience with marijuana, four (8%) had used other psychoactive drugs, and 14 (28%) were having sexual intercourse, while only eight were using contraception. Of the 16 (32%) girls who smoked cigarettes ten did not want to quit. Twenty-two (44%) girls had dysmenorrhea but only four had sought medical attention for the problem. This study suggests the usefulness of a questionnaire to identify individual health care needs for which preventive counseling may be offered.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D002648:Child; D003219:Confidentiality; D003267:Contraception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008487:Medical History Taking; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012907:Smoking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs