Femininity as a barrier to positive sexual health for adolescent girls.
OBJECTIVE
To introduce a new model of female adolescent sexual health based on feminist principles and to investigate the extent to which adolescent girl's beliefs about femininity are associated with three specific elements of their sexual health.


METHODS
148 eighth-grade adolescent girls completed a survey with questions about sexual self-concept, sexual agency, attitudes toward romance conventions, femininity ideology, and demographic background. Correlational and regression analyses were conducted. An illustrative case study is drawn from a subsample of 46 girls interviewed in depth about gender and relationships.


RESULTS
A statistically significant association was found between early adolescent girls' espousal of more conventional beliefs about femininity and diminished positive sexual health. To illustrate the ways in which a girl's femininity ideology interplays with her sexual health, selections from an interview with a 13-year-old Latina girl are presented as a case illustration.
Tolman
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Adolescent Sexuality Project, Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, MA 02481, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D015205:Northwestern United States; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*