title: Sexuality (and Lack Thereof) in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: A Review of the Literature.
abstract: Youth sexuality has been primarily studied with a focus on its potential public health issues, such as sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, and its comorbidity with other risky behaviors. More recently, it has been studied as a normative step in romantic partnerships, either pre- or post-marital, as well as outside the context of romantic involvement. In this paper, we review the extensive literature on sexuality in adolescence and early adulthood both within and outside romantic relationships (i.e., casual sexual relationships and experiences; CSREs). Furthermore, the recent recognition of youth sexuality as a developmental task has led to a renewed interest from scholars in youth who abstain from sexual encounters, whether deliberately or not. A brief overview of the literature on cultural differences in sexuality, and sexual-minority youth sexual development is also provided. This paper concludes by suggesting future directions to bring the field of youth sexuality and romantic relationships forward.
authors.affiliation: Département de Sexologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada. boislard-pepin.marie-aude@uqam.ca.
authors.forename: Marie-Aude
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Boislard
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Child Development and Education (YIELD), University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15776, Amsterdam 1001 NG, The Netherlands. D.vandeBongardt@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van de Bongardt
authors.affiliation: Département de Sexologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada. blais.martin@uqam.ca.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blais
keywords: adolescence; casual sexual relationships and experiences (CSREs); development; early adulthood; literature review; normative; sexual behavior; sexual minorities; sexuality