Adolescent cognitive and contraceptive behaviors
Yoos, L.
Pediatric Nursing 13(4): 247-250
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0097-9805 PMID: 3649684 Document Number: 305390
Sexually active teenage girls tend to wait at least a year before commencing contraceptive use, but half of all adolescent pregnancies occur within 6 months of the onset of sexual activity. To promote contraceptive use among adolescents and prevent unwanted pregnancy, an understanding of adolescent cognitive development is necessary. It has been suggested that many teenagers become pregnant not as a result of a lack of information, but because they lack the cognitive and behavioral skills needed to use the information. The major cognitive task in adolescence--formal operational thinking--involves the ability to analyze situations and hypothesize outcomes. According to Paiget, the capacity to imagine the future and act accordingly begins to emerge at about 11 years of age. However, many teenagers fail to develop this ability to think beyond the present and remain immersed in sexual fantasies when it comes to the area of sexuality. Since they are unable to conceptualize pregnancy and childbearing, they fail to use contraception. Moreover, adolescents commonly believe that they are not at risk of pregnancy the 1st few times they have sexual intercourse and are generally immune from the negative consequences of personal actions. Group discussions and role playing appear to be particularly effective tools to help adolescents speculate on the possible results of engaging in various sexual behaviors and stimulate cognitive development to advance from a concrete to a formal operational level.