Premenstrual symptoms in adolescents.

To assess the prevalence and severity of premenstrual symptoms in adolescents, we administered the Premenstrual Assessment Form, a 95-item instrument previously validated in adults. Adolescent females (n = 207) at a suburban-based adolescent health service completed the form. Subjects had a mean age of 17.

Meeting the health care needs of suburban youth: review of a clinical service.

The demographic and medical data from the first 1,000 patients registered at a suburban adolescent health service were reviewed and the findings compared with the results of an initial survey performed in the same community and other health services located in urban communities. Most of the patients were white (92%), girls (82%), and 16 to 18 years of age (63%) and had parents who graduated from high school (59%) or college (28%). They reported higher rates of participation in health-risk behaviors, including smoking (50%), drinking (60%), drug use (67%), and sexual intercourse (83%), than their peers.

Comparative analysis of the effectiveness of the diaphragm and birth control pill during the first year of use among suburban adolescents.

Little attention has been paid to the diaphragm as a contraceptive option for adolescents. To compare diaphragm and birth control pill use by adolescents, 124 females (aged 13-20 years) in a suburban-based adolescent health service were interviewed at least one year after receiving a contraceptive prescription. The 73 diaphragm choosers did not differ from the 51 pill choosers in age, race, or reason for their original visit to the health service.

Are adolescents able and willing to pay the fee for confidential health care?

We studied the ability and willingness of adolescents attending a suburban-based Adolescent Health Service to pay a fee for health care. Self-administered, anonymous questionnaires were distributed to 180 predominantly middle-class adolescent patients prior to the establishment of a fee-for-service payment plan. One hundred sixty-five respondents planned to continue as patients of the Adolescent Health Service; of these, 155 (94%) indicated that they would be able and willing to pay a fee.