Review of Tools for Measuring Exposure to Adversity in Children and Adolescents.

Exposure to childhood adversity can result in negative behavioral and physical health outcomes due to potential long-term embedding into regulatory biological processes. Screening for exposure to adversity is a critical first step in identifying children at risk for developing a toxic stress response. We searched PubMed, PsycArticles, and CINAHL for studies published between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2016, as well as other sources, to identify potential tools for measuring cumulative adversity in children and adolescents.

Predisposing, enabling and need-for-care predictors of adolescents' intention to use sexual health services.

Background: The study aimed to understand the influence of predisposing, enabling and need-for-care factors on adolescents' intention to use sexual health services, using Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Service Utilisation to organise and test these factors.

Methods: A sample of predominantly Hispanic teens (n=600) in Los Angeles, California completed a self-report survey about their sexual health knowledge, beliefs, intentions, and behaviours. Hierarchical regression modelling was used to examine the incremental influences on adolescents' intention to use sexual health services of: 1) predisposing sociodemographic factors; 2) predisposing knowledge and beliefs about sexual health; 3) enabling factors regarding perceived access to sexual health services; and 4) a need-for-care factor (sexual experience).

A Rights-Based Sexuality Education Curriculum for Adolescents: 1-Year Outcomes From a Cluster-Randomized Trial.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a rights-based sexuality education curriculum on adolescents' sexual health behaviors and psychosocial outcomes 1 year after participation.

Methods: Within 10 urban high schools, ninth-grade classrooms were randomized to receive a rights-based curriculum or a basic sex education (control) curriculum. The intervention was delivered across two school years (2011-2012, 2012-2013).

Short-term effects of a rights-based sexuality education curriculum for high-school students: a cluster-randomized trial.

Background: An emerging model for sexuality education is the rights-based approach, which unifies discussions of sexuality, gender norms, and sexual rights to promote the healthy sexual development of adolescents. A rigorous evaluation of a rights-based intervention for a broad population of adolescents in the U.S.

Parent-adolescent sexual communication and its association with adolescent sexual behaviors: a nationally representative analysis in the Netherlands.

Sexual communication is a principal means of transmitting sexual values, beliefs, expectations, and knowledge from parents to children. Although this area has received considerable research attention, more studies with representative samples are needed to assure that findings are reflective of populations of interest. A nationally representative sample of parent-adolescent dyads (N = 2,965; mean adolescent age = 13.

Factors associated with parent support for condom education and availability.

Expanding condom-related knowledge and skills and reducing barriers to condom use have the potential to help reduce pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among youth. These goals are sometimes addressed through condom education and availability (CEA) programs as part of sexuality education in school. Parents are a key constituency in efforts to implement such programs.

Demographic and psychological predictors of parent-adolescent communication about sex: a representative statewide analysis.

Sexual communication is a principal means of transmitting sexual values, beliefs, expectations, and knowledge between parents and children. Although this area has received considerable research attention, more studies with representative samples are needed to assure that findings are reflective of populations of interest. A representative statewide sample of households with adolescents (N = 907) from a large and diverse state in the United States was employed to examine the content and extent of sexual communication between parents and their adolescents, and the influence of selected primary demographic (age and gender), socio-demographic (Hispanic ethnicity, education, and religious attendance), and psychological (self-reported comfort, knowledge, and sexual communication difficulties) factors on the number of topics discussed.

California parents' preferences and beliefs regarding school-based sex education policy.

Context: Policy debates over the merits of abstinence-only versus comprehensive approaches to sex education are ongoing, despite well-documented public support for comprehensive sex education. Although parents are key stakeholders in the outcomes of these debates, their views have been less thoroughly considered.

Methods: A random digit dial survey of 1,284 California parents was conducted in 2006.

Acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination among Californian parents of daughters: a representative statewide analysis.

Purpose: To examine likelihood of parental acceptance of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for young adolescent girls, together with reasons for acceptance and nonacceptance. The ultimate goal of this research is to inform policy decisions and educational planning in this area.

Methods: A random-digit-dial telephone survey of parents in California households was conducted, yielding 522 parents with an eligible daughter.