Inspired by the pioneering theoretical work of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1986), numerous developmental researchers have begun to realize the importance of context and process in understanding human develop ment. Bronfenbrenner’s person-process-context model asserts that charac teristics of individuals (person variables) and characteristics of the ecolog ical environment in which individuals live (context variables) influence processes that culminate in developmental outcomes. Researchers must consider all components of this model—person variables, context varia bles, and process—to understand any developmental phenomenon. In the context of understanding adolescent girls’ sexuality, this model implies that personal characteristics (e. g., temperament, sexual orientation, physical characteristics, values, religiosity, self-esteem, and psychosocial, biological, and cognitive development) and ecological characteristics (e. g., culture, ethnicity, family environment, peer environment, organized religion, and the media) of girls will influence processes that impact on their sexual behaviors and feelings, the subjective meanings that they ascribe to their behaviors and feelings, and their sense of themselves as sexual beings.
Much of the research on adolescent girls’ sexuality has focused on personal and ecological characteristics of girls that predict their sexual be haviors. The purpose for the large volume of literature dedicated to this line of inquiry is to understand the factors associated with whether girls engage in intercourse and contracepting behaviors in order to develop in tervention programs for preventing intercourse or encouraging contracep tive behavior. Although, for the purposes of this chapter we are interested in normative development, these pathology oriented studies can tell us something about the personal and ecological factors that may influence girls’ developing sense of sexuality. We focus now on three personal vari ables (pubertal development, ego development, and sexual orientation) and three ecological variables (family context, cultural context, and romantic relationship context) as examples of how these factors may be related to adolescent girls’ sexuality in a normative framework.