A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENT. GIRLS’ SEXUALITY

Contemporary investigations of adolescent sexuality can be enhanced by using a framework that views adolescent sexuality from a normative developmental perspective. We present one such framework that focuses on girls’ developing sense of themselves as sexual beings and the subjective meanings of their sexual behaviors. We argue that analysis of the meaning of adolescent sexuality must be understood within a context that examines the role of ecological and personal characteristics of adolescents. Ecological characteristics such as culture, ethnic community, family environment, peer environment, romantic relationship environment, organized religion, and the media influence the meanings that adolescents ascribe to their sexual behaviors and feelings and to their sense of themselves as sexual beings. Similarly, personal characteristics of adolescents including temperament, sexual orientation, physical characteristics, personal values, spirituality, and psychosocial, biological, and cognitive development also play a role in ad­olescents’ developing sexuality. This framework allows empirical investi­gations to capture the complexity and diversity of adolescent girls’ sexual development. In the rest of this chapter we consider the three central aspects of this framework (a normative stance, an emphasis on meaning, and inclusion of contextual variables), we examine studies that illustrate portions of the framework, and we pose new questions for future investi­gators guided by this framework.