Sexual behavior is an important aspect of adolescent development with implications for well-being. These chapters highlight important perspectives on studying sexual health from a normative, developmental perspective, such as viewing a range of sexual behaviors as life events; considering potentially positive physical health, mental health, social…

Although research has increasingly emphasized how adolescent sexual behavior may be associated with aspects of health beyond unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, no current theoretical or conceptual model fully explains associations between sexual behavior and multiple facets of health. We provide a conceptual model that…

This chapter provides an expanded view of parent- adolescent sexual communication and socialization in an effort to move beyond risk perspectives toward a consideration of other important aspects of sexual socialization.

Reports on the measurement of sex-related communication and its improvement in recent years in the following ways: more differentiated self-report measures, the use of multiple reporters, the situating of sex-related communication within the context of general communication, and the use of innovative measures such as observational methods and…