Teen Sexual Health

Overview

Engaging Teens

Resources:

Early (ages 11 through 14) to middle adolescence (ages 15 to 16) is a period of many changes and great growth in all spheres of life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It's a time of experimentation-of trying out different activities, experiences, and even values and beliefs, and deciding which ones to keep. Many health behaviours begin during this time and continue throughout the course of life, making this a rich time to educate teens in healthy lifestyle choices, and help them develop the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed to thrive during adolescence and adulthood. Working with younger youth before they begin risk-taking behaviours increases the ability of health promotion programs to effectively prevent and intervene in possibly unhealthy behaviours.

The most effective way of promoting healthy behaviours among youth is through an approach that integrates health information with a focus on building the positive emotional, cognitive, moral, and physical competencies. Youth should leave the instructional workshops feeling empowered, valued, capable, positive, and hopeful. Some of the features of effective youth development programs include:

Addressing teens' interests and needs at a developmentally appropriate level
Strengthening the role of adolescents as resources in the community
Advocating for and with youth
Fostering partnerships among family, school, and community
Engaging peers in interventions
Looking at and responding to the social contexts that influence decisions

Research and practice show that peer education is an effective way of influencing teen health behaviours. As highlighted through the community mapping work done with North Shore teens, friends and other peers play a powerful role during adolescence. Teens look to their peers to determine what's okay and what's not. This peer influence extends into the realm of sexuality and sexual health behaviours.

Teens are more likely to participate in discussions about sexuality that are lead by other youth. They are also more likely to believe the information provided by peer educators and to reconsider their own values and beliefs. This is likely because the teens see peer educators as people who share similar life experiences.

This resource aims to take advantage of this rich period and engage youth in developing a culture of healthy sexuality.

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