| Every year three million teens contract a sexually transmitted disease (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1994) and close to one million teens become pregnant (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001). Youth who choose to abstain from sexual activity eliminate the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease while avoiding pregnancy and possible emotional consequences. Yet, even with successful intervention programs, not all youth enjoy the desired outcome. Human ecology provides a framework to help better understand the multiple influences impacting adolescents. The adolescent personal fable, first described by Elkind (1979), is a concept that may also help explain why some youth choose to engage in risky behavior even when aware of the potential consequences. Are adolescents with higher levels of invulnerability more likely to engage in sexual activity? The design of this study was a cross-sectional survey, the purpose of which was to examine the relationship between perceived invulnerability to pregnancy and STDs and sexual activity. Using an adaptation of the Dane County Youth Assessment (University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1999) measures, combined with vulnerability questions from The New Personal Fable Scale (Lapsley, FitzGerald, Rice, & Jackson, 1989) and questions developed by the researcher, 67 usable surveys were completed by youth taking Life Skills classes in a mid sized Midwestern city and the surrounding area. A Spearman Rho was used to look at the correlation between perceived invulnerability and sexual activity and logistic regression was used to look at the relationship between perceived invulnerability and other predictors of sexual activity. While no relationship was found between feelings of invulnerability and sexual activity even when controlling for other predictors of sexual activity, perceived invulnerability did have some impact on the sexual behavior of youth with multiple risk factors and fewer protective factors. The latter result offers some support for the notion that perceived invulnerability may impact adolescent sexual activity, especially in high-risk youth. Interventions to decrease feelings of invulnerability and overall risk may be helpful in decreasing adolescent sexual activity. |
