Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk: A Theoretical - ETR Associates

3. Use concepts, language, symbols, pictures orpeople that area. realistic and appropriate to the audience(including the diversity of youth beingtargeted)b. clearc. appealing, persuasive and forcefuld. empowering (e.g., should encourage youth toact on their own behalf and to take control oftheir sexual behavior)4. Include messages about both actual behaviors andbeliefs or norms about behavior—e.g., “7 out of10 teens do not have sex and 8 out of 10 believethat not having sex is the best choice for youngpeople their age”5. Focus on the positive as opposed to the negativein terms of sexual risk—e.g “7 out of 10 teens donot have sexual intercourse” as opposed to “3 outof 10 teens do have sexual intercourse”Important Steps in Usingthe Social Norms ApproachProperly using the social norms approach andestablishing a gap requires collecting data on actualnorms and perceptions and then comparing them.Michael Haines and his colleagues (2005) recommendseveral generic steps that can be applied tocompleting this process for sexual behavior:1. Conduct a representative survey of the school (orother youth population) or use existing surveyresults, analyze results and confirm that a gapexists.Measure:a. Actual sexual and contraceptive behavior (e.g.,“Have you ever had sex?” “Have you had sex inthe last 3 months?” “If you have had sex, howoften do you use condoms or contraception?”)b. Perceptions of friends’ behavior or perceptionsof a larger defined peer group such assame-grade students (e.g., “How many ofyour friends (or students in your 9th grade)have ever had sex?” “If your friends havehad sex, how often do they use condoms orcontraception?”)c. Teens’ own beliefs (e.g., “Do you agree ordisagree with the following statements: It iswrong for teens my age to have sex. Teens myage should wait until they are older to have sex.If teens my age have sex, they should alwaysuse condoms or contraception.”)d. Teens’ perceptions of their friends’ (or largerpeer groups’) beliefs (e.g., “Do you agreeor disagree with the following statements:My friends think it is wrong for teens myage to have sex. My friends think teens myage should wait until they are older to havesex. My friends think that if teens my agehave sex, they should always use condoms orcontraception.”)e. Reasons why they do not have sex, or reasonswhy they use condoms or contraception if theydo have sexf. Protective behaviors or ways to avoid sex orto insist on using condoms or contraception(e.g., “What have you done to avoid undesiredsex? What have you done to make sure thatyou used condoms or contraception if you hadsex?”)Be sure to ask necessary questions for someresults to be positive. For example, if a majority ofstudents in a high school have had sexual intercourse,then a question about ever having hadsexual intercourse should be asked of freshmenwho are less likely to have had sexual intercourse,or a question should be asked about having sexualintercourse in the last 3 months, about use of condomsor contraception, or about beliefs about useof condoms or contraception—all of which mightreveal more positive results to report.Be sure to report results by gender, age or class,if needed. For example, if female students areless likely to have had sexual intercourse, provideresults for males and females separately sothat females do not believe that the norm is forfemales to have sex. When younger students orstudents in lower grades are less likely to have hadChapter 6 Correcting Perceptions of Peer Norms 79