On the psychology of adolescents' use of contraceptives

Abstract

Adolescent contraceptive use has typically been described as being irrational. This impression is reinforced by the apparent widespread non‐use of contraception among sexually‐active teenagers‐who have had benefit of formal sex education and have contraceptive devices available to them. This paradox poses an important social problem. To account for adolescent irrationality the present paper discusses the cognitive‐emotional development typical of the adolescent years, particularly the egocentric nature of intuitive adolescent thought. Several practical implications for improving sex education are proposed on the basis of this discussion.