ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to investigate the emergence and development of affective and sexual relationships during adolescence. It discusses the social and cultural context in which adolescents develop their affective relationships, the emergence of romantic and sexual relationships, patterns of sexual activity, preventive behaviors and risk taking in the domain of sexual relationships, and pregnancy and abortion during adolescence. The chapter examines the extent to which adolescents are taking risks from the point of view of unwanted pregnancies and HIV, and discusses the main theoretical explanations for such a tendency. The entrance into romantic relationships represents a challenge to adolescents as individuals and to the network of relationships in which they are embedded, since it involves changes in the patterns of interdependencies with peers and the family. Economic resources and the structure of the community in which adolescents live have been found to be associated with adolescents’ sexual activity and age of first coital experience.
