ABSTRACT
Responsible individuals do what they can to reduce their personal vulnerability. Responsible societies teach those with limited knowledge how to achieve that goal. Adolescents are a popular target of such efforts, as they face many risky decisions for the first time in their lives. For example, 45.6% of adolescents have tried sexual intercourse by the time they are in high school (Grunbaum et al., 2002). The decision to have sex triggers additional decisions, like whether to use condoms, which 42.1% of high school students reported doing at last intercourse (Grunbaum et al., 2002). “Use condoms” can be an ambiguous option, if it is unclear how to use them correctly. Younger women seem to lack this information, because they are more likely than older women to experience condom breakage (Macaluso et al., 1999). Failing to use condoms effectively exposes teens to risks for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, other sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy (Darroch, 2001; Williams et al., 2002). If adolescents do not understand the consequences of their actions, then they may incur these risks unwittingly.
