ABSTRACT

"Postponing Sexual Involvement: An Educational Series for Young People" was developed to help younger adolescents resist social and peer pressures toward early sexual involvement. Traditionally, the goals of sex, "education programs have been to provide factual information, to assist young people in clarifying their values, to increase young people's decision-making skills, and to encourage responsible sexual behavior. The basic concept of the "Postponing Sexual Involvement Series" was taken from materials published by Alfred McAlister on studies of the Stanford-based smoking prevention project. The series is designed for younger adolescents (males and females) and the parents of these adolescents. These young people and their parents may be reached in a variety of settings: school, churches, or youth-serving agencies. The goals of the parent series are to help parents understand the pressures in our society that influence young people's sexual behavior and to give parents tools to help young teens postpone sexual involvement.