Abstract

Despite recognition that sexual well-being is an important part of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, a clear description of adolescent sexual well-being does not yet exist. Through six in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions with 56 young people in two distinct contexts (Belgium and Ecuador), we used the social-ecological framework to identify factors influencing adolescent sexual well-being. According to respondents, the main factors that influence adolescent sexual well-being are not only situated at the individual (having knowledge and skills and being physically, sexually and mental mature and healthy) and interpersonal levels (positive attraction towards others and communication about sexuality), but at a broader societal level, including social acceptance of sex, gender and sexual diversity and its (legal) translation into comprehensive sexuality education and the ready availability of contraceptives. Our results go well beyond two existing definitions of (adolescent) sexual well-being to contribute to understanding and measurement from the perspective of young people themselves, adding substantively to ongoing discussion about the definition of the concept.

摘要

尽管认识到性健康是青少年性健康和生殖健康的重要组成部分，但对青少年性健康的明确描述尚不存在。通过对两个不同背景下（比利时和厄瓜多尔）的 56 名年轻人进行六次深入访谈和四次焦点小组讨论，我们使用社会生态框架来确定影响青少年性福祉的因素。受访者表示，影响青少年性福祉的主要因素不仅在于个人（拥有知识和技能，身体、性和心理成熟和健康）和人际层面（对他人的积极吸引力和关于性的交流） ，但在更广泛的社会层面，包括社会对性的接受，性别和性多样性及其（法律）转化为全面的性教育和避孕药具的现成供应。我们的结果远远超出了（青少年）性福祉的两个现有定义，有助于从年轻人本身的角度理解和衡量，并为正在进行的关于该概念定义的讨论增加实质性内容。