The need to know: Recalled adolescent sources of sexual and contraceptive information and sexual behavior

Abstract

Most studies of college students' recall of adolescent sources of sexual and contraceptive information have focused on the identification of sources and have not been concerned with the utility of the information. This study is concerned with the perceived utility of sexual and contraceptive information obtained from various sources during high school and the relationship between the usefulness of the information obtained from the sources and sexual behavior during high school and college. Data from 823 white, never‐married, undergraduate college students, interviewed in the fall of 1976, indicate that the recalled utility of various sources of sexual and contraceptive information obtained in high school is related to both the sex of the respondent and to whether the respondent commenced coital activity in high school, college, or is still a virgin. Respondent's reports of the degree of useful knowledge they had in high school about specific contraceptives are also related to gender and sexual experience.