Adolescent sexual behaviour: A systematic review of psychological assessment tools

Abstract

BackgroundSexual behaviour in adolescents has been explained as amulti-systemic and multi-dimensional concept. Whilemost research perceives adolescent sexual activity asrisky behaviour, a significant case has also been made tounderstand these activities as a healthy normativeprocess.In contemporary literature, a significantincrease in adolescent sexual behaviourhas been noted,further emphasizing the need to assess this behaviourmore comprehensively.MethodologyThis systematic review identifies assessment tools foradolescent sexual behaviour and evaluates theirpsychometric properties as well as clinical utility.Relevant publications in English or Hindi from 1990 to2022 were identified using a comprehensive searchstrategy in PubMed and ScienceDirect, supplementedby screening citations and references. Furthermore, a10-point quality judgment criterion was used to evaluatethe psychometric aspects of the scales.ResultsEleven publications were identified andselected for this review, of which ten were selfreportmeasures, and one was an interviewbasedinstrument. Findings indicated thatmost tools showed only moderatepsychometric qualities and had limited clinicalutility.ConclusionAssessment tools to test sexual behaviour inadolescents have been more focused on riskybehaviour, and mor e dive r s e andpsychometrically sound tools with morerobust validation studies are