Learning about Sexual Meaning and Decision-Making from Urban Adolescents

Abstract

This article uses examples of research conducted by teams of urban youth researchers assisted by adult social scientists to illustrate the utility of two approaches to cultural research on sexuality, narrative research, and scripting theory. Narrative research is based on analysis of personal stories of life experiences; scripting theory points to cultural scripts as important in shaping and changing sexual norms. Examples of youth studies demonstrate how sexuality is situated among other issues in the life of urban teens, define sexual norms by age and gender, and identify scripted patterns of sexual sequencing. Methods used in conceptualization and data collection model negotiation skills needed for successful sexual decision making. The article concludes with a discussion of the relative merits of involving youth as partners in exploring adolescent sexuality. It describes how such partnerships can be created so that cultural research can be conducted from a youth perspective, and new knowledge integrated into socially constructed approaches to understanding and preventing risky sexual behaviors in young people.