Staff Report
A first-ever study examining the psychological processes of adolescents confronted with sex and birth control issues will be the focus of a UNM College of Nursing study.
Results from the study will be used to help reduce the number of unintended teenage pregnancies.
The study, led by Assistant Professor Beth Tigges, will attempt to evaluate the strength of the social comparison model, a theory that evaluates how teenagers psychologically compare themselves to their peers, friends and adults when facing questions of sexual activity.
By using the social comparison model, researchers such as Tigges will also gain important insight into how teens view pregnancy.
"A lot of pregnancy programs haven't shown a lot of benefits because they haven't been based on well though-out theories on behavior," Tigges said in a UNM press release.
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By studying the cognitive and behavioral elements of sexual decision-making, Tigges anticipates that data samples from her study will help create more effective prevention programs.
The majority of the study's findings will come from questionnaires.
Questions such as "Who do you compare yourself to when you think about teen pregnancy," are currently being devised by a focus group consisting of 80 high school students.
Tigges, who received her doctorate in public health and social psychology from Columbia University, received a three-year, $150,000 grant from the National Institute of Health to study how male and female teenagers compare themselves to those around them.
The study will be administered to a minimum of 500 students from Santa Fe High School and will begin sometime in 2003.
Tigges said that the scale developed through the study will not only help improve current prevention program methods, but also will create a method of evaluating the effect of future prevention programs.
Tigges is the third researcher at UNM to receive funding from the National Institute of Health in the past 18 months.
