Pediatricians and other health care providers are an important source of health care information for adolescents and young adults and play a significant role in addressing their reproductive and sexual health care needs.
We’ve assembled a collection of tools and resources to support pediatricians and other health care providers interested in improving sexual health care for adolescents and young adults.
Adolescent Sexual Health Overview
Adolescence is a time of major transition physically, emotionally, and socially. Healthy sexuality is an important part of adolescent development, and primary health care providers play a key role in helping young people develop healthy routines, behaviors, and relationships that they can carry into their adult lives. While most adolescents at this stage of life are thriving, many of them have difficulty navigating this transition, particularly understanding that risky sexual behavior taking can jeopardize their health during these formative years and can contribute to poor health outcomes in adulthood.
The information on this web site is designed for primary care providers to assist and support in the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents and young adults. It provides guidance on recommended services, approaches to addressing important clinical issues, and resources for patients and their families on how to optimize the health of adolescents and young adults and reduce risk-taking behaviors. The patient and family specific information is designed to be shared by the primary care provider with patients and their families.
Equitable Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care for all Youth
View strategies and key partnerships to support youth access to sexual and reproductive health care.
AAP Recommendations
Adolescent Sexual Health-Related AAP Policy
The Committee on Pediatric & Adolescent HIV, Section on Adolescent Health and Section on LGBT Health and Wellness develop policy statements, clinical reports and technical guidelines to improve the health of all adolescents.
External Recommendations
Adolescent sexual health- related guidelines that have been endorsed by the AAP.
Professional Tools & Resources
Get Involved
These groups are involved in Adolescent Sexual Health.
Committee on Adolescence
The Committee on Adolescence (COA) addresses the special health care needs of adolescents and promotes the pediatrician as their optimal source of health care.
Committee on Pediatric and Adolescent HIV (COPAH)
The Committee on Pediatric and Adolescent HIV (COPAH) provides guidelines and recommendations for the care and treatment of infants, children and adolescents with HIV and their families through the development of AAP policy statements.
Section on Adolescent Health
The Section on Adolescent Health (SOAH) provides a forum for pediatricians interested in the health care of adolescents and enables members to meet for the purpose of discussion and development of ideas and programs which will improve the health and care of young people.
Section on LGBT Health and Wellness
The mission of the Section on Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Health and Wellness is to support the health and wellness of LGBT children and their families, LGBT parents and their children, Children with variations in gender presentation and their families and LGBT pediatricians and trainees.
Podcasts and Voices Blogs
Learn what others are saying. Listen to our podcasts and read our blog posts.
Adolescent Contraception – Episode 5
In this episode, hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, unpack the AAP’s updated policy on contraception. Laura Grubb MD, MPH, FAAP, a member of the AAP Committee on Adolescence, talks about the new terminology and the change in attitudes toward long-acting reversible contraception. The hosts also discuss new research in Pediatrics with Jonathan Klein, MD, MPH, FAAP, who co-authored a review article about the use of marijuana in adolescents and young adults.
Pediatrics on Call
|August 20, 2020
Promoting Healthy Sexuality for Youth with Disabilities – Episode 76
In this episode Stuart Berger, MD, FAAP, chair of the executive committee of the AAP Section on Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, describes causes, symptoms, and treatment of myocarditis. Hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, also talk to Amy Houtrow, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP, about ways pediatricians can promote healthy sexuality for youth with disabilities.
Pediatrics on Call
|August 24, 2021
Last Updated
11/09/2022
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics