Adolescent Sexuality

Reviews the book, Sex and the American Teenager by Robert Coles and Geoffrey Stokes (1985). The blurb on the book's back cover claims that it is "the most thorough, objective, concrete, illuminating study that has yet been published on the sexual behavior and attitudes of adolescents in our society." The reviewer does not agree with this statement. Missing from the chapters by Stokes is an awareness that human sexuality (including adolescent sexuality) involves the whole person in the context of her or his total development and life situation: biological, social, psychological, familial, cohort, economic, and political. Although the authors claim to "provide guidance for parents and adolescents in coping with today's sexual revolution," it seems unlikely that such claims can be extensively substantiated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)