The scope of research within this Program includes:
- Social and behavioral research on reproductive health using population representative samples in all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation
- Social and behavioral interventions designed to improve reproductive health
- All aspects of reproductive health, including sexual behaviors, the use and non-use of all methods of pregnancy prevention, including but not limited to contraception, and the attainment of desired pregnancy and/or the avoidance of undesired pregnancy
Program areas of interest include the following in both men and women:
- Social, institutional, economic, and cultural factors and contexts that affect sexual behaviors and reproductive outcomes
- Interrelationships between pregnancy prevention and disease prevention
- Consequences of sexual behaviors and other behaviors related to reproductive health on individual well-being, interpersonal relationships, reproductive outcomes, and the well-being of families, communities, and society
- Behaviors related to the risk of unwanted pregnancy/birth including initiation of and trajectories of sexual activity, contraceptive use, and sexual partnerships; partnership dynamics and characteristics; partner selection and the negotiation of protected sex; contraceptive use dynamics and effectiveness
- The design, implementation, and evaluation of theoretically grounded interventions designed to improve reproductive health
- Methodologies and measures to improve studies of reproductive health, including developing reliable and unbiased measures, data collection methods that improve validity of self-reports, and methods for validation of self-report data
Contact: Dr. Susan Newcomer
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