Adolescents' sexual and reproductive health: an ecological perspective.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is the key time in the formation of sexual confidence and fertility in people and many risky sexual behaviors in this sensitive era are the roots of many adulthood diseases. STD and early pregnancy are among the most important issues of adolescence. OBJECTIVE: This study deals with reviewing ecological factors related to the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents. METHODS: As this study was a narrative review the researchers conducted their computer search in public bases such as Google Scholar and then in more specialized ones such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Direct, Up-to-date, SPRINGER, SID, Magi ran, Iranmedex and Irandoc with the key words adolescents, sexual health, reproductive health and ecological from 1991 to 2015. Initially 152 articles were elicited and after a review study of the title and abstract, 80 articles entered the study. After reading the full text, 39 articles were chosen for writing the current review article. RESULTS: Reviewing the articles led to organizing the contents in three main classes according to Bronfenbrenner's suggestion namely ecological factors at microsystem, mesosystem and macrosystem levels which include individual predisposing factors, environmental enabling factors and social reinforcing factors. CONCLUSION: Adolescents are at a high risk of STD and early pregnancy. Many factors are considered as effective at this critical era, based on which comprehensive intervention based on ecological factors is needed to step forward toward preventing adolescence risks.