As opposed to the assumptions disseminated in society, sexual initiation in Brazil does not take place at precocious age. Men are sexually initiated around 16.2 years old (median age) and women around 17.9 years old (median age), reports research “Teenage pregnancy, gender and sexuality: a multicentric study about youth, sexuality and reproduction in Brazil – GRAVAD”. Regarding the use of contraceptives, there were differences among the cities focused in the research: 80% of the interviewees from Porto Alegre used protection in their first sexual intercourse, against 71% in Rio de Janeiro and 63% in Salvador.
GRAVAD covered the following topics: family history and socialization related to sexuality; the first steady relationship; the various experiences of ficar (less committed relations); sexual initiation; affectionate relationships and their termination; sexual morality; sexual practices and repertoire experienced with partner of the opposite sex and of the same sex; occurrence or non-occurrence of pregnancy and/or abortion; and experience of motherhood and fatherhood. Differently from the alarmist view that prevails in common perception and in reports disseminated by mass media, the register of pregnancy before the age of 15 was very low (1.6%).
The study was developed from 1999 to 2006 by a team[i] that included professionals from the Instituto de Medicina Social da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – IMS/UERJ; the Instituto de Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal da Bahia – MUSA/ISC/UFBA; the Núcleo de Pesquisa em Antropologia do Corpo e da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – NUPACS/UFRS; and the Institut d’Etudes Démographiques – INED, France. GRAVAD was sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq, and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–CAPES.
Main results of GRAVAD
Differences in relation to prevalent interpretations of teenage pregnancy. Opposite to medical, epidemiologic, demographic works and even some studies in social sciences whose diagnosis is that teenage pregnancy constitutes a social and public health problem, GRAVAD aimed at giving a voice to youth. Through the combination of the material produced in this listening process with the historical and anthropological literature about sexuality, the frame of interpretations for this field of experience was developed. Therefore, as the research distanced itself from the reductionist, moralist and normative perspectives adopted by a large number of works about juvenile sexuality and pregnancy, it made it possible to undo myths built by conventional thought, as well as by specialists and mass media. At the same time, this very position allowed GRAVAD to reveal the complexity enveloped both in the subject itself and in its discussion.
The thesis confirmed by GRAVAD is aligned to the conception that, as it happens for adult sexuality, sexuality among youth means a learning process. As a learning process, juvenile sexuality is not without rules. To the contrary, youth sexuality is informed by the socializing process and by the access (or by the lack of access) to education, to dialogue and to assistance that society makes available to the young population. In general terms, this means to admit that individuals are socialized to enter sexual life by means of culture, that guides behaviors and scripts considered acceptable for each social group. As a consequence, sexual practices differ within each society; they vary according to the parameters of the different social segments that constitute society. Expressions and manifestations related to sexuality have distinct meanings according to values that are disseminated in a given socio-cultural stratum. Therefore, sexual acts are not necessarily univocal. The socialization required by the exercise of sexuality is closely related to the way with which relations between genders are organized in a given context (Heilborn, 1999).
Men and women are socially modeled in diverse ways. These differences are loudly noticeable across different social classes and between genders (Bozon and Heilborn, 2001), and they can be tracked through the sexual scripts followed by individuals. Sexual scripts mirror the many and diverse socializations one experiences during life, that is, types of family and school, as well as access to different means of communication, neighborhood and friendship networks, and so on ( Gagnon and Simon, 1973). Sexual scripts are particularly relevant during the phase in which sexuality becomes a very important issue, that is, during adolescence, when the initiation of sexual practices with a partner takes place, as they are also important in the following phase, that is, in the passage to adulthood. A specific conception of sexuality is at play when entering sexual life occurs, and this conception is linked to the social use of the body, being that the body itself is already subjected to (and thus modeled by) cultural norms.
Sexual initiation. As opposed to the assumptions disseminated in society regarding the young population, the beginning of sexual life with a partner does not take place at precocious age. Men are sexually initiated earlier (median age around 16.2 years old) than women (median age around 17.9 years old). An important research finding was that the age for men’s sexual initiation does not change according the social variables of levels of schooling and income, religion, and color/race. That is, the frame for men’s sexual initiation age is quite homogenous. This homogeneity is not found among women: there are important variations according to these social variables. Women in the lower socioeconomic segments generally enter sexual life earlier than the others. However, women of all socioeconomic segments who have the project of continuing to study and an ascendant trajectory in schooling tend to postpone entering sexual life – and this does not occur among young men in the same situation.
With respect to age difference between partners, the picture is very structured in the sense that it follows the traditional gender relations in the country: masculine partners are usually older than their partners.
Women state to have been sexually initiated with their namorados [steady boyfriends], while fifty percent of the men mention sexual initiation with an occasional partner. Men’s sexual initiation with professionals of sex was inexpressive, and this confirms the hypothesis elaborated in the beginning of the study according to which there are changes in sexual morality with regard to feminine sexuality.
The use of contraceptives. The majority of the interviewees – women and men – declared the use of protection and/or contraceptive in the first sexual relation. However, there were differences among the cities focused in the research: 80% of the interviewees from Porto Alegre used protection in their first sexual intercourse, against 71% in Rio de Janeiro and 63% in Salvador. For young men and women this rate diminishes as the relationship continues, given that with time, partners “gain trust” in each other. There is not open conversation between partners about the issues related to protection against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. A possible interpretation for this lack of dialogue (a characteristic that contrasts with other countries, such as France, for instance) is that such behavior results from the fact that sexual initiation happens between partners whose ages and accumulated experiences are very uneven, and this does not favor partners to have open conversations about protection. At the same time, the socially prevalent view that sexuality must occur in a spontaneous way is also cultivated among youth. This fact simultaneously reinforces gender stereotypes and increases the chances of unexpected pregnancy. Social differences do not unfold in differences with respect to conversation between partners about sexuality. Differently than expected, belonging to the upper socioeconomic segments does not favor dialogue or sexual negotiation between men and women. Actually, among these social segments the traditional pattern of gender relations is more pronounced. What happens in the upper social segments is that young men invest very little in talking with their partners, while young women find dialogue to be very important.
Sexual values and practices. According to the interviewees, it is not possible to maintain an affectionate relationship with a person and to have sex with other persons. The acceptance and the dissemination of an idealized relationship among youth shows the importance of this phase of life, when learning about sexuality is concomitant with learning about affection. The vinculum men and women develop towards sexuality remains different: masculine sexual needs are represented as being stronger and less controllable by the individual. The idea that sexuality cannot be controlled is more prevalent in the lower socioeconomic segments, as well as the rejection of sexual relations between individuals of the same sex, particularly between men. Differently than expected, young men and women in the lower social segments share more commonalities in their views and attitudes regarding sexuality than do the ones in the more socially privileged segments. As for sexual practices, it was observed that oral sex is part of the sexual repertoire for both men and women – stated by about 80% of participants. Masturbation constitutes the way by which young men initiate sexual life, while it is an inexpressive practice among women. The practice of anal sex disclosures a clear gender polarization: men stated its practice in much higher proportions than women (61% vs. 25% respectively); and this reflects the valorization of this form of sexual interaction in Brazilian masculine gender culture.
Homosexuality. Sexual experience with a partner of the same sex was stated by 3.3% of the interviewees, a proportion that follows the results of international studies about sexuality. Compared with young women of the same social stratum, young men with higher levels of schooling demonstrated a less open position regarding homosexuality, as well as a more naturalized view of sexual desire. These data put into perspective a supposed homogeneity produced by the modernization of sexual values that would have occurred among these social segments in Brazil. The attitude regarding masculine homosexuality remains an important indicator that a traditional view of masculinity continues to prevail among men, and that this view crosses social class boundaries. Another key indicator is the fact that in the more privileged social strata only the women were shown to agree with a more egalitarian sexual morality.
Stable affective relationship. The majority of the interviewees is experiencing or had already experienced a stable relationship in which sexual relations occurred. Part of them had already lived in a conjugal situation, and it is important to note that this experience is more frequent among women (42.4%) than among men (25.6%). Eleven percent of the men stated never to have experienced a stable relationship, while only 3.2% of women included themselves in this case. Schooling, especially feminine schooling appears as the variable that postpones union. Among poor women, conjugality occurs earlier and it is shown to be an important strategy towards independence from the family of origin. A pattern concerning the choices of sexual-affective partnerships that is guided by gender-informed expectations was observed. There is a tendency for men to have partners of their age or younger, while women have older partners. With regard to color/race, homogamy of color prevails in the majority of the relationships. As for the heterogamic couples, they are usually of black men with white women. Different events and situations are lived by the young population with regard to a steady relationship. Marriage and pregnancy do not always unfold in a sequential way, as it is frequently postulated as adequate. To the contrary, these events and situations can occur simultaneously. This distance between the socially disseminated ideal and the actual experiences lived by youth contributes to the social perception of pregnancy in this phase of life as a problem.
Teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy that occurs before the age of 20. Differently from the alarmist view that prevails in common perception and in reports disseminated by mass media, the register of pregnancy before the age of 15 was very low (1.6%). The occurrence of at least one reproductive event before the age of 20 was reported by 29.6% of the women and 21.4% of men. In general terms, the research confirmed the relation between reproductive precociousness with lower levels of schooling and income, for both men and women. However, the same data indicate that pregnancy also occurs among youth with superior financial and cultural resources. As for the experience of parenting, the collected data allow us to detect a smaller number of young fathers and mothers among the superior social strata than among the lower socioeconomic strata; as well as it is possible to see that abortion is more frequent in the upper strata.
Abortion. The data related to women who wanted to opt for abortion (15.5%), to women who tried to have an abortion (11.2%), and to men’s affirmation that they would like their partners to interrupt pregnancy (20%) are sociologically relevant. The results found in the research turn the debate about abortion into a very complex matter because, given that abortion is illegal in the country, the attempts to interrupt pregnancy as well as the very practice of abortion are left aside the debate. The consequence is that a blind spot is built in the discussion of the oft-blamed teenage pregnancy.
Pregnancy and schooling. Pregnancy followed by childbirth happens in a great extent when the youth involved in such an event are not in school anymore. This is the case of approximately 40% of the young women and 48% of the young men who became parents up to the age of 19. Our argument is that teenage parenting is linked to a more complex frame of social and biographical determinants in which the process of detaching sexuality from reproduction – i.e. the aspect that is so much highlighted in the context of contemporary changes in the field of sexuality – is not yet completed, especially in the less favored socioeconomic segments. In these groups, along with the positivity attributed to the project of building a family (family as a value), becoming a mother or a father functions as a strategy towards both social recognition and as a passage to adulthood. According to this rationale, for this young population, the goal of building a family is frequently more important than other values, as, for example, investing primarily in education.
Methodology
In its first phase, the research was devoted to the completion of 123 qualitative interviews. These interviews provided the elements for elaborating questions that constituted the questionnaire used in the second phase of the investigation. At the same time, they provided material upon which different dissertations and theses were produced, as can be seen in the list of publications related to GRAVAD.
From October 2001 to January 2006, the questionnaire derived from the first phase of research was taken by individuals in different socioeconomic segments in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Porto Alegre, state capitals in three very diverse regions of the country. This household survey reached 4,634 individuals of both sexes whose ages varied from 18 to 24 years old. This age group was strategic, given that the goal was to allow the consequences of eventual pregnancy and parenting during adolescence to be evaluated by the interviewees[ii].
The third phase of work was the analysis of the collected data. From this process of analysis resulted the book O aprendizado da sexualidade. Reprodução e trajetórias sociais de jovens brasileiros, organized by Heilborn, M.L., Aquino, E.M.L., Bozon, M. and D. R. Knauth, and published in 2006 (Garamond/Fiocruz). Other works[iii] originated from this research, and they were produced during the process of analyzing the data, as well as after the analytical phase was accomplished.
The view adopted during the research was the one that focuses on the enfoldment of events and processes lived by young people regarding sexuality and affectionate ties. The occurrence or non-occurrence of pregnancy was thus contextualized in relation to these events and processes, according to the statements provided by the interviewees. Therefore, the objective of the research was to understand teenage pregnancy within the frame of individual and social processes that relate to it. Thus, in terms of theory, the research was guided by the understanding that the occurrence of pregnancy must be seen as subordinated to a more comprehensive frame that includes the changes in juvenile sexuality, the gender-informed relations that are inherent to these changes, and the relations across generations. Equally important was the theoretical framework that understands sexuality as a realm whose contents and regulation are historically transformed, and in which individuals are progressively socialized.
Recommendations for public policies. Regarding the elaboration of public policies devoted to juvenile sexuality, the study allowed us to detect the need to observe the following considerations:
1) Policies that are centered only on the idea of individual accountability are less likely to succeed than policies that include an understanding of the key role played by institutional and macro-social factors in modeling sexuality. It is fundamental to promote a discussion of sexual education in schools that does not remain restricted to technical information. This discussion must address substantial contents such as the dimensions of gender relations and of the affection that are at play in the realm of sexuality.
2) The regulation of fertility must be conceived as reproductive planning, instead of family planning (which assumes conjugal union), so that health services are made available to young men and women who have already been sexually initiated or intend to ingress sexual life with a partner.
3) Given that there are serious problems with school dropout rates in the country, particularly during adolescence, it is necessary to discuss sexual education in schools earlier, that is, according to age range and not grade level. This would rectify the problem of school gap that is so frequent in the country.
4) The effective dissemination of the morning-after pill is crucial because it can reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies as well as the number of abortions that occur in precarious and unsafe conditions, which can cause severe consequences to women’s lives and relevant social costs.
5) We suggest the development of policies focused on more vulnerable groups, as are the poor youth. Thus, focal public policies, such as daycare of young parents’ children, are recommended. Professional qualification and insertion in the job market constitute strong demands expressed by youth in this phase of life. This set of strategies would avoid traditional gender roles – mother/housewife and father/provider – to be reified or reinforced among youth.
6) Given the specificity of the subject as well as the task of building citizens who are autonomous and committed to the ethics of human rights (social, reproductive and sexual rights, etc.), it is urgent to promote the qualification of professionals who are in charge of educating children and youth according to these ethical parameters. Those professionals need to be better prepared to approach the issues raised in the terrain of sexual and reproductive rights, for these issues are presently fundamental and they are part of the school context.
7) The promotion of the awareness and the qualification of health professionals who work with youth regarding the view of sexuality and reproduction as human rights. It is also crucial to develop strategies towards the adoption of this view in the field of health promotion, prevention and assistance.
[i] GRAVAD was elaborated and developed by Maria Luiza Heilborn (IMS/UERJ), Michel Bozon (INED), Estela Aquino (ISC/UFBA) and Daniela Knauth (NUPACS/UFRGS). The statistics consultant was Antonio José Ribeiro Dias (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, IBGE). The team was multidisciplinary and included 20 researchers.
[ii] Methodological remarks. The first phase of the research – the qualitative phase – comprised semi-structured interviews of 18-24 year old of both sexes from different social strata, with and without experience of parenting, residing in three Brazilian state capitals – Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The second phase – a quantitative investigation – was a household survey. It was carried out though a three-stage sampling procedure, including stratification of census tracts, according to indicators of the socio-economic situation of their residents. Tracts were selected at random and a list of permanent private households with residents in the age range of interest was drawn up. Thirty-three households were selected with equal probability and without replacement; in each household, one young person was randomly selected for interview. Data were produced by applying a standardized questionnaire in face-to-face interviews. For data analysis purposes, the sample was weighted on the basis of the probabilities with which the units of each corresponding stage were selected. Quite satisfactory response rates were obtained in the three centres, confirming the feasibility of conducting studies of sexuality and reproduction among young people in Brazilian cities by means of household sample surveys with face-to-face interviews.
[iii] 1. MA dissertations and PhD theses
Cabral, C.S. (2002). Vicissitudes da gravidez na adolescência entre jovens das camadas populares do Rio de Janeiro. (Dissertação de Mestrado em Saúde Coletiva). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social / Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
Costa, T.J.N.M. (2002). Gravidez na adolescência: um estudo de caso sobre a maternidade na faixa de 10 a 14 anos em Juiz de Fora (MG). (Dissertação de Mestrado em Saúde Coletiva). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
BRANDÃO, E.R. (2003) Individualização e Vínculo Familiar em Camadas Médias: Um Olhar Através da Gravidez na Adolescência. (Tese de Doutorado em Saúde Coletiva). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
Leal, A.F. (2003). Uma antropologia da experiência amorosa: estudo de representações sociais sobre sexualidade. (Dissertação de Mestrado em Antropologia Social). Porto Alegre, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
Peres, S.O. (2003). Aborto e juventude: um horizonte de possibilidades diante da gravidez na adolescência. (Tese de Doutorado em Saúde Coletiva). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
DIAS, A.B. (2005). Parentalidade juvenil e relações familiares em Salvador, BA. (Tese de Doutorado em Ciências Sociais). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
MARINHO, L.F.B. (2006). Entrada na Sexualidade e Práticas Contraceptivas: a experiência de jovens em três capitais brasileiras. (Tese de Doutorado em Saúde Coletiva). Salvador, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva/Universidade Federal da Bahia
MENEZES, G.M.S. (2006). Aborto e Juventude: um estudo em três capitais brasileiras. (Tese de Doutorado em Saúde Coletiva). Salvador, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva/Universidade Federal da Bahia
ALMEIDA, M.C.C. (2008). Gravidez na Adolescência e Escolaridade: um estudo em três capitais brasileiras. (Tese de Doutorado em Saúde Coletiva). Salvador, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva/Universidade Federal da Bahia
SANTOS, F.C.M. (2008). Negociando Significados: Coerção sexual em narrativas de jovens brasileiros. (Dissertação de Mestrado em Saúde Coletiva). Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Medicina Social/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro;
2. Articles in Academic Journals
Brandão, E.R.; Heilborn, M.L.; Aquino, E.M.L.; Knauth, D.R.; Bozon, M. (2001). “Juventude e família: reflexões preliminares sobre a gravidez na adolescência em camadas médias urbanas”. Intersecções: Revista de Estudos Interdisciplinares. Rio de Janeiro, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, vol.3 (Supl.2), pp.159-80.
CABRAL, C.S. (2002). “‘Gravidez na adolescência’ e identidade masculina: repercussões sobre a trajetória escolar e profissional do jovem”. Revista Brasileira de Estudos de População, vol.19 (Sup. 2), jul-dez, pp. 179-195.
COSTA, T.J.N.M. (2002b). “A maternidade em menores de 15 anos em Juiz de Fora (MG): uma abordagem socioantropológica”. Praia Vermelha. Estudos de Política e Teoria Social, n.7, segundo semestre. Rio de Janeiro, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Serviço Social/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, pp.154-83.
HEILBORN, M.L.; SALEM, T.; KNAUTH, D.R.; AQUINO, E.M.L.; BOZON, M.; ROHDEN, F.; VICTORA, C.; MCCALLUM, C.; BRANDÃO, E.R. (2002). “Aproximações socioantropológicas sobre a gravidez na adolescência”. Horizontes Antropológicos, ano 8, n.17, jun. Porto Alegre, pp.13-45.
Aquino, E.M.L.; Heilborn, M.L.; Knauth, D.R.; Bozon, M.; Almeida, M.C.C.; Araujo, M.J.; Menezes, G.M.S. (2003). “Adolescência e reprodução no Brasil: a heterogeneidade dos perfis sociais”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.19 (Supl.2), pp.377-88.
CABRAL, C.S. (2003). “Contracepção e gravidez na adolescência na perspectiva de jovens pais de uma comunidade favelada do Rio de Janeiro”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, vol.19 (supl.2), pp.283-92.
ALMEIDA, M.C.C.; AQUINO, E.M.L.; BARROS, A.P. (2006). “School trajectory and teenage pregnancy in three Brazilian state capitals”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1397-1409.
BRANDÃO, E,R,; HEILBORN, M.L. (2006). “Sexualidade e gravidez na adolescência entre jovens de camadas médias do Rio de Janeiro”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1421-30.
DIAS, A.B.; AQUINO, E.M.L. (2006). “Maternidade e paternidade na adolescência: algumas constatações em três cidades do Brasil”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1447-58.
HEILBORN, M.L.; CABRAL, C.S. (2006). “Sexual practices in youth: analysis of lifetime sexual trajectory and last sexual intercourse”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1471-81.
LEAL, A.F.; KNAUTH D.R. (2006). “A relação sexual como uma técnica corporal: representações masculinas dos relacionamentos afetivo-sexuais”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1375-83.
MENEZES, G.; AQUINO, E.M.L.; SILVA, D.O. (2006). “Induced abortion during youth: social inequalities in the outcome of the first pregnancy”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1431-46.
MORAES, C.L.; CABRAL, C.S.; HEILBORN, M.L. (2006). Magnitude e caracterização de situação de coerção sexual vivenciadas por adolescentes e jovens de três grandes capitais brasileiras: Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro e Salvador”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1493-1504.
PERES, S.O.; HEILBORN, M.L. (2006). “Cogitação e prática do aborto entre jovens em contexto de interdição legal: o avesso da gravidez na adolescência”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1411-20.
TEIXEIRA, A.M.F.B.; KNAUTH D.R., FACHEL, J.M.G.; LEAL A.F. (2006). “Adolescentes e uso de preservativos: as escolhas dos jovens de três capitais brasileiras na iniciação e na última relação sexual”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, vol.22 (Supl.7), pp.1385-96.
HEILBORN, M.L; BRANDÃO, E.R. ; CABRAL, C.S. (2007). “Teenage pregnancy and moral panic in Brazil”. Culture, Health & Sexuality, vol. 9 (Supl. 4), pp. 403-14.
3. Chapters of Books
HEILBORN, M.L. (1998). “Gravidez na adolescência: considerações preliminares sobre as dimensões culturais de um problema social”. In: VIEIRA, E.M.; FERNANDES, M.E. L.; BAILEY, P.; McKAY, A. (orgs.), Seminário Gravidez na Adolescência. São Paulo, Associação Saúde da Família.
ROHDEN, F. (2002). “Gravidez na adolescência: um debate contemporâneo”. In: NOVAES, R.R.; PORTO, M.; HENRIQUES, R. (org.). Juventude, cultura e cidadania. Rio de Janeiro, Comunicações do ISER/UNESCO.
Bozon, M.; HEILBORN, M.L.; AQUINO, E.; KNAUTH, D. (2003). “Pour une approche socio-anthropologique des comportements sexuels et reproductifs pendant la jeunesse au Brésil. La construction de l’enquête Gravad”. In: CONDON, S.; ANDRO, A. (dir.), Questions de genre en démographie. INED, Dossiers et Recherches, n.117.
BRANDÃO, E.R. (2004). “Iniciação sexual e afetiva: exercício da autonomia juvenil”. In: HEILBORN, M.L. (org.). Família e sexualidade. Rio de Janeiro, Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
BRANDÃO, E.R. (2005). “Revelação da gravidez na adolescência em famílias de camadas médias: tensões e dilemas”. In: HEILBORN, M.L.; DUARTE, L.F.D.; PEIXOTO, C.E.; LINS DE BARROS, M. (org.). Família, sexualidade e ethos religioso. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond.
CABRAL, C.S. (2005). “Gravidez na adolescência: negociações na família”. In: HEILBORN, M.L.; DUARTE, L.F.D.; PEIXOTO, C.E.; LINS DE BARROS, M. (org.). Família, sexualidade e ethos religioso. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond.
LEAL, A.F. (2005). “Práticas sexuais no contexto da conjugalidade: em que implica a intimidade?” In: HEILBORN, M.L.; DUARTE; L.F.D.; PEIXOTO, C.; LINS DE BARROS, M. (orgs.). Sexualidade, família e ethos religioso. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond.
HEILBORN, M.L. et al. (2005). “Uniões precoces, juventude e experimentação da sexualidade”. In: HEILBORN, M.L.; DUARTE; L.F.D.; PEIXOTO, C.; LINS DE BARROS, M. (orgs.). Sexualidade, família e ethos religioso. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond.
ROHDEN, F. et al. (2005). “Religião e iniciação sexual em jovens de camadas populares”. In: HEILBORN, M.L.; DUARTE; L.F.D.; PEIXOTO, C.; LINS DE BARROS, M. (orgs.). Sexualidade, família e ethos religioso. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond.
HEILBORN, M.L.; CABRAL, C.S. (2006). “Parentalidade juvenil: transição condensada para a vida adulta”. In: CAMARANO, A.A. (org.). Transição para a vida adulta ou vida adulta em transição? Rio de Janeiro, IPEA.
HEILBORN, M.L. et al. (2008). “Sexualité et transition vers la vie adulte”. In: TELES, N.; SANTO,W.E.(orgs.). Les jeunes du Brésil .Québec, Les éditions PUL • IQRC.
HEILBORN, M.L; CABRAL, C.S. (2008). “Sexualidad, gênero y color entre jóvenes brasileros”. In: WADE, P.; URREA, F.; VIVEROS, M. (orgs.). Raza, etnicidad y sexualidade. Ciudadanía y multiculturalismo em América Latina. Bogotá, Facultad de Ciências Humanas (CES).
HEILBORN, M.L. et al. (2008). “Gravidez e maternidade na adolescência – novas biografias reprodutivas”. In: TRAJANO, A. Gravidez na adolescência. Rio de Janeiro, Revinter. (forthcoming)