Young women's health concerns: revealing paradox

Because of the numerous physical, psychological, and social changes that take place for adolescents, the risk of engaging in life-threatening behavior is greater than at any other time in their life-span. Community workers identified the invisibility of adolescent women (ages 16-24) in their health-related programs and sought to rectify this. To discover the unmet health concerns of adolescent women, eight focus groups were held with a diverse group of adolescent women. Forty-two adolescent women, including adolescent mothers, women of color, attendees at a drop-in youth center, high school and university students, and employed persons participated. While most women attended one focus group, some participants attended two. Using Spradley's ethnographic method, we identified two overarching themes shared by the adolescent women. These themes included feeling invisible and struggling with independence. Our findings underscore the invisibility of adolescent women's lived experiences and concerns within most research agendas.