Relationships, Reproduction,
& STD Prevention
Covering excerpts from chapters 11, 12, 13, 14, 19 and 29
Getting Along With Others
 Relationship – bond or connection between people.
 Examples: family, extended family, neighbors, classmates, friends, teammates,
etc.
 You have a choice in your relationships!
 Can change or back out of negative relationships
 Can choose people who are supportive and encouraging
Choosing Relationships
 Friendship – significant relationship between two people based on caring,
consideration, and trust.
 May share confidences, interests, hobbies, or other friends.
 Can be hard work, but often well worth the effort.
 Family Relationships – strongest of bonds often lasting a lifetime.
 Parents provide love and care for their children, as well as teach values and give
guidance.
 Relationships within your Community
 Your relationships extend beyond family and friends into your community.
 City council meetings; neighborhood watch groups; etc.
The Healthy Relationship
 Cooperation
 Compromise
 Respect
 Acceptance
 Honesty
 Trustworthiness
 Dependability
 Loyalty
 Empathy
Communication
 Process through which you send messages to and receive messages from
others.
 CRITICAL! (https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-top-complaints-from-employees-about-their-leaders)
 Lets others know what you feel, what you want and need, and what you know.
It means sending messages that are interpreted correctly, and it means correctly
interpreting messages that you receive.
 Verbal communication
 Speaking: saying clearly what you mean
 Listening: as important as speaking! Most of our communication throughout the
day is listening. Active listening is to attentively paying attention what someone is
saying.
 Listening techniques: reflective listening, clarifying, encouraging, empathizing.
Bad vs Good
Antagonist Message
Constructive “I” Message
You Idiot! What have you done with
my baseball glove?
I hate when you borrow my things and
don’t return them.
Why do we always have to do what
you want to do?
I’ll agree to go swimming today if I get
to pick the activity next time we’re
together.
You’re always late! I don’t know why I I worry about you when I expect to
even bother being your friend.
meet you at 6:00 and you don’t show
up.
Nonverbal Communication
 Body language – nonverbal communication through gestures, facial
expressions, and behaviors (example: waving hand to say goodbye).
 Most often takes place on a subconscious level (). A person who is feeling
embarrassed or ashamed may look at the ground when speaking.
 Letters, emails, texts…
 Often misinterpreted.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnGQvoqtP88&feature=iv&src_vid=Nmp_JByPaY&annotation_id=annotation_2746512919
Constructive Criticism
 Non-hostile comments that point out problems and have the potential to
help a person change.
 Coaches, bosses, use this often.
 It is not meant to attack or place blame.
 Sandwich technique: positive, corrective, positive.
 Nobody is perfect
Acknowledgments & Compliments
 Have you ever received a thank you note for a job well done? Perhaps a
pat on the back? Public recognition?
 Shows appreciation and acknowledgment.
 Builds others up.
 Necessary!!!!
Family Relationships
 View a family as a system, similar to the human body.
 All parts of the body are interconnected.
 No parts exist in isolation.
 As a system, each family member’s level of health – physical, mental, and
emotional, and social – affects the health of the total family.
 The health of the family directly affects the health of its individual members.
Functions of the Family
 Primary support system to which we turn in order to have basic needs met.
 Meet emotional needs of children.
 Provide nurturing.
 Instill values and religious beliefs in children.
 Passing on traditions and customs from one generation to the next.
Building Healthy Family Relationships
 Affirmation – providing positive input that helps others feel appreciated
and supported.
 Trust
 Commitment
 Time together
 Communication
 Respect
 Solving problems
 Love
Peer Relationships
 Casual friendships
 Peers with whom you are socially connected. May sit with them at lunch or at a
game. Friends through a common friend.
 Close friendships
 Someone you trust and are likely to confide in. Offer honest criticism and
encourage you to fix mistakes. You care deeply about this person, and because
of this, they are more likely to make you angry or hurt.
 Platonic friendships
 Relationship with a member of the opposite gender in which there is affection,
but no sexual activity.
 Cliques
 Small or narrow circle of friends, usually with similar backgrounds or tastes, that
excludes people they view as outsiders. Jocks, Nerds, Stoners, Hipsters, Etc.
Cliques beliefs of others is often negative and prejudice or stereotypical.
Responsible Dating
 Infatuation – exaggerated feelings of passion for another person.
 Dating provides an opportunity for you to get to know yourself better – to
recognize your strengths and weaknesses.
 It also gives you a chance to interact and feel comfortable with the
opposite gender.
 Breaking up, making up, and breaking up again can be painful but is part
of the process of becoming emotionally mature.
 You cannot control the behavior or feelings of others.
To Date or Not to Date?
 Do not let anyone pressure you into dating if you do not feel ready.
 Important to talk with your parents or trusted adults in your home about
their views on dating and to learn about their values.
Peer Pressure
 The control and influence people your age may have over you.
 Manipulation – sneaky or dishonest way to control or influence others.
 Mocking or teasing, bargaining, making deals, bribing, guilt, making threats,
blackmail, and flattery are all examples.
 Just as peer pressure can be negative (drugs, alcohol, sex, etc.) it can also
be used to inspire good.
 Positive peer pressure can provide examples of what not to do. A teen whose
friends do not use alcohol or other drugs may be positively influenced to follow
their example.
Responding to Negative Peer Pressure
 The passive way – giving up, giving in, or backing down without standing up
for your own rights and needs.
 The aggressive way – forceful, pushy, hostile, or otherwise attacking in
approach.
 The assertive way – standing up for your own rights, in firm but positive ways.
 Assertive refusal
 State your position simply but firmly (“No, I don’t want to” “it goes against my values”)
 Suggest alternatives to the behavior being proposed (“lets go do ________ instead”)
 Back up your words with actions (strong body language and simply say “I'm leaving”)
Types of Conflict
 Conflict – any disagreement, struggle, or fight.
 They are a normal part of life.
 Interpersonal conflicts – disagreements between groups of any size, from
two people to entire nations.
 Can be minor or affect the lives of millions.
 Internal conflicts – struggles within yourself.
 Common during teen years.
 Involve mixed emotions.
 Doing what you “want to do” or following through on a commitment.
Recognizing Conflict
 What is really bothering me and why?
 Is this a minor, a chronic, or major problem?
 What is triggering the conflict?
 Are there hurt feelings or other unexplored emotions lurking beneath my
anger?
 Have anyone’s rights been violated?
 What is my part in the problem?
 Does this conflict involve my personal values or beliefs?
 What is at stake here?
Responding to Conflict
 When conflict arises, you can either face it or ignore it.
 Always take into account”
 Your personal health and safety should be your primary concern
 Walking away from a volatile or dangerous situation is a healthful, mature choice – not
a sign of being a coward.
 If available try to wait 24 hours as to make an educated decisions rather than
reacting out of emotion.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5FvB5uWhAk
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY5TWVz5ZDU
Conflict Resolution Skills
 Process of ending conflict by cooperating and problem solving together.
 Respect
 Rights
 Responsibility
 Tolerance – accepting others differences and allowing them to be who
they are without expressing disapproval.
 Negotiation – process in which compromise is used to reach agreement.
 Mediation – process by which specially trained people help others resolve
their conflicts peacefully.
Abuse
 The intentional physical, emotional, sexual, and or verbal mistreatment of
injury of one person to another.
 Physical – between 2 million-4 million women in the US are assaulted by their
partners every year.
 Sexual abuse – about 75% of cases are committed by people the victim
knows. Fewer than ½ of all sexual abuse assaults are reported.
 Emotional – constantly putting someone down. Belittling them.
 Bullying – repeatedly doing or saying things to intimidate or dominate
another person. It can be physical or verbal.
Things to Know
 Testosterone (male sex hormone) produced in the testes (testicles).
 Sperm production in the testes at a rate of 100 million per day.
 500 of them lined up would only measure an inch.
 Testes hang outside the body in the scrotum.
 Penis is the tubed shaped organ attached to the
trunk of the body just above the testes.
 Through arousal the blood flow to the penis will
increase causing the penis to become erect.
 At the height of arousal muscular contractions will lead to ejaculation – the
release of semen (thick fluid containing sperm).
 If this happens during sexual intercourse fertilization may be initiated.
 Fertilization is the union of sperm and egg (in fallopian tube of woman).
The Female Reproductive System
Things to Know
 Female reproductive cells, ova, egg.
 Sperm enter through the vagina (passage way that extends from the uterus
to the outside of the body).
 Ova are stored in the ovaries (similar to males testes, where sex hormones
are produced).
 1 mature ova is released per month = ovulation (roughly 2 weeks after
period).
 The sperm meet the ova in the fallopian tube to create a zygote.
 Once a zygote has been formed it leaves the fallopian tube and travels to
the uterus.
Menstruation
 If the egg does not become fertilized (by sperm), the lining of the uterus
breaks down into blood tissue, and fluids which pass through the cervix and
out the vagina.
 1 x per month (about every 28 days).
 Begin between the ages of 10-15.
 Cramps, mood swings, bloating, irritability, anxiety are all possible.
Contraception Options
 Abstinence – Do not partake in type of sex.
 Male condom – worn on penis. Prevent pregnancy and STI’s. Can be used
with other forms of contraception as added protection. Safe. Effective.
Easily accessible. About $1 per.
 Female condom - A pouch inserted into the vagina to prevent pregnancy.
Reduces the risk of sexually transmitted infection. Safe. Effective. About $4
each
 Birth control – Taken daily. Safe. Effective. $0-50 month. Easily get a
prescription.
 Other options available. For more information visit: planned parenthood @
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control
STD’s or STI’s? Which is it?
 It’s both.
 If you were to go to doctor in this day and age, most would use the term STI
 Sexually Transmitted Infections
 Why?
 Stigma that surrounds the word “disease” (STD – Sexually Transmitted Diseases)
 Infection, to many people, doesn’t sound as bad.
 Many times people have STI’s unknowingly and show little to no symptoms
whatsoever. “Disease” implies there are clear cut, distinctive, identifiable
symptoms present.
 http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/sti-vs-std
HIV Infection
 Human Immunodeficiency Virus
 A virus that attacks the body’s immune system
 HIV enters the bloodstream, it enters certain cells including T-helper cells.
Here HIV reproduces killing off and destroying t-helper cells.
 These T-helper cells are a type of lymphocyte – which under normal
scenarios as antibodies that help destroy pathogens that enter the body.
 HIV can be present anywhere in the body – the bloodstream, lymph nodes,
even brain cells.
How HIV is Transmitted
 Enters through bloodstream
 Has been found in body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids or
infected persons.
 Scarce amounts in saliva, sweat, tears, feces, urine, and breast milk.
 To date – HIV is known to be transmitted only through semen, blood, vaginal
fluids and breast milk.
 93% of adults who have contracted the disease acquired it through sexual
intercourse or IV drugs – drugs injected with needles.
During Sex
 Secretions contain the virus enter the partner’s blood through tiny cuts in
the body.
 Risks increase with the number of sexual partners.
 Charlie Sheen
Sharing Needles
 If someone with HIV injects drugs via a syringe, drops of the virus/blood are
left on the needle.
 If another person uses that same needle they will become inflected with
the HIV virus.
 Drugs, steriods, tattoos, pierced ears
HIV and Pregnancy/Giving Blood
 Mother with HIV can pass the virus to the fetus in blood exchanged through
the umbilical cord.
 20-35% of the time.
 When giving blood at the doctors office or through the Red Cross
(donations) there is a no real risk of contracting the virus. All needles are
used once and disposed of.
Treatment
 There are two phases of testing is HIV infection is suspected. Together the
tests are 99% accurate (ELISA – screens blood; confirmatory test).
 A person with HIV may or may not experience illness. They may look and
feel healthy.
 A person can be asymptomatic (have the virus present in the blood but
show no symptoms of the disease).
Diagnosis
 AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) itself is not a disease.
 AIDS is a disorder that is the last stage in the course of HIV infection.
 AIDS-opportunistic illnesses (AIDS-Ois) are infections and other diseases
caused by organisms that do not usually produce illness in healthy people
with unimpaired immune systems.
 Diagnosis is based on the presence of one or more AIDS-Ois:
 Mycobacterium Avium Complex – bacterial infection
 Crypococcosis – meningitis
 Cytomegalovirus – infection
 Current medications prescribed limit the virus’s (HIV) ability to reproduce.
 Once AIDS is present, left untreated the life expectancy is 3 years.