In this paper, I analyze what counts as sex using a qualitative content analysis of the sexuality and health advice columns in Seventeen from 1982 to 2001. These columns are a useful source for identifying adolescent sexual norms including what counts as sex. Previous sex research often assumed that sex meant penilevaginal intercourse and was the cause of virginity loss. Thus, I use virginity-related key terms (e.g., virgin, sex) to identify the sexuality and health advice columns pertinent to this project. These columns illustrate how multiple sexual acts can cause virginity loss; however, Seventeen remains ambiguous in its discussion of what counts as sex. Letter writers are concerned with what sexual acts they can participate in and still remain virgins and what act defines virginity loss. My analysis reveals that the columns reinforce heteronormativity by telling readers virginity is lost only through penile-vaginal intercourse. Additionally, Seventeen supports the sexual double standard by placing the responsibility of sexual behavior solely on female adolescents rather than on them and their partners.

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Advanced undergraduate students struggle with executing complete research projects that involve data collection and analysis. Research indicates that engaging in undergraduate research is a high-impact practice. The American Sociological Association recommends that sociology majors engage in research beyond their research methods and statistics courses. We used a pre-/post-assessment model across three semesters in all upper-level undergraduate sociology courses at our institution. The assessment measured confidence, knowledge, and experience with research methods. Fifty-eight students completed at least one pre-/post-assessment pair. Of those, 27 students completed two pre-/post-assessments. No students completed three pre-/post-assessments. We find that experience and confidence had statistically significant increases at each survey point. Knowledge increased but was statistically significant for only two groups: the full sample on the first post-assessment (N = 58) and the students with two assessment pairs on their second post-assessment (N = 27) who participated across two semesters.

The popularity of Facebook (FB) has led researchers to seek ways of using the social media platform in their empirical research. One approach is to use FB’s secret groups tool to conduct asynchronous online focus groups. In this research note, I outline the steps to using FB secret groups along with the strengths and weaknesses of this approach. I used FB’s secret groups function to conduct three asynchronous online focus groups. I recruited caregivers of children with sensory processing disorder or “sensory issues” who took part by writing about their experiences online. By using Facebook secret groups, the researcher can meet participants in a setting they are familiar with (i.e., FB) which reduces the barriers to participating in a research study. The researcher, however, gives up some control over the research setting. This report fills a gap in the literature with a description of the logistics of using Facebook for online focus groups; this description is designed to help future researchers use this method in their studies of harder-to-reach populations (e.g., parents or caregivers).