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Sexuality is an aspect of health and development that is often overlooked among people with physical disabilities, particularly adolescents. Studies have demonstrated that youth with physical disabilities show considerably lower levels of sexual knowledge and receive inadequate sex education compared to their peers without such disabilities. The data for this paper are part of a qualitative study that explored the experiences, barriers and challenges associated with sex education for youth with physical disabilities from the perspectives of young people themselves, their parents and the health professionals who work with them. The findings from this study highlight the tendency for parents, educators and health professionals to place the responsibility of delivering sex education to young people with physical disabilities on someone else who they believe to be more appropriately qualified to handle these types of situations. As a result, the findings illustrate that adolescents with physical disabilities do not always receive the necessary combination of comprehensive sex education within school environments, specialized information from health professionals, and informal sex education from family and peers that they require in order to gain the knowledge and skills needed to understand their own sexual capabilities and make informed decisions about their sexual health and intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conduct problem is an ongoing concern among youth placed in group homes. The concern could sometimes become more challenging due to negative peer influences. The risks associated with negatively influential peers are well-known across diverse residential treatment contexts in the USA, but not in Canada. This 3-year retrospective cohort study observed the influence of positive and negative peers on conduct problems among 173 youths in Ontario group home care between 2012 and 2016 (initial participation rate = 90.0% and follow-up rate = 95.1%). Having previously observed that group home resources matter (Osei in Peer influences on antisocial and prosocial behaviors in group home foster care: Evidence of greater protections in better resourced homes and higher income neighborhoods, Doctoral thesis, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 2019, https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/7727/), here it was hypothesized that neighborhood income also matters. Specifically, that neighborhood income would moderate peer influences such that low-income neighborhoods would be relatively risky places, while higher-income neighborhoods would be relatively protective places. Positive and negative peer influences were, respectively, protective and risky, but the main effect of neighborhood income was null. As hypothesized, a significant negative peer influence by neighborhood income interaction was also observed. Higher income neighborhoods attenuated the negative peer influence-youth conduct problem association. Negative peers were less risky in higher income neighborhoods. The main protective influence of positive peers was robust across socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods. Clinical, policy and future research implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]