Marianne E. Felice, MD, Editor

The first two articles address ways to talk about sex with adolescents and suggestions for talking to parents about their teenager’s sexuality. The next article addresses the HPV vaccine and urges primary care clinicians to immunize their young patients. The following article is an excellent review of dysmenorrhea, a very common presenting complaint by teenage girls. The next three articles walk the physician through contraception options for sexually active teens from how to choose the best oral contraceptive pill for a specific teen to recommendations for long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods to the use of emergency contraception when needed. It is important to note that both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians/Gynecologists now recommend LARC methods as the first line of contraception for adolescents for whom there are no contraindications. In the next article, the author recommends ways that a general pediatrician can be helpful when one of his/her patients becomes pregnant. Another article in this issue is an excellent summary of the new guidelines for identifying and treating sexually transmitted infections.

The last four articles bring attention to special issues that are becoming more important in today’s society. Clinicians may not be aware of the disturbing problem of domestic sexual trafficking of minors in the United States. One article urges physicians to be alert for this form of abuse in their practices. Sexual abuse and rape are not uncommon in the adolescent/young adult population, but most of those patients present to emergency rooms for services, not to their physician’s office. An article that addresses ways to help young people avoid being a victim of partner violence may be more practical for primary care physicians than an article on rape kits. We now have more young people with disabilities than we have ever had in the past. Most physicians have never been trained in how to address sexual issues in this population. However, in this issue, an article provides a thorough, practical approach to the topic. Last, relatively few pediatricians are involved with adolescents in the juvenile justice system, yet these young people are being returned to their communities from detention facilities on a regular basis, and they have clinical problems related to sexual issues as often if not more than young people who have never been detained. Another article in this issue will help clinicians be more sensitive to their needs as well.

In this issue, we do not address the specific issues related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender youth. This is not because those issues are not important, but rather because they are so important that a past issue of Pediatric Clinics of North America was devoted to that topic alone (Stewart L. Adelson, Nadia L. Dowshen, Harvey J. Makadon, et al. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Pediatr Clin North Am 2016;63(6)).

Finally, I want to thank all the authors who contributed to this issue for their hard work, enthusiasm, attention to detail, and practical advice they offered the reader in the discussion of their topics. And I want to thank all the clinicians who continue to care for adolescent patients despite the challenges they may give us. Caring for young people is one way that we will all stay young.