Adolescent Women's Sports Involvement and Sexual Behavior/Health: A Process-Level Investigation

• NCJ Number: 207099
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 33 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2004 Pages: 443-455
• Author(s): Stephanie Jacobs Lehman; Susan Silverberg Koerner
• Date Published: October 2004
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study aimed to confirm and analyze more fully the findings of earlier studies regarding the favorable link between adolescent women's sports involvement during high school and the tendency to engage in less sexual-risk-taking behavior and to have better sexual/reproductive health.

Abstract

A total of 201 completed questionnaires were returned from students in 5 lower division classes at a large southwestern university during fall 2000. Respondents ranged in age from 18 through 19 years old. Questions on sports involvement addressed the number of sports participated in during the high-school years; number of years involved in sports during high school; number of hours per week spent in sports during high school; and the degree of psychological investment in sports during high school. Regarding sexual behavior, in addition to questions about intercourse typically used in studies of sports involvement and sexual behaviors, questions addressed behaviors that decrease sexual health risks and enhance sexual/reproductive health, i.e., contraceptive use and engagement in sexual-health-seeking behaviors. To assess self-empowerment/efficacy, participants completed four scales. The study found that adolescent women who were more involved in organized sports during high school were older at the time of their first sexual intercourse, had engaged in sexual intercourse with fewer partners, were more likely to have used birth control regularly during sexual intercourse, and were less likely to have been intoxicated during sexual intercourse. These women were also less likely to have been pregnant or to have been treated for a sexually transmitted disease. Self-empowerment/efficacy emerged as a mediator in these associations. The findings suggest the value of women's involvement in organized sports in high school as a mechanism for preventing or reducing sexual-risk-taking behavior. 2 tables and 42 references