NCJ Number
215479
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2006 Pages: 473-494
Date Published
August 2006
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This longitudinal analysis of Scottish youth sought to identify social factors in the prediction of sexual experience or sexual behavior at age 13-14.
Abstract
Data from a large longitudinal study of Scottish young people suggest that some dimension of parenting, represented by levels of parental monitoring and spending money in early teens, influences subsequent sexual risk-taking. Specifically, the study showed how low parental monitoring predicted early sexual activity for both sexes and for females it also predicted more sexual partners and less condom use. A great deal of spending money predicted early sexual activity and, for males, having more sexual partners. In attempting to develop more effective sexual health interventions and policies, it is important to develop a better understanding of the factors that shape young people’s sexual behavior. This study explored this issue using longitudinal data collected as part of a randomized trial of a school sex education program, SHARE. Objectives of the study included: (1) to explore how parental monitoring, spending money, and ease of communication about sex were socially patterned; (2) to investigate whether family composition and each parenting variable at time 1 predicted, age at first intercourse, number of sexual partners and contraceptive use reported at time 2; (3) to establish the relative importance of each parenting variable when analyzed together; and (4) to investigate the possibility of reverse causation between parental monitoring and sexual behavior. Tables and references