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  • Title: Sex, contraception and childbearing among high-risk youth: do different factors influence males and females?
    Author: Kowaleski-Jones L, Mott FL.
    Journal: Fam Plann Perspect; 1998; 30(4):163-9. PubMed ID: 9711453.
    Abstract:
    CONTEXT: The likelihood that adolescents will engage in sexual activity, use contraceptives or become parents is influenced by a range of attitudes and behaviors. These factors may differ for males and females. METHODS: Data on female respondents to the 1979-1992 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the linked 1994 young adult data file on their children provided background information on 959 adolescents who had been born to young mothers. Partial correlation analysis was used to examine the factors related to sexual behavior, contraceptive use and childbirth, controlling for maternal and familial characteristics, in this relatively disadvantaged sample. RESULTS: Youth who are inclined toward risk-taking and those who have run away from home are more likely than others to be sexually active. For young women, having intercourse at an early age, not using contraceptives and having a child are linked with depression, low self-esteem and little sense of control over their lives. The results for young men are less consistent and often in the opposite direction. Young people who have become parents evidence greater maturity than their childless peers; women are less likely to consume alcohol or to spend time with friends who drink, and men are more likely to participate in socially productive work. CONCLUSIONS: Although sexual behavior is tied to risk-taking in both adolescent males and females, some noticeable psychological differences are evidenced early. Behaviorally, there is room for optimism, in that young parents appear to adopt more mature traits. The correlates of high-risk adolescent sexual behaviors were investigated through use of data from the 1979-92 waves of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the linked 1994 young adult data file on their children. The sample was comprised of 959 youth, most of whom were 14-18 years old at the time of the 1994 survey, who were the oldest child of the original female respondents. The analysis of risk behaviors was restricted to the 483 youth known to be sexually active. Compared to their non-sexually-active counterparts, sexually active youth had lower family incomes, mothers with lower educational attainment, and mothers who themselves became sexually active at a young age (mean, 15.5 years). Sexual activity at an early age was further associated with substance abuse, a view of oneself as a risk taker, and a history of running away from home. Early age at first coitus, nonuse of contraception, and adolescent childbearing were significantly linked with depression, feeling like a failure, and little sense of control over one's life in female respondents. In contrast, sexually active teen males reported low levels of depression and felt in control of their lives. After parenthood, tentative evidence of maturity emerged for both genders. Young mothers reduced their alcohol consumption and spent less time with peers who drank; young fathers exhibited lower levels of willingness to take risks, higher depression, and greater involvement in socially productive activities.
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