Early Predictors of Girls' Adolescent Sexual Activity: Longitudinal Findings from the Girls Shape the Future Study
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Key Findings
Key Findings:
- Consistent with the findings of prior research, we find that rates of sexual activity increase sharply in adolescence. From sixth to ninth grade, the percentage of girls in our sample who reported ever having had sexual intercourse jumped from 3 percent to nearly 30 percent. In addition, among those girls who were sexually active, the percentage who reported not using a condom the last time they had sex increased from 25 percent to 30 percent between seventh and ninth grades. These rates are very similar to those reported in national data sets for girls in this age group.
- As rates of sexual activity increased, the girls in our sample also developed more accepting attitudes toward sex. For example, when asked whether it is okay for teenagers to have sex if they have been dating for a long time, the percentage of girls who agreed with this statement increased from 19 percent to 31 percent. The percentage of girls who felt it is okay for teens to have sex if they use birth control also increased.
- We find that the strongest predictors of early involvement in sexual activity include (1) academic achievement and (2) attitudes toward sex. For academic achievement, girls who reported receiving high grades in their reading classes at the time of the first follow-up survey had a 17 percent chance of initiating sexual intercourse between the first follow-up and ninth-grade surveys, compared with a 46 percent chance for girls who reported receiving low grades in their reading classes. For attitudes toward sex, the chances of initiating sexual intercourse were more than twice as great for girls who expressed the most accepting attitudes than for those who were least accepting (42 percent versus 17 percent). These estimates are adjusted for differences between groups in demographic and other personal characteristics.
- We also find evidence that the chances of initiating sexual intercourse are related to several other personal and family characteristics, including negative peer influences, substance use, and family relationships. In particular, girls in our sample were more likely to initiate sexual intercourse if they reported receiving pressure from their friends to have sex, having used drugs or alcohol, or having less positive relationships with their parents, especially their mothers. However, these associations are not as strong after adjusting for other demographic and personal characteristics, especially academic achievement and attitudes toward sex.
- Finally, we find that a different set of factors is related to girls’ involvement in unprotected sexual activity. Among the girls in our sample who were sexually active, those who reported involvement in unprotected sexual activity had higher rates of substance use, felt less attached to school, and were less likely to participate in extracurricular activities. Participation in sports and church or religious groups in particular was lower among girls who engaged unprotected sex than among other sexually-active study girls. These findings are based on a relatively small sample of 93 girls and do not adjust for differences between groups in demographic or other personal characteristics.
High rates of risky sexual behaviors among U.S. adolescents have been a long-standing concern of social policy and research. Recent national estimates indicate that nearly half of all high school students have had sexual intercourse. Among those students who are sexually active, more than one-third have engaged in unprotected sex. The risks associated with unprotected sex include not only unintended pregnancy but also the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
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