Older sexual partners during adolescence: links to reproductive health outcomes in young adulthood.

CONTEXT: Sex at a young age with an older partner has been linked to poor reproductive health outcomes during adolescence, but minimal research has examined the influence of teenagers' having an older sexual partner on reproductive health outcomes during the transition to young adulthood. METHODS: Logistic regression and contrast analyses of three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to examine whether individuals who had had sex before age 16 with a partner at least three years their senior were at increased risk of becoming teenage or unmarried parents or of contracting an STD by young adulthood. RESULTS: Ten percent of females and 2% of males had had early sex with an older partner. These females were more likely to acquire an STD as young adults than were those whose riskiest relationship was before age 16 with a similar-aged partner (odds ratio, 2.1) or at age 16 or later with a similar-aged or older partner (2.4 and 2.6, respectively). For males, having sex before 16, regardless of partner age, was associated with an elevated STD risk (odds ratio, 1.9), although controlling for relationship history characteristics attenuated the association. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents, particularly young adolescents, should be made aware of the potential risks associated with having older sexual partners. In particular, program providers should be alerted that females who engage in early sexual activity with older partners are at especially high risk of experiencing adverse reproductive health consequences.

Risk and protective factors associated with the transition to a first sexual relationship with an older partner.

PURPOSE: To examine whether family, individual, peer and school characteristics are associated with the transition to a first sexual experience with a partner who is three or more years older. METHODS: Using multinomial logistic regressions, we analyzed a sample of female teens from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess risk and protective factors associated with having a first sexual experience with a partner three or more years older, compared with a similar-aged partner and compared with not engaging in sexual intercourse. RESULTS: Younger and foreign-born teens, with lower parent education, with older friendship networks, and attending a school that spans multiple grades, had greater odds of having a first sexual experience with an older partner than with a similar-aged partner. Hispanics and premenarche females had lower odds of having an older sexual partner than of abstaining from sexual intercourse. In contrast, older age, lower parent education, nonintact family structure, less connection to and more communication with parents, substance use or having peers who used substances, and having older peers were associated with increased odds of having sex with an older partner, compared with not engaging in sexual intercourse. CONCLUSION: The findings underscore the importance of educating teens about the risks associated with dating and sexual relationships with older partners, and of educating parents to be especially attentive to the age composition of their teens' circle of friends. Our research has implications for families and program providers, by identifying target risk groups in need of potential prevention efforts.

The role of parent religiosity in teens' transitions to sex and contraception.

PURPOSE: To examine whether multiple dimensions of parent and family religiosity--including parental religious attendance, denomination, beliefs, and family religious activities--are associated with the timing of sexual initiation or contraceptive use at first sex. METHODS: We analyze a sample of sexually inexperienced adolescents aged 12-14 years in the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) to test the association between multiple dimensions of parent and family religiosity and the transition to first sexual experience and contraceptive use at first sex during the teen years. We assess the association between parent and family religiosity and the timing of adolescent sexual experience using multivariate event history models, and examine contraceptive use outcomes using logistic regressions. All analyses are conducted separately by gender and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: More frequent parental religious attendance is associated with a delayed timing of first sex among all sub-populations except among black adolescents. Engaging in family religious activities on a daily basis is associated with delayed sexual initiation among male, female, and white teens. Results for contraceptive use differ, however. Only strong parental religious beliefs and more frequent participation in family religious activities are associated with contraceptive use at first sex, in a negative direction, among males. CONCLUSION: More frequent parental religious attendance and family religious activities are related to later timing of sexual initiation, highlighting an important dimension of family environments that can help improve reproductive health outcomes for children. However, stronger family religiosity does not translate into improved contraceptive use.