Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

This study focused on four sets of theoretically related groupings or systems of factors found in the literature to be associated with abstinence and/or timing of first intercourse: self (e.g., attitudes, intellectual achievement), family (e.g., parent-teen relationship, family cohesion), proximate extra-familial (e.g., peer influences, school environment), distal extra-familial (e.g., unemployment rate, urban residence). These four areas were deemed consistent with the person-in-environment or ecological approach to social work and other helping professions' practices.

Panel data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to test the association between self, family, proximate extra-familial, and distal extra-familial system factors and abstinence/age of first sexual intercourse. The study sample (N = 1,854) was confined to youth aged 13 and 14 as of December 31, 1996 who remained in the survey through 2002 or round four and for whom all baseline and subsequent information was available.

Multivariate regression was used to assess effects on age of first intercourse (n=1,132); logistic regression was used to determine likelihood of abstinence after the age of 14 years old.

Delinquency and sex/race/ethnicity (self), socioeconomic status (family), peer influences (proximate extra-familial), and region of residence (distal extra-familial) were robust correlates of age at the time of first intercourse among sexually active adolescents (n=1,132).

In addition, cognitive capacity (self), family routines and living in the same household (family), and school environment (proximate extra-familial) were associated with remaining abstinent. Age (self), cognitive capacity, delinquency, sex/race/ethnicity, SES, peer influences, and region of residence affected the likelihood of having had sexual intercourse at age 15 or older vs. those 14 years of age or younger at the time of first intercourse. Parental style (family) was found to have marginal statistical significance in regard to abstinence and onset of sexual activity.

Findings reaffirm the importance of using a multi-perspective approach to interventions meant to address adolescent sexuality and they provide evidence for targeting practice efforts on specific dimensions of adolescents' lives.