Role of Romantic Relationships in the Sexual Behavior of Obese and Non-Obese Girl

浪漫关系在肥胖和非肥胖女孩性行为中的作用

• 批准号: 8966953
• 负责人: ALETHA Y AKERS
• 金额: $ 42.77万
• 依托单位: CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-25 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8966953
• 关键词: Role; Romantic; Relationships; Sexual; Behavior

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mounting evidence demonstrates that weight influences intimate (i.e., dating and sexual) relationship formation and sexual negotiations among adolescent girls. Obese girls consistently report having fewer dating and sexual experiences, but more sexual risk behaviors (i.e., condom nonuse) once they are sexually active. The conceptual framework that has guided this research presumes that differences in the social skills for relating to peers and intimate partners along with differences in the relationship experiences of obese and non-obese girls account for these differences. However, no studies have actually examined whether the interpersonal skills and intimate relationships of obese and non-obese girls differ. We propose to address this research gap by conducting a secondary data analysis using data from two large, longitudinal cohorts of U.S. adolescent girls. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative cohort study conducted between 1994 and 2008; and the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS), an on-going population-based cohort study started in 2000, and conducted in a setting with high rates of adolescent sexual risk-taking and high rates of adolescent obesity. Our specific aims are to (1) determine whether obese adolescent girls experience a delay in the development of peer and intimate relationship skills compared to non-obese adolescent girls; (2) compare the characteristics of intimate relationships among obese and non-obese adolescent girls; (3) use longitudinal growth curve modeling to determine whether trajectories of romantic and sexual relationship characteristics differ between obese and non-obese adolescent girls over time; (4) determine how peer and intimate relationship skills affect trajectories of intimate relationships among obese and non-obese adolescent girls over time; and, (5) compare the development of interpersonal skills and intimate relationship characteristics between obese and non-obese African American and White adolescent girls. INNOVATION: Our proposal is innovative as it is the first study to explore relationship context as a mechanism linking obesity to adolescent girls' sexual risk-taking behaviors. Our use of two complementary datasets - one nationally representative cohort and one population-based cohort from a high risk setting - will allow us to identify nuances that are important for crafting a more complete understanding of the role that social skills and relationship experiences play in explaining variations in the sexual behaviors of obese and non-obese adolescents. We take a developmental approach by examining how relationship experiences evolve over time. Finally, by exploring how relationship experiences differ among African American and White adolescent girls, our approach acknowledges that cultural differences in beauty norms exist and are important. PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE: The overarching goal of this research is to expand the conceptual framework linking weight to adolescent sexual risk-taking thereby providing critical information useful for tailoring adolescent sexual risk-reduction interventions and sexual negotiation skills building programs.

描述（由申请人提供）：越来越多的证据表明，体重影响青春期女孩之间的亲密（即约会和性）关系形成和性谈判。肥胖女孩一致表示，约会和性经历较少，但一旦发生性行为，她们的性危险行为（即不使用安全套）就会增多。指导这项研究的概念框架假定，肥胖和非肥胖女孩与同龄人和亲密伴侣交往的社交技能的差异以及人际关系经历的差异是造成这些差异的原因。然而，还没有研究真正检验过肥胖女孩和非肥胖女孩的人际交往能力和亲密关系是否存在差异。我们建议通过使用来自两个大型纵向队列的美国青春期女孩的数据进行二次数据分析来解决这一研究空白。我们使用全国青少年健康纵向调查 (Add Health)，这是一项 1994 年至 2008 年间进行的具有全国代表性的队列研究；匹兹堡女孩研究 (PGS) 是一项持续进行的基于人群的队列研究，始于 2000 年，在青少年性冒险率高和青少年肥胖率高的环境中进行。我们的具体目标是（1）确定与非肥胖少女相比，肥胖少女在同伴和亲密关系技能的发展方面是否出现延迟； (2)比较肥胖和非肥胖少女的亲密关系特征； (3) 使用纵向生长曲线模型来确定肥胖和非肥胖青春期女孩的浪漫和性关系特征轨迹是否随着时间的推移而有所不同； (4) 确定同伴和亲密关系技能如何影响肥胖和非肥胖青春期女孩的亲密关系随时间的变化轨迹； (5) 比较肥胖和非肥胖非裔美国女孩和白人青春期女孩之间的人际交往能力和亲密关系特征的发展。创新：我们的提议具有创新性，因为它是第一项探索关系背景作为肥胖与青春期女孩性冒险行为之间联系的机制的研究。我们使用两个互补的数据集（一个具有全国代表性的队列和一个来自高风险环境的基于人群的队列）将使我们能够识别细微差别，这些细微差别对于更全面地理解社交技能和关系经历在解释肥胖和非肥胖青少年性行为差异方面所起的作用非常重要。我们采取发展的方法，研究关系经历如何随着时间的推移而演变。最后，通过探索非裔美国女孩和白人少女之间的关系经历有何不同，我们的方法承认美丽规范的文化差异存在并且很重要。公共卫生意义：这项研究的首要目标是扩大体重与青少年性风险承担之间的概念框架，从而为制定青少年性风险降低干预措施和性谈判技能建设计划提供有用的关键信息。