Affective influences on adolescent sexual risk behavior: Couple & family contexts

描述（由申请人提供）：拉丁裔和非裔美国青少年仍然不成比例地受到与青少年性危险行为相关的负面健康后果的影响。尽管事实上性风险行为是一种二元行为，但几乎所有的社会认知理论都强调以个体为基础的变量来解释行为。通常，对青少年个体进行访谈，对他们的关系特征进行评估，然后这些评估被用来预测个体的性风险行为。很少有研究对一对青少年夫妇的双方都进行了研究，也很少有研究利用每一方的指标来预测这对夫妇未来的性行为。目前R01提交的总体目标是在未婚，非同居的拉丁裔和非裔美国高中年龄的有浪漫关系的二人组样本中确定夫妻性风险行为的解释模型。此外，本研究还将对青少年夫妇的父母进行研究。在此基础上，本研究将运用认知理论、情绪和情绪调节理论以及一种新的父母监控理论来研究青少年夫妻之间的性风险行为。这项研究的重点是11年级和12年级的拉丁裔和非裔美国青少年及其父母。青少年和他们的父母将从纽约布朗克斯区的公立高中招募，并将被前瞻性地跟踪。这项研究在几个方面具有创新性。首先，它恰当地将青少年的性行为置于青少年恋爱关系和家庭动态的更广泛背景中。其次，我们将研究一对青少年夫妇的双方，并对这对夫妇的性行为进行前瞻性预测。大多数关于青少年性行为的研究都是针对青少年个体进行的。本研究亦将创新的理论模型应用于夫妻及家庭对青少年性风险行为的影响。与之前的研究相反，这项研究承认情绪和情绪调节的重要性是青少年性冒险的潜在重要决定因素。在分析个体成员对夫妻性行为的贡献时，本研究将测试四种有趣的夫妻成员影响模型，并将检验重要的夫妻关系变量的调节作用。此外，这项研究还将检验一种基于发育科学的关于父母监控的新三过程理论。本研究为研究青少年性危险行为提供了系统的、基于理论的、全面的方法。通过以新颖的方式阐明性行为发生的情感、夫妻和家庭背景，该研究将导致开发更丰富、更相关的干预措施，以预防非裔美国人和拉丁裔青年的青少年性风险行为。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Latino and African American adolescents remain disproportionately affected by the negative health consequences associated with adolescent sexual risk behavior. Despite the fact that sexual risk behavior is a dyadic behavior, almost all of the social-cognitive theories emphasize individual-based variables to explain behavior. Typically, interviews are conducted with individual adolescents, assessments are made of their characterizations of relationships, and then these assessments are used to predict the individual's sexual risk behavior. Little research has studied both members of an adolescent couple or has used measures from each member to predict future sexual activity of that dyad. The overall aim of the present R01 submission is to identify explanatory models of couple sexual risk behavior among a sample of unmarried, non co-habiting Latino and African American high school-aged dyads that are romantically linked. In addition, the present research also will study the parents of adolescent couples. In doing so, the present research will apply theories of cognition, emotion and emotion regulation, and a new theory of parental monitoring to the study of adolescent sexual risk behavior among couples. The study is focused on Latino and African American adolescents in grades 11 and 12 and their parents. Adolescents and their parents will be recruited from public high schools in the Bronx borough of New York, NY, and will be prospectively followed. The research is innovative in several respects. First, it appropriately contextualizes adolescent sexual activity in the broader contexts of adolescent romantic relationships and family dynamics. Second, we will study both members of an adolescent couple and will forecast, prospectively, the sexual behavior of that couple. Most research on adolescent sexual behavior is conducted with individual adolescents. The study also will apply innovative theoretical models to the study of couple and family influences on youth sexual risk behavior. In contrast to previous research, the study acknowledges the importance of emotions and emotion regulation as potentially important determinants of adolescent sexual risk taking. The study will test four intriguing models of couple member influence when analyzing the contribution of characteristics that individual members bring to couple sexual activity, and will examine the moderating effects of important couple relationship variables. In addition, the research will test a novel three-process theory of parental monitoring that is grounded in developmental science. The study represents a systematic, theory-based and comprehensive approach to the study of adolescent sexual risk behavior. By elucidating, in novel ways, the emotional, couple and family contexts within which sexual behavior occurs, the study will lead to the development of richer, more relevant interventions to prevent adolescent sexual risk behavior among African American and Latino youth. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: African American and Latino youth are disproportionately affected by the negative health consequences associated with adolescent sexual behavior. The present study will conduct innovative research with inner-city African American and Latino high school-aged youth, their parents and their romantic partners to understand how family and couple contexts affect adolescent sexual risk behavior. This knowledge can then be used to inform the design of parent-and school-based interventions to address youth sexual risk behavior.