Sexual Behavior Trajectories from Adolescence to Adulthood

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的半个世纪，性和浪漫行为的模式发生了重大变化。性转变发生得更早，而且是在婚外，一生中性伴侣的数量增加了，结婚的时间更晚或不是全部。这些行为和态度的变化发生在其他发展过渡和传统的成年社会学标志被推迟的背景下。在这些巨大的人口变化中，人们对健康性行为和生活质量的最佳途径的信念相互冲突。尽管公共政策强调婚前禁欲，但几乎没有关于从青春期到成年的性轨迹的前瞻性文件，也没有关于不同性和浪漫途径的持久发展和健康影响的信息。使用来自全国青少年健康纵向研究的I - IV波数据（添加健康），该项目将：1）检查轨迹定义：一）时间，性行为的出现，和时间间隔;二）合作伙伴的积累，活动和冒险的频率（水平和斜率）;以及III）性取向指标随时间的变化;并确定轨迹是否因生物性别、种族/民族或身体残疾而异; 2）检验来自生命历程和其他发展理论的关于生物特征、心理因素、和生活经验维持或改变性和浪漫的轨迹在整个生命过程中;和3）确定并发和以后的健康轨迹的相关性，并在关联存在，测试有关中介机制的假设。纵向分析将包括离散风险模型、多重递减生命表分析、用于估计个体特定轨迹的非齐次泊松过程的回归模型、多项logistic广义线性混合模型、按类型聚类轨迹的潜在类增长模型、用于不同行为发生之间的排序和时间的多变量转换模型，和双轨迹模型，以捕捉变化过程之间的动态系统相互作用。识别嵌入在不同文化背景下的人的经验轨迹及其健康影响，将丰富关于积极发展的各种形式的发展理论，并将提供基于代表性样本的经验证据，以指导公共卫生政策和计划的制定。 公共卫生相关性：目前婚前性行为在美国是常态;然而，目前的教育政策基于婚前禁欲的假定好处。很少有经验数据表明性模式的类型（例如，首次亮相的时间，婚前与婚姻活动），优化健康和心理社会调整，并在这些问题上很少达成共识。该项目目标的实现将为指导公共卫生政策和项目的发展提供依据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Patterns of sexual and romantic behavior have changed significantly over the past half century. Sexual transition occurs earlier and outside of marriage, lifetime numbers of sexual partners have increased, and entry into marriage occurs later or not all. These behavioral and attitudinal changes have occurred in a context in which other developmental transitions and traditional sociological markers of adulthood are delayed. Embedded in these dramatic population changes are conflicting beliefs about optimal pathways to healthy sexuality and quality of life. Despite public policy emphasis on a pathway defined by abstinence until marriage, there is little prospective documentation of sexual trajectories from adolescence into adulthood or information about the enduring developmental and health implications, if any, of different sexual and romantic pathways. Using data from Waves I - IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this project will: 1) examine trajectories defined by: I) timing, emergence of sexual acts, and temporal spacing; II) partner accumulation, frequency of activity and risk-taking (level and slope); and III) changes in indicators of sexual orientation over time; and determine whether trajectories vary by biological sex, race/ethnicity, or physical disability; 2) test hypotheses derived from Life Course and other developmental theory about how the interactions of biological characteristics, psychological factors, and life experiences sustain or change sexual and romantic trajectories across the life course; and 3) identify concurrent and later health correlates of trajectories, and where associations exist, test hypotheses about mediating mechanisms. Longitudinal analyses will include discrete hazard models, multiple decrement life table analysis, regression models for nonhomogeneous Poisson process to estimate individual-specific trajectories, multinomial logistic generalized linear mixed models, latent class growth models to cluster trajectories by type, multivariate transition models for sequencing and time between onset of different behaviors, and dual trajectory models to capture dynamic system interactions between change processes. Identifying trajectories of experience and their health implications for persons embedded in different cultural contexts will enrich developmental theory about diverse forms of positive development, and will provide empirical evidence based on representative samples to guide the development of public health policy and programs. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Currently premarital sexual debut is the norm in the U.S.; however current educational policy rests on the presumed benefits of abstinence until marriage. There is little empirical data to indicate types of sexual patterns (e.g., timing of debut, premarital versus marital activity) that optimize health and psychosocial adjustment, and little consensus on these issues. Achievement of this project's aims will provide evidence to guide the development of public health policy and programs.