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

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亲密(即约会和性)关系的形成和性谈判。肥胖女孩总是报告说，她们的约会和性经历较少，但一旦她们性行为活跃，性危险行为(即不使用避孕套)就会增加。指导这项研究的概念框架假设，肥胖和非肥胖女孩在与同龄人和亲密伴侣相处的社交技能上的差异，以及关系经历的差异，都是造成这些差异的原因。然而，还没有研究真正检验肥胖和非肥胖女孩的人际交往技能和亲密关系是否不同。我们建议通过使用两个大型的美国青春期女孩纵向队列的数据进行二次数据分析来解决这一研究差距。我们使用了全国青少年健康纵向调查(ADD Health)，这是1994至2008年间进行的具有全国代表性的队列研究；以及匹兹堡女孩研究(PGS)，这是一项持续进行的基于人群的队列研究，始于2000年，在青春期性风险承担和青少年肥胖率高的环境下进行。我们的具体目标是(1)确定与非肥胖青春期女孩相比，肥胖青春期女孩是否经历了同伴和亲密关系技能的延迟发展；(2)比较肥胖和非肥胖青春期女孩的亲密关系特征；(3)使用纵向成长曲线模型来确定肥胖和非肥胖青春期女孩之间浪漫和性关系特征的轨迹是否随着时间的推移而不同；(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之间的亲密关系轨迹；(5)比较肥胖与非肥胖非裔美国和白人青春期女孩人际交往能力和亲密关系特征的发展情况。创新：我们的建议是创新的，因为这是第一项探索关系背景作为将肥胖与青春期女孩的性冒险行为联系起来的机制的研究。我们使用了两个互补的数据集-一个是全国代表性的队列，另一个是来自高风险环境的基于人群的队列-将使我们能够识别出细微差别，这些细微差别对于更全面地理解社交技能和人际关系经验在解释肥胖和非肥胖青少年性行为变化中所起的作用是重要的。我们采取了一种发展的方法，考察了关系体验是如何随着时间的推移而演变的。最后，通过探索非裔美国人和白人青春期女孩之间的关系体验如何不同，我们的方法承认，美容规范中的文化差异是存在的，并且是重要的。公共卫生意义：这项研究的首要目标是扩大将体重与青春期性风险承担联系起来的概念框架，从而为定制青春期性风险降低干预措施和性谈判技能培养计划提供有用的关键信息。

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.