Adolescent Sex, Well-Being, and Normative Contexts

本研究将评估青少年性活动对三个领域的健康和发展的影响：心理健康，学术参与和风险行为。青少年性行为与身体健康的几个方面有着明确而直接的联系：美国青少年怀孕率为71（每1000名15-19岁的女孩），青少年生育率为42，最近的估计表明，四分之一的青少年女孩（38%的性经验少女）患有性传播感染（STI）。我们对性活动如何影响其他结果知之甚少，这些结果塑造了青春期和生命历程后期的幸福感。先前的研究将青少年性行为与抑郁、对教育不感兴趣以及吸毒等危险行为联系起来，但这些联系背后的机制仍然不明确。我们的研究将考察青少年社会世界的规范是如何调节他们的性行为和幸福感之间的关系的。我们的具体重点是全球和地方规范，有助于规范性的背景。全球规范反映了一般的社会期望，而这种期望通常又受到父母和其他规范性影响来源的强化。这些全球性的规范在年龄较大的青少年、男孩和那些处于浪漫关系中的人中更能接受性。与此相反，地方规范源于更直接的社会环境，可能会加强、修改或否定全球规范。我们在三个层面上研究规范性背景，将青少年置于友谊网络和学校中。该项目有两个目标。第一个目标是调查全球青少年性规范是否以及如何影响性与心理健康、学校参与和危险行为之间的关系。第二个目的是分析全球规范的影响在多大程度上取决于朋友和同学的本地规范。我们将采用多层次模型，并利用大部分数据文件中的信息，包括饱和的学校样本和青少年健康学术成就研究的大型和全面的添加健康档案。这些数据非常适合我们对多层规范和三个幸福领域的分析。再加上现有的知识，性行为和身体健康，我们的调查将提供一个全面的画像的影响，性对健康和幸福的青春期。我们对规范背景的关注突出了促进青少年福祉的重要环境，这在青少年性行为研究或政策圈中很少讨论。 公共卫生相关性：青少年性交与身体健康的各个方面，包括怀孕和性传播感染有着明确和直接的联系。这项研究将探讨性活动如何影响心理健康，学术参与和风险行为。它将考虑性的规范背景是否以及如何影响其对健康和福祉的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research will assess the effects of adolescent sexual activity on health and development across three domains: mental health, academic engagement, and risk behaviors. Adolescent sexual intercourse has clear and direct links to several aspects of physical health: the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is 71 (per 1000 girls 15-19), the teen birth rate is 42, and recent estimates indicate that one in four teen girls (38% of sexually experienced teen girls) have a sexually transmitted infection (STI). We know less about how sexual activity influences other outcomes that shape well-being in adolescence and at later stages in the life course. Prior research links adolescent sex to depression, disinterest in education, and risk behaviors like drug use, but the mechanisms underlying these associations remain ambiguous. Our research will examine how the norms that characterize the social world of adolescents moderate the relationship between their emergent sexual behavior and well- being. Our specific focus is on global and local norms that contribute to the normative context of sex. Global norms reflect general, societal expectations that are typically reinforced by parents and other sources of normative influence. These global norms are more accepting of sex among older teens, boys, and those in romantic relationships. Local norms, in contrast, originate in more immediate social settings and may reinforce, modify or repudiate global norms. We examine normative context at three levels, situating adolescents within friendship networks and within schools. The project has two aims. The first aim is to investigate if and how global norms about adolescent sex condition the association between sex and mental health, school engagement, and risky behavior. The second aim is to analyze the degree to which the influence of global norms is contingent on local norms of friends and schoolmates. We will employ multi-level models and utilize information from most of the data files in the large and comprehensive Add Health archive including saturated school samples and the Adolescent Health Academic Achievement Study. These data are uniquely suited to our analyses of multiple layers of norms and three domains of well-being. Coupled with existing knowledge about sexual behavior and physical health, our investigation will provide a comprehensive portrait of the effects of sex on health and well-being in adolescence. Our focus on normative context highlights an important milieu for promoting adolescent well-being that is rarely discussed in studies of teen sex or in policy circles. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Adolescent sexual intercourse has clear and direct links to aspects of physical health including pregnancy and STIs. This research will explore how sexual activity influences mental health, academic engagement, and risk behaviors. It will consider whether and how the normative context of sex shapes its consequences for health and well-being.