Adolescents' emotions prior to sexual activity and associations with sexual risk factors

Sexual and Affectionate Behaviors in Asexual and Allosexual Adults

Prior experience with physical behaviors - both sexual and affectionate - is common among adults in romantic relationships. However, less is known about differences in physical behaviors for asexual and allosexual adults, and these differences may explain how asexual adults navigate sexuality in romantic relationships. In this study we used sexual script theory to examine asexual (n = 109; 59% women; M_age = 27.7) and allosexual adults' (n = 403; 58% women; M_age = 29.0) prior experiences with and future likelihood to engage in sexual and affectionate behaviors in romantic relationships, and how these differences vary by gender. Asexual adults had less prior experience with and were less likely to intend to engage in future physical behaviors than allosexual adults. There were some gender differences in past experience and future likelihood. Prior experience with physical behaviors was associated with expected likelihood to engage in these behaviors for allosexual and asexual adults, although the association was stronger for asexual adults. These results have implications for how asexual adults engage in physical behaviors, and how differing interest in physical behaviors may cause conflict within asexual-allosexual couples.

“Sex as a way to gain some control”: Sexual subjectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted dynamics of sexual health, including sexual subjectivity, or the way in which someone thinks of themself as a sexual being and feels entitled to pleasure. This study examines how adults in the US perceive changes in their sexual subjectivity related to the pandemic. We conducted an online survey ( N = 326), and included thematic analyses related to open-ended questions. The following themes emerged: intentional self-reflection, control of change, control of perspective, control of relationships, control of communication, and control of sexual behavior. Our findings have implications for psychological and public health approaches. We find large overlap of “capacity and engagement in self-reflection” across other themes. The implications and durability of these changes are unknown.

The Occurrence of Sexual Risk Behaviors and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being Among Kenyan Adolescents

Objective: Sexual risk behavior during adolescence is an important public health problem. Self-esteem and hopefulness are potentially important psychological factors that may play a role in the behavioral regulation mechanisms of adolescents. These factors are inadequately explored in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at exploring patterns and associated factors for sexual risk behavior (SRB), self-esteem, and hopefulness among adolescents from a resource-poor setting in Kenya. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted in 2019 among 296 adolescents (12-17 years old) from rural Kilifi (n = 133) and urban informal settings of Nairobi (n = 163) in Kenya. Participants completed the Kilifi Health Risk Behavior Questionnaire, Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaire, and Hope scale administered via computerized tablets. A binary outcome variable based on the experience of adolescents of at least one of the five forms of SRB: transactional sex, sexual violence, intergenerational sex, early sexual debut, and condom non-use was generated. Bi-variate analysis was conducted to summarize various social-demographic and psychosocial factors. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to investigate factors associated with the occurrence of SRB, self-esteem, and hopefulness among adolescents. Results: About 13% of the participants had experienced a form of SRB, and among these, 36% reported co-occurrence of multiple forms of SRB. Adolescent SRB was largely characterized by having experienced sexual violence, as well as intergenerational and transactional sex. Higher scores of hopefulness were reported among adolescents who never experienced SRB (P = 0.03) at bivariate analysis level. However, both self-esteem and hopefulness were not significantly associated with the occurrence of SRB in the adjusted logistic regression analysis. Having depressive symptoms (Adj. OR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.39-10.4), feeling unsafe in the neighborhood (Adj. OR = 3.4, 95% CI: 1.6-7.2), and being in higher compared with lower primary education level (Adj. OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1-0.8) were statistically significantly associated with the occurrence of SRB. Conclusion: Targeted reproductive health interventions, designed with the cognizance of structural and social drivers of adolescent SRB, are needed to concurrently tackle multiple forms of SRB. It is important to integrate mental health promotion within these interventions. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms and implications of self-esteem and hopefulness for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Targeted High-Risk Youth in Missouri PREP: Understanding Program Impacts on Youth Sexual Behavior Intentions

Background

Missouri Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) provides sexual health education programs to youth with goals of reducing unintended teen pregnancies. Theories of change provide that youth improve their sexual health knowledge, intentions, attitudes, and behaviors as a result of program implementation. Program evaluations are needed to assess the degree to which PREP programs are meeting their goals of improving youth outcomes.

Objective

The purpose of this study is to examine youth sexual intentions to use a condom, engage in sexual behavior, and abstain from sex as a result of Missouri PREP program implementation. We evaluate the effectiveness of the Missouri program in modifying youth intentions toward healthier planned behaviors.

Methods

All programs required youth to take pre- and post-program surveys. For this study, we evaluate a sample of 1,335 youth's pre- and post-survey intentions related to condom use, sex, and abstention. We utilize t-tests as well as a lagged logistic regression approach to account for youth's respective pre-intentions.

Results

Youth's scores on intentions, knowledge, and attitudes rise from pre- to post-survey. Knowledge gains are salient while attitudes remain relatively high and stable. Intentions to use condoms differ from those in intentions to have or abstain from sex. Program change in intentions to use a condom are highest among the three intention outcomes.

Conclusions

Missouri PREP saw improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and intentions as a result of program implementation. Findings suggest that the Missouri PREP program is effective at positively influencing youth intentions to engage in risky or sexual behavior.

Relationships between women's emotional reaction to first coital experience and subsequent sexual risk-taking behaviour

Objectives: The study aimed to consider the affective reactions of young French women to their experience of first sexual intercourse and examine the relationship with subsequent risky sexual behaviours, using cluster profiles.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among women in France (n = 391) (mean age 22.36 years, standard deviation 3.08). Participants completed a questionnaire with self-reported measures of emotional responses to first sexual intercourse and risky sexual behaviours.Results: Cluster analyses revealed four emotional reaction profiles: Pleasure, Guilty-pleasure, Negative-emotional and Anxiety-unpleasant. The Pleasure group reported overall and higher satisfaction and positive emotions towards first sexual intercourse; this group reported lower condom use. The Guilty-pleasure group felt pleasure tinged with guilt and reported fewer same-sex partners. The Negative-emotional profile group tended to feel major negative emotions related to initial coital experience, reporting lower or no pleasure. The Anxiety-unpleasant group reported little pleasure and major anxiety associated with first sexual intercourse. The latter two groups, respectively, reported a higher number of male sexual partners and higher alcohol consumption prior to sexual intercourse compared with the two pleasure groups.Conclusion: These results suggest that women's emotional reactions to first sexual intercourse may be associated with subsequent healthy versus risky sexual behaviours in young adulthood.

The Role of Impulsivity in the Relation Between Negative Affect and Risky Sexual Behaviors

While risky sexual behavior associates with negative affect, and impulsivity often increases during negative affective states, little is known about the interrelations of these factors. This study examined whether impulsivity explained the relation between negative affect and risky sex among college students. Negative affect exhibited an indirect effect via impulsivity on number of sexual partners for both males and females, and on inconsistent condom use for females, but not males. Results suggest risky sex may serve to regulate negative affect, proposing the importance of negative affect in future strategies to reduce risky sex among young adults.

(S)He's Gotta Have It: Emotion Regulation, Emotional Expression, and Sexual Risk Behavior in Emerging Adult Couples

Emotion regulation and emotional expression may be important factors which contribute to sexual risk behavior among emerging adults, yet research exploring their relation is limited. Further, the influence of a romantic partner is unclear. The current study aims to a) investigate association between emotional difficulties and sexual risk behavior (e.g. sexual compulsivity and sensation-seeking) and b) explore the influence of a romantic partner on individual sexual risk. Participants were 49 couples (n=98) participating in a randomized control pilot intervention. Results demonstrated that individual and partner emotional difficulties were associated with sexual risk behavior. Results did not vary by gender.

An Emotion Regulation Intervention to Reduce Risk Behaviors Among at-Risk Early Adolescents

This study aimed to evaluate an intervention designed to enhance early adolescents' emotion regulation skill use and to decrease risk behaviors. Adolescents 12 to 14 years old (N = 420; 53 % male) with mental health symptoms were referred for participation in either an Emotion Regulation (ER) or Health Promotion (HP) intervention consisting of 12 after-school sessions. Participants completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires on laptop computers. Using a generalized analysis of covariance controlling for baseline scores, participants in the ER intervention were less likely to be sexually active and engage in other risk behaviors, such as fighting, at the conclusion of the program. Additionally, participants in the ER intervention reported greater use of emotion regulation strategies and more favorable attitudes toward abstinence. Interventions directly targeting emotion regulation may be useful in addressing health risk behaviors of adolescents with mental health symptoms.

The 1-year impact of an emotion regulation intervention on early adolescent health risk behaviors

OBJECTIVE

Sexual activity often begins in early adolescence, and adolescents with mental health symptoms are at greater risk for sexual activity and other health risks. This study aimed to evaluate a developmentally targeted intervention designed to enhance early adolescents' emotion regulation competencies as a strategy for reducing health risk behaviors, including sexual initiation.

METHOD

Adolescents 12 to 14 years old (N = 420; 53% male) with mental health symptoms participated in either an emotion regulation (ER) or health promotion (HP) intervention consisting of 12 after-school sessions. Participants completed questionnaires on laptop computers at baseline, 2-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups.

RESULTS

Time to event analyses were used to compare intervention conditions on rate of initiation to vaginal sex. Results showed that participants in the ER condition were less likely to transition into vaginal sexual activity by 1-year follow-up than were those in the HP condition (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval [0.36, 0.94], p = .01). However, those who were sexually active did not report differences in sexual risk behaviors (e.g., condomless sex). Participants in the ER condition were significantly less likely to report violence behaviors and showed improvement on a behavioral measure of emotion identification; however, they did not differ from HP participants on self-reports of emotional competence.

CONCLUSIONS

Emotion regulation strategies can be used to delay sexual initiation among early adolescents with mental health symptoms and may have an important role in health education. (PsycINFO Database Record

Acculturative Stress and Risky Sexual Behavior: The Roles of Sexual Compulsivity and Negative Affect

Recent syndemic models of sexual health disparities affecting racial/ethnic minorities have highlighted the role of discrimination. Yet no previous work has examined how acculturative stress (distress at the transition from one's original culture toward a new culture) associates with sexual HIV-risk behavior (SHRB). Work among other minority populations suggests sexual compulsivity (SC) may contribute to syndemic sexual health disparities as a means of coping with distress. With this in mind, the present study examined whether SC explained the relation between acculturative stress and SHRB. Separate analyses were conducted for males and females within a sample of 758 sexually initiated racial/ethnic minority college students. Among males and females, acculturative stress had an indirect effect on SHRB via SC. As the first study to examine SHRB in relation to acculturative stress, findings provide preliminary evidence that targeting SC among racial/ethnic minorities may help reduce sexual health disparities.

Loneliness and health risk behaviours among Russian and U.S. adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Background

For some adolescents feeling lonely can be a protracted and painful experience. It has been suggested that engaging in health risk behaviours such as substance use and sexual behaviour may be a way of coping with the distress arising from loneliness during adolescence. However, the association between loneliness and health risk behaviour has been little studied to date. To address this research gap, the current study examined this relation among Russian and U.S. adolescents.

Methods

Data were used from the Social and Health Assessment (SAHA), a school-based survey conducted in 2003. A total of 1995 Russian and 2050 U.S. students aged 13–15 years old were included in the analysis. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between loneliness and substance use, sexual risk behaviour, and violence.

Results

After adjusting for demographic characteristics and depressive symptoms, loneliness was associated with a significantly increased risk of adolescent substance use in both Russia and the United States. Lonely Russian girls were significantly more likely to have used marijuana (odds ratio [OR]: 2.28; confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–4.45), while lonely Russian boys had higher odds for past 30-day smoking (OR, 1.87; CI, 1.08–3.24). In the U.S. loneliness was associated with the lifetime use of illicit drugs (excepting marijuana) among boys (OR, 3.09; CI, 1.41–6.77) and with lifetime marijuana use (OR, 1.79; CI, 1.26–2.55), past 30-day alcohol consumption (OR, 1.80; CI, 1.18–2.75) and past 30-day binge drinking (OR, 2.40; CI, 1.56–3.70) among girls. The only relation between loneliness and sexual risk behaviour was among Russian girls, where loneliness was associated with significantly higher odds for ever having been pregnant (OR, 1.69; CI: 1.12–2.54). Loneliness was not associated with violent behaviour among boys or girls in either country.

Conclusion

Loneliness is associated with adolescent health risk behaviour among boys and girls in both Russia and the United States. Further research is now needed in both settings using quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand the association between loneliness and health risk behaviours so that effective interventions can be designed and implemented to mitigate loneliness and its effects on adolescent well-being.