Nogueira Avelar E Silva R, van de Bongardt D, Baams L, Raat H. Bidirectional Associations Between Adolescents' Sexual Behaviors and Psychological Well-Being.
J Adolesc Health 2018;
62:63-71. [PMID:
29054736 DOI:
10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.08.008]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2017] [Revised: 07/14/2017] [Accepted: 08/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE
Assessing bidirectional longitudinal associations between early sexual behaviors (≤16.0 years) and psychological well-being (global self-esteem, physical self-esteem, depression) among 716 adolescents, and the direct and buffering effect of parent-adolescent relationship quality.
METHODS
We used data from Project STARS (Studies on Trajectories of Adolescent Relationships and Sexuality), a longitudinal study on adolescent sexual development in the Netherlands. Participants were 11.0-16.0 years old (mean age at T1 = 13.3 years). Self-reports from four waves of online questionnaires were used. Bidirectional longitudinal associations were assessed by linear mixed-effects models.
RESULTS
At most waves, boys had significantly higher levels of psychological well-being than girls, but genders did not differ in experience with sexual behaviors. Engagement in early sexual behaviors did not predict lower levels of psychological well-being over time, and lower levels of psychological well-being did not predict more engagement in early sexual behaviors over time. Parent-adolescent relationship quality did not moderate these associations in either direction, although we found a significant direct effect, in which a higher-quality parent-adolescent relationship predicted more optimal levels of the three indicators of adolescents' psychological well-being (but not lower levels of early sexual activity) over time.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that, among Dutch adolescents, early sexual behaviors and psychological well-being were not interrelated. This may be explained by socio-cultural aspects of the Dutch society, such as more normalization of sexual behaviors during adolescence. As a result, early sexual activity in and of itself was not related to lower psychological well-being over time. Yet, cross-cultural differences in links between adolescents' sexuality and well-being should be further investigated.
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