Jones Rachel K, Darroch Jacqueline E, Singh Susheela
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, USA.
J Adolesc Health. 2005 Apr;36(4):279-88. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.02.036.
To examine whether religious involvement and affiliation during early adolescence is associated with reduced levels of sexual risk.
We used nationally representative data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to examine the relationship between religious affiliation and frequency of attendance at religious services at age 14 years and a range of sexual behaviors among women aged 15-24 years, including age of first intercourse, contraceptive use, timing of first family planning visit, timing of birth, and number of sexual partners. The majority of young women had mothers with at least a high school education (79%) and had been living with both parents at age 14 (57%). Two-thirds of the sample was white, 12% Hispanic, and 15% black, and a substantial minority is poor (18%) or low-income (24%). We used bivariate analysis to describe variation in behavior according to religious affiliation and frequency of attendance. We used multivariate techniques to assess the role of religion once other factors are taken into account.
Bivariate relationships suggest that both affiliation and attendance are associated with age of first sex, contraceptive use at first sex, teen births, and number of sexual partners. However, most of these associations disappear once we control for young women's demographic characteristics. Multivariate analyses show that religious affiliation shares few associations with sexual behaviors, though frequent attendance at religious services at age 14 years continues to have a strong delaying effect on the timing of first intercourse.
Frequency of attendance and religious affiliation have little impact on sexual behaviors once intercourse occurs.
探讨青春期早期的宗教参与和归属与性风险水平降低是否相关。
我们使用了1995年全国家庭成长调查（NSFG）的全国代表性数据，以研究14岁时的宗教归属和参加宗教仪式的频率与15 - 24岁女性一系列性行为之间的关系，这些性行为包括首次性交年龄、避孕措施使用、首次计划生育就诊时间、生育时间以及性伴侣数量。大多数年轻女性的母亲至少拥有高中学历（79%），且在14岁时与父母双方共同生活（57%）。样本中三分之二为白人，12%为西班牙裔，15%为黑人，相当一部分少数群体为贫困（18%）或低收入（24%）。我们使用双变量分析来描述根据宗教归属和参加频率的行为差异。在考虑其他因素后，我们使用多变量技术来评估宗教的作用。
双变量关系表明，宗教归属和参加频率均与首次性行为年龄、首次性行为时的避孕措施使用、青少年生育以及性伴侣数量相关。然而，一旦我们控制了年轻女性的人口统计学特征，则这些关联大多消失。多变量分析表明，宗教归属与性行为的关联较少，不过14岁时频繁参加宗教仪式对首次性交时间仍有强烈的延迟作用。
一旦发生性行为，参加频率和宗教归属对性行为影响不大。
