Spriggs Aubrey L, Halpern Carolyn Tucker
Department of Maternal and Child Health, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2008 Sep;40(3):152-61. doi: 10.1363/4015208.
Although sexual debut has been negatively associated with adolescent educational performance and aspirations, it is not clear whether such relationships continue beyond adolescence.
Initiation of postsecondary education by young adulthood was assessed among 3,965 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who had not experienced sexual intercourse at baseline. Associations between age at sexual debut and educational progress were examined in bivariate and multivariable Poisson regression analyses.
Most respondents experienced sexual debut during adolescence: 15% before age 16 (early) and 53% at ages 16-18 (typical). Sixty-five percent of respondents initiated postsecondary education by early adulthood; however, the proportion was significantly lower among those who had had an early (49%) or typical sexual debut (63%) than among those who debuted late (78%). In unadjusted analyses, early and typical debut were associated with a reduced likelihood of initiation of postsecondary education for both females (relative risk ratios, 0.6 and 0.8, respectively) and males (0.7 and 0.8). However, in adjusted analyses, the associations were attenuated for females (0.8 and 0.9) and were at best marginally significant for males. Childbearing was a significant mediator of this relationship.
Adolescent sexual debut appears to be modestly negatively associated with early adult postsecondary education initiation, particularly for females. Targeting mediators of the sexual debut-education relationship, such as early childbearing, could lead to effective interventions.
尽管首次性行为与青少年的学业成绩和抱负呈负相关，但尚不清楚这种关系在青春期之后是否依然存在。
在全国青少年健康纵向研究的3965名基线时未发生过性行为的参与者中，评估其在成年早期开始接受高等教育的情况。在双变量和多变量泊松回归分析中，研究首次性行为的年龄与教育进展之间的关联。
大多数受访者在青春期经历了首次性行为：15%在16岁之前（过早），53%在16 - 18岁（正常）。65%的受访者在成年早期开始接受高等教育；然而，过早（49%）或正常（63%）发生首次性行为的受访者中，这一比例显著低于较晚发生首次性行为的受访者（78%）。在未经调整的分析中，过早和正常发生首次性行为与女性（相对风险比分别为0.6和0.8）和男性（0.7和0.8）开始接受高等教育的可能性降低有关。然而，在调整后的分析中，女性的关联减弱（0.8和0.9），男性的关联至多勉强显著。生育是这种关系的一个重要中介因素。
青少年首次性行为似乎与成年早期开始接受高等教育存在适度的负相关，尤其是对女性而言。针对首次性行为与教育关系的中介因素，如早育，可能会带来有效的干预措施。
