Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3806, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2012 Sep;48(5):1416-28. doi: 10.1037/a0027491. Epub 2012 Feb 27.
Although deficits in working memory ability have been implicated in suboptimal decision making and risk taking among adolescents, its influence on early sexual initiation has so far not been examined. Analyzing 2 waves of panel data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 347; Mean age[baseline] = 13.4 years), assessed 1 year apart, the present study tested the hypothesis that weak working memory ability predicts early sexual initiation and explored whether this relationship is mediated by sensation seeking and 2 forms of impulsivity, namely acting-without-thinking and temporal discounting. The 2 forms of impulsivity were expected to be positively associated with early sexual initiation, whereas sensation seeking was hypothesized to be unrelated or to have a protective influence, due to its positive association with working memory. Results obtained from structural equation modeling procedures supported these predictions and in addition showed that the effects of 3 prominent risk factors (Black racial identity, low socioeconomic background, and early pubertal maturation) on early sexual initiation were entirely mediated by working memory and impulsivity. The findings are discussed in regard to their implications for preventing early sexual onset among adolescents.
尽管工作记忆能力缺陷与青少年次优决策和冒险行为有关，但迄今为止，其对早期性开始的影响尚未得到检验。本研究分析了来自青少年社区样本的 2 波面板数据（N=347；平均年龄[基线]=13.4 岁），每 1 年评估一次，检验了工作记忆能力较弱预测早期性开始的假设，并探讨了这种关系是否被感觉寻求和 2 种冲动行为（即不假思索地行动和时间折扣）所中介。预计这 2 种冲动行为与早期性开始呈正相关，而感觉寻求由于与工作记忆呈正相关，因此被假设为无关或具有保护作用。结构方程建模程序得出的结果支持了这些预测，并进一步表明，3 个突出的风险因素（黑人种族身份、低社会经济背景和青春期早熟）对早期性开始的影响完全是由工作记忆和冲动行为介导的。研究结果就其对预防青少年早期性开始的意义进行了讨论。
