Department of Human Development.
Department of Psychology, University of Texas.
Dev Psychol. 2014 Jun;50(6):1734-45. doi: 10.1037/a0036027. Epub 2014 Mar 3.
Girls who experience earlier pubertal timing relative to peers also exhibit earlier timing of sexual intercourse and more unstable sexual relationships. Although pubertal development initiates feelings of physical desire, the transition into romantic and sexual relationships involves complex biological and social processes contributing both to physical maturation and to individual interpretations of pubertal experiences. Using a sample of female sibling pairs (n = 923 pairs) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the present study investigated associations among menarche and perceived pubertal timing, age of first sexual intercourse (AFI), and adolescent dating and sexual behavior using a behavioral genetic approach. Genetic factors influencing age at menarche and perceived pubertal timing predicted AFI through shared genetic pathways, whereas genetic factors related only to perceived pubertal timing predicted engagement in dating, romantic sex, and nonromantic sex in the previous 18 months. These results suggest that a girl's interpretation of her pubertal timing beyond objective timing is important to consider for the timing and the contexts of romantic and reproductive behavior.
相较于同龄人，性发育较早的女孩也会较早开始性行为，并且性关系也较不稳定。虽然青春期发育会引发身体上的欲望，但从青春期过渡到浪漫关系和性关系涉及到复杂的生物和社会过程，这些过程不仅会促进身体成熟，还会影响个体对青春期经历的理解。本研究使用来自全国青少年健康纵向研究的女性同胞对样本（n=923 对），采用行为遗传学方法，调查了初潮和感知的青春期发育时间、初次性行为年龄（AFI）以及青少年约会和性行为之间的关系。影响初潮和感知青春期发育时间的遗传因素通过共同的遗传途径预测 AFI，而仅与感知的青春期发育时间相关的遗传因素则预测在过去 18 个月内的约会、浪漫性行为和非浪漫性行为。这些结果表明，女孩对自己青春期发育时间的理解（不仅仅是客观的时间）对于理解浪漫和生殖行为的时间和背景非常重要。
