Vasilenko Sara A, Kugler Kari C, Lanza Stephanie T
a The Methodology Center , Pennsylvania State University.
J Sex Res. 2016 Sep;53(7):742-53. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2015.1065952. Epub 2015 Oct 7.
Adolescents' sexual and romantic relationship experiences are multidimensional but often studied as single constructs. Thus, it is not clear how different patterns of sexual and relationship experience may interact to differentially predict later outcomes. In this study we used latent class analysis to model patterns (latent classes) of adolescent sexual and romantic experiences, and then examined how these classes were associated with young adult sexual health and relationship outcomes in data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We identified six adolescent relationship classes: No Relationship (33%), Waiting (22%), Intimate (38%), Private (3%), Low Involvement (3%), and Physical (2%). Adolescents in the Waiting and Intimate classes were more likely to have married by young adulthood than those in other classes, and those in the Physical class had a greater number of sexual partners and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Some gender differences were found; for example, women in the Low-Involvement and Physical classes in adolescence had average or high odds of marriage, whereas men in these classes had relatively low odds of marriage. Our findings identify more and less normative patterns of romantic and sexual experiences in late adolescence and elucidate associations between adolescent experiences and adult outcomes.
青少年的性与恋爱关系经历具有多维度性，但常常被作为单一结构进行研究。因此，尚不清楚不同的性与恋爱经历模式如何相互作用，从而对后续结果产生不同的预测。在本研究中，我们使用潜在类别分析来构建青少年性与恋爱经历的模式（潜在类别），然后在“青少年到成人健康全国纵向研究”（Add Health）的数据中，考察这些类别与青年期性健康及恋爱关系结果之间的关联。我们识别出六种青少年恋爱关系类别：无恋爱关系（33%）、等待（22%）、亲密（38%）、私密（3%）、低参与度（3%）和身体接触（2%）。处于等待和亲密类别的青少年在成年早期结婚的可能性高于其他类别，而处于身体接触类别的青少年有更多的性伴侣，性传播感染（STIs）率也更高。研究发现了一些性别差异；例如，青春期处于低参与度和身体接触类别的女性结婚的几率为平均水平或较高，而处于这些类别的男性结婚的几率相对较低。我们的研究结果识别出了青春期后期恋爱和性经历中规范性程度不同的模式，并阐明了青少年经历与成人结果之间的关联。
