Kugler Kari C, Vasilenko Sara A, Butera Nicole M, Coffman Donna L
The Methodology Center, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.
The Biostatistics Department, The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
J Early Adolesc. 2017 May;37(5):662-676. doi: 10.1177/0272431615620666. Epub 2015 Dec 9.
Although early sexual initiation has been linked to negative outcomes, it is unknown whether these effects are causal. In this study, we use propensity score methods to estimate the causal effect of early sexual initiation on young adult sexual risk behaviors and health outcomes using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We found that early sexual initiation predicted having 2 or more partners (for both males and females) and having a sexually transmitted infection in the past year (females only) but did not predict depressive symptoms in the past week (for either gender). These results underscore the importance of continued programmatic efforts to delay age of sexual initiation, particularly for females.
尽管过早开始性行为与负面结果有关，但这些影响是否具有因果关系尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们使用倾向得分方法，利用全国青少年到成人健康纵向研究的数据，估计过早开始性行为对青年人性行为风险行为和健康结果的因果效应。我们发现，过早开始性行为预示着在过去一年中有两个或更多性伴侣（男性和女性均如此）以及感染性传播感染（仅女性），但并未预示过去一周内出现抑郁症状（无论男女）。这些结果强调了持续开展项目以推迟性行为开始年龄的重要性，尤其是对女性而言。
