Department of Human Development and Family Science (0416), College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
Faculty of Leadership, Counseling and Research, School of Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2019 Apr;48(3):893-910. doi: 10.1007/s10508-018-1380-7. Epub 2019 Feb 21.
To examine sexual partner acquisition into young adulthood and to explore what characteristics of the adolescent family context might predict this change, we used growth curve modeling to examine data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents followed longitudinally over 13 years through young adulthood (N = 5385). Growth curve modeling allowed us to treat the outcome as a dynamic variable and to examine 10 potential predictors of change while accounting for the nested nature of the data. Six family characteristics emerged as predictors of mean number of partners and rate of partner acquisition, while accounting for three significant adolescent predictors. Living in a single-parent or blended family and general communication about sex predicted higher lifetime number of sexual partners in young adulthood. Parent religiosity, parent disapproval of adolescent engagement in sex, and parent-adolescent connectedness were predictive of lower lifetime number of sexual partners. By following participants into their late twenties and early thirties, we were able to detect changes in the impact of early family factors that are not apparent in studies restricted to adolescents and emerging adults. For example, parent education, parent disapproval, and parent-adolescent connectedness were associated with higher rates of partner acquisition at age 23, but faster deceleration in partner acquisition as time progressed. Communication about negative consequences of sex was not predictive, regardless of whether it was "on time" (before sexual intercourse) or not. These results reveal that parents have significant, and sometimes unexpected, influence on their children's sexual behavior that persists well into adulthood.
为了研究年轻人性伴侣的获取情况，并探讨青少年家庭环境的哪些特征可能预测这种变化，我们使用增长曲线模型分析了一个具有全国代表性的青少年样本的数据，这些青少年在 13 年的时间里通过纵向研究一直跟踪到成年早期（N=5385）。增长曲线模型使我们能够将结果视为动态变量，并在考虑数据嵌套性质的同时，研究 10 种可能的变化预测因素。有 6 种家庭特征被证明是预测伴侣数量和获取速度的因素，同时也考虑了 3 个青少年时期的显著预测因素。生活在单亲或混合家庭以及关于性的一般沟通，预示着年轻人在成年早期有更高的终身性伴侣数量。父母的宗教信仰、父母对青少年性行为的不认可以及父母与青少年的联系，预示着终身性伴侣数量较低。通过跟踪参与者进入他们的二十多岁和三十多岁，我们能够发现早期家庭因素的影响变化，这些变化在仅限于青少年和新兴成年人的研究中是不明显的。例如，父母的教育程度、父母的不认可以及父母与青少年的联系与 23 岁时更高的伴侣获取率有关，但随着时间的推移，伴侣获取的速度会更快地减速。关于性的负面后果的沟通没有预测作用，无论它是否“及时”（在性交之前）。这些结果表明，父母对孩子的性行为有显著的、有时是意想不到的影响，这种影响一直持续到成年期。
