Department of Human Development and Family Science, Syracuse University, 144 White Hall, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
Department of Social Work, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2023 Oct;52(7):2881-2896. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02607-5. Epub 2023 May 8.
Early sexual intercourse is associated with sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, and depressive symptoms, and delay of intercourse allows adolescents opportunities to practice relationship skills (Coker et al., 1994; Harden, 2012; Kugler et al., 2017; Spriggs & Halpern, 2008). Thus, understanding predictors of early sexual intercourse is crucial. Prior research has suggested that violence exposure is associated with early initiation of sexual intercourse in adolescence (Abajobir et al., 2018; Orihuela et al., 2020). However, most studies have looked only at a single type of violence exposure. In addition, little research has examined longitudinal patterns of violence exposure in order to determine whether there are particular periods when the violence exposure may have the strongest impact on sexual behavior. Guided by life history and cumulative disadvantage theories, we use longitudinal latent class analysis and data from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 3,396; 51.1% female, 48.9% male) to examine how longitudinal patterns of multiple types of violence exposures across ages 3 to 15 are associated with early sexual initiation in adolescence. Findings suggest that experiencing persistent physical and emotional abuse across childhood was associated with the greatest prevalence of early sexual initiation. Early exposure to violence was not consistently associated with greater likelihood of sexual initiation; instead, early abuse was more strongly associated with sexual initiation for boys, while late childhood abuse was more strongly associated for girls. These findings suggest that gender-sensitive programs are highly needed to address unique risk factors for boys' and girls' sexual behaviors.
早期性行为与性传播感染、怀孕和抑郁症状有关，延迟性行为可以让青少年有机会练习人际关系技巧（Coker 等人，1994 年；Harden，2012 年；Kugler 等人，2017 年；Spriggs 和 Halpern，2008 年）。因此，了解早期性行为的预测因素至关重要。先前的研究表明，暴力暴露与青少年早期开始性行为有关（Abajobir 等人，2018 年；Orihuela 等人，2020 年）。然而，大多数研究只关注单一类型的暴力暴露。此外，很少有研究检查暴力暴露的纵向模式，以确定是否存在特定时期，暴力暴露可能对性行为产生最强的影响。受生命历程和累积劣势理论的指导，我们使用纵向潜在类别分析和未来家庭与儿童福利研究的数据（N=3396；51.1%为女性，48.9%为男性），研究 3 至 15 岁期间多种类型的暴力暴露的纵向模式与青少年早期的性行为开始之间的关系。研究结果表明，在整个童年时期持续经历身体和情感虐待与早期性行为开始的比例最高。早期暴露于暴力与性行为开始的可能性增加并不一致；相反，早期虐待与男孩的性行为开始更相关，而童年后期的虐待与女孩的性行为开始更相关。这些发现表明，需要制定性别敏感的方案来解决男孩和女孩性行为的独特风险因素。
