Download ~ Coital Debut: The Role of Religiosity and Sex Attitudes in the Add Health Survey. " by The Journal of Sex Research ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Coital Debut: The Role of Religiosity and Sex Attitudes in the Add Health Survey.
- Author : The Journal of Sex Research
- Release Date : January 01, 2003
- Genre: Health & Fitness,Books,Health, Mind & Body,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 244 KB
Description
Research on adolescent development has shown that an earlier coital debut is associated with increased health risks such as sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancy and child-bearing. As a developmental milestone, however, 60.5% of high school seniors report that they have had sex (Brener et al., 2002), and fewer than 20% remain virgins until marriage (Sex Information and Education Council of the Unites States [SIECUS], 1999). While age is perhaps the most consistent predictor of coital debut, systematic variations in timing have been documented across gender, race, and social class. For instance, research indicates that 65.9% of African American males have had sex by the 9th grade as opposed to 46.7% and 35.4% of Hispanic and White adolescent males, respectively (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System [YRBSS, 2002]). While adolescent boys engage in more sexual activity than girls (DeGaston, Weed, & Jensen, 1996), gender differences are more pronounced for African American than for Caucasian adolescents until late adolescence, when girls seemingly "catch up" to boys (Bearman & Bruckner, 2001). One important context that influences the timing of this transition is a youth's religious context. In a review of over 250 studies conducted between 1980 and 1999, Kirby (1999) identified 13 clusters of antecedents of sexual risk-taking (e.g., initiation of sex, number of partners, frequency, contraceptive use) that ranged from community-level to individual-level factors. One of the clusters--attachment to religious institutions--described the protective nature of religiosity. Whether measured at the community level, family level, or individual level, religiosity was associated with delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse and with reporting fewer sex partners.