RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK --Youth with high family and individual risk factors were more sexually active in adolescence, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Pennsylvania State University.
However, youth exhibited similar numbers of sex partners in early adulthood regardless of risk factors, the study found.
The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that permissive maternal attitudes, low family warmth and high motivation among youth to have sex were linked to higher number of sexual partners at age 17, across racial and ethnic groups. However, by early adulthood these same risk factors were no longer consistently linked to higher number of sexual partners.
"We found that youth exhibited similar numbers of partners in early adulthood regardless of their levels of these risk and protective factors," said Marni Kan, a research psychologist at RTI International and the study's lead author.
"This suggests that prevention efforts should continue targeting family relationships to reduce sexual risk behavior during adolescence, but we need to determine what other factors should be targeted to reduce sexual risk in early adulthood."
The survey included more that 8,700 youth who took part in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The participants were 11 to 27 years of age through the eight years of the study.
The research also showed that maternal attitudes and adolescent motivations may influence the number of sex partners more strongly for girls than boys.
The study also found that among white and black youth, the number of sexual partners increased in adolescence, but as they entered early adulthood and began entering longer and more committed relationships, that number began to decline. Among Mexican-American youth, however, the number of partners increased during both adolescence and early adulthood.
The study was funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
