Age of Partner at First Adolescent Intercourse and Adult Sexual Risk Behavior Among Women

Abstract

Background: Adolescent females who have early sexual experiences with older male partners report high rates of sexual risk behavior during adolescence, but little is known about whether these early sexual experiences are associated with adult sexual risk behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether having first consensual sex with an older partner was associated with sexual risk behavior in adulthood. Methods: Participants were 292 women (66% African American, mean age ¼ 26 years) attending a public sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic who reported having voluntary vaginal sex before age 18. Participants completed a computerized survey assessing child=adolescent sexual experiences and current adult sexual risk behavior. Results: Participants were, on average, 14.6 years at first vaginal intercourse; their partners were, on average, 17.5 years. After controlling for covariates, a greater partner age difference at first intercourse was associated with more episodes of unprotected sex with a steady partner and a greater proportion of episodes of unprotected sex with a steady partner in the past 3 months. Conclusions: Having an older first sex partner during adolescence was associated with sexual risk behavior in adulthood. Early sexual experiences may be important life events that influence subsequent sexual behavior. Sexual health interventions need to target female adolescents before they initiate sexual intercourse to reduce risk for STDs and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

Parents, peers and pornography: the influence of formative sexual scripts on adult HIV sexual risk behaviour among Black men in the USA

“…Narratives of early sexual experiences with older female partners were salient in the transcripts and merit further discussion. Older sexual partners have previously been associated with earlier sexual initiation and risky sexual behaviour in adolescence, although these issues have been studied much more frequently in girls than boys (Ompad et al 2006;Ryan et al 2008;Senn and Carey, 2011). The links between childhood sexual experiences with older partners and HIV have also been previously investigated, though much more commonly with reference to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as opposed to consensual encounters, and usually applied to either women (Clum et al 2009;El-Bassel et al 2011) or men who have sex with men (Arreola et al 2008;Mimiaga et al 2009).…”

Influence of sexual sensation-seeking on factors associated with risky sexual behaviour among African-American female adolescents

“…Using this framework, we model three antecedents that have been independently linked to sexual risk but have yet to be examined within a single study: partner age, 8 partner communication 9 and sexual attitudes. 10 Although the identification of the antecedents to sexual risk is an important factor in the development of efficacious interventions, to date, there has been little research dedicated to understanding how sexuality-related constructs might interact with antecedents to influence sexual risk.…”

“…21 Interestingly, the effect of partner age discordance on RSB has implications for subsequent adult sexual behaviour, as greater partner age difference at first intercourse during adolescence is associated with greater engagement in RSBs during adulthood, including a greater number of lifetime sexual partners, greater partner concurrency and less condom use. 8 For adolescent females, greater partner age differences could be connected to greater power differentials within relationships, such that females may perceive themselves to have less power to negotiate condom use with an older partner and therefore report less condom use than their peers whose partners are the same age. To date, no studies have examined the interaction between SSS and partner age as they relate to sexual risk.…”

What’s Age Got to Do With It? Partner Age Difference, Power, Intimate Partner Violence, and Sexual Risk in Urban Adolescents

“…They are also more likely to report a high-risk partner, including those recently released from jail or injection drug users (Begley, Crosby, DiClemente, Wingood, & Rose, 2003; Seth et al, 2010). Consequently, adolescent girls with older male partners have higher rates of STIs during their adolescence and young adulthood (Ryan, Franzetta, Manlove, & Schelar, 2008; Senn & Carey, 2011). …”