Developmental Pathways to Sexual Risk Behavior in High-Risk Adolescent Boys

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Investigations of adolescents' sexual risk behavior have focused on factors such as parental monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, and daring that occur during early and midadolescence. Less is known about early childhood precursors to adolescent sexual risk behavior. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:This prospective longitudinal study identifies parenting practices and mothers' depressive symptomatology during early childhood as precursors to later sexual risk behavior and involvement in pregnancy in adolescent boys, with deviant peer affiliation during emerging adolescence mediating these relationships. abstract OBJECTIVE: Adolescent boys' involvement in pregnancy and sexual risk behavior is a public health concern. Although research has identified predictors of sexual risk behavior during adolescence, few studies have investigated precursors to boys' sexual risk behavior beginning in early childhood, the identification of which could serve to inform interventions and help reduce involvement in pregnancy. Our goal was to identify early developmental pathways associated with sexual risk behavior in a sample of low-income adolescent boys. METHODS:Data from a prospective longitudinal study in 310 at-risk boys were used to examine externalizing problems, mothers' depressive symptoms, and low-nurturant parenting in early childhood (1.5, 2, and 3.5 years old) and daring, externalizing, parental monitoring, and deviant peer affiliation during emerging adolescence (11 and 12 years old) as precursors of sexual risk behavior between the ages 15 and 20 years. Structural equation modeling was used to explore pathways associated with later high-risk sexual behavior (HRSB). RESULTS:In multivariate analyses, adolescent daring and deviant peer affiliation at age 12 were associated with later HRSB. Furthermore, deviant peer affiliation during emerging adolescence mediated the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms and nurturant parenting during early childhood and later adolescent HRSB. CONCLUSIONS:Family-based risk factors in early childhood are predictive of HRSB in adolescence but are also influenced, and in some cases mediated, by relationships with peers and child characteristics during emerging adolescence.

Early childhood parenting and child impulsivity as precursors to aggression, substance use, and risky sexual behavior in adolescence and early adulthood

“…Fifth and finally, although the current study makes some important contributions to our understanding of how early impulsivity and parenting affect problem behaviors in adolescence and early adulthood, future research should identify more proximal mediating mechanisms that account for these links (e.g., Belsky et al, 2010;Dodge et al, 2009;Sitnick, Brennan, et al, 2014). In addition, the current study only used assessments of early impulsivity and rejecting parenting at age 2, but developmental psychopathology frameworks have emphasized the transactional nature of parent and child characteristics (Cicchetti & Valentino, 2006).…”

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to establish that parenting assessed as young as age 2 has direct effects on sexual risk taking in adolescence and early adulthood. Previous longitudinal studies have found support for a link between harsh or neglecting parenting in the toddler or preschool years and later risky sexual behavior in adolescence through mediating processes, such as early pubertal timing in an all-girl sample and peer deviancy in a boys-only sample (Belsky et al, 2010;Sitnick, Brennan, et al, 2014). While we found evidence for direct effects of parenting, other more proximal processes are likely to show stronger associations with risky sexual behavior in adolescence and emerging adulthood, and future research should attempt to examine the specific mediating processes accounting for the association between early rejecting parenting and later risky sexual behavior.…”

“…In an empirical test of this theory, maternal harshness at 4.5 years of age was indirectly related to sexual risk taking in females at age 15 through the development of early pubertal onset (Belsky, Steinberg, Houts, & Halpern-Felsher, 2010). In the only longitudinal study to examine early caregiving as an antecedent to high-risk sexual behavior in boys, parenting low in nurturance (i.e., low responsivity and acceptance) at age 2 predicted higher sexual risk taking between the ages of 15 and 20 through the mediating influence of heightened peer deviancy at age 12 (Sitnick, Brennan, Forbes, & Shaw, 2014).…”

Parental Monitoring and Its Associations With Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior: A Meta-analysis

“…12,13,18–20 Furthermore, research suggests that parents value and seek out practical guidance from their adolescent children’s health care providers in supporting adolescent sexual and reproductive health. 15,16,21 Recently, some research has highlighted the importance of provider endorsement of effective parenting in support of adolescent health.…”

Klithih: Faktor Risiko dan Developmental Pathway Pelakunya

“…Penelitian juga menunjukkan bahwa keterlibatan remaja atau dewasa dalam perilaku berisiko, baik sendiri maupun kelompok, dapat dideteksi mulai dari masa anak. Beberapa hasil penelitian telah menggambarkan bagaimana developmental pathway pada remaja yang melakukan perilaku berisiko, misalnya pada remaja laki-laki yang melakukan seks bebas (Sitnick, Brennan, Forbes, & Shaw, 2014), remaja dengan externalizing behavior (Reef, Diamantopoulou, Van Meurs, Verhulst, & Van Der Ende, 2011), dan remaja pecandu alkohol (Englund, Egeland, Oliva, & Collins, 2008 Kerig dkk., 2012). Para peneliti tersebut memberikan contoh tentang developmental pathway dari conduct disorder berdasarkan beberapa hasil penelitian, observasi, dan pengalaman mereka.…”