Romantic and sexual activities, parent–adolescent stress, and depressive symptoms among early adolescent girls

Stroud, Catherine B.; Starr, Lisa R.; Miller, Melissa Ramsay; Yoneda, Athena; Hershenberg, Rachel

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.10.004

Cited by 83 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…[22][23][24][25][26][27] Acceptance by and contact with peers is an important element of adolescent life. The intensity of the online world is thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents.…”

Section: Facebook Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

O’Keeffe¹,

2011

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Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today's children and adolescents. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. Pediatricians are in a unique position to help families understand these sites and to encourage healthy use and urge parents to monitor for potential problems with cyberbullying, “Facebook depression,” sexting, and exposure to inappropriate content.

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Section: Facebook Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

O’Keeffe¹,

2011

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“…In a study of intraindividual and peer influences on sexual experience, all associations were mediated by romantic initiation (Zimmer-Gembeck et al 2004). We expect to find the same for the link between parent-child relations and sexual behavior, because parents appear to play a major role in romantic and sexual initiation as well (Davila et al 2009;De Graaf et al 2011;Steinberg et al 2006). Because positive family relations have been found to relate to both romantic and sexual initiation and because romantic and sexual initiation have been found to be closely interrelated, we expect early romantic initiation to mediate the association between family cohesion and an early sexual debut.…”

Section: Goals and Hypotheses Of The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Their energy is mainly focused outside the family. Adolescents originating from these kinds of homes possibly seek out romantic relationships earlier, because they are looking for support and closeness that is missing from the parent-child relationship (Davila et al 2009;Steinberg et al 2006). Ergo, both biological and psychosocial theories lead us to expect an association between negative family relations and early romantic involvement.…”

Section: Goals and Hypotheses Of The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Cohesion and Romantic and Sexual Initiation: A Three Wave Longitudinal Study

Graaf

Schoot

Woertman

et al. 2011

J Youth Adolescence

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Although the relation between family relationships and the timing of sexual debut has been the focus of many studies, research on mediating factors is scarce. This study examines whether low levels of family cohesion result in an earlier onset of romantic and sexual experiences, and whether the link between family cohesion and an early sexual debut is mediated by early romantic initiation. A longitudinal sample of 314 adolescent girls and 222 boys, aged 12-17 at Wave 1, completed questionnaires at three measurement points with three year intervals. The results showed that sexual debut followed romantic initiation for 77% of the participants. For early adolescent females (aged 12-14), high levels of family cohesion resulted in a later sexual debut and this association was fully mediated by a delay of romantic initiation. Among boys and older girls, timing of romantic initiation did not mediate the link between family cohesion and timing of sexual initiation. Early adolescent girls who have negative relationships with their parents turn to romantic relationships for intimacy and support, which subsequently provide the opportunity for an early sexual debut. Low levels of family cohesion thus primarily precipitate romantic initiation and sexual initiation appears to be secondary to this process among girls in this age group.

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“…At least one study of heterosexual youth suggests that this might be the case. Davila et al (2009) found that sexual activity was related to depressive symptoms among girls with high parent-adolescent stress, but not among girls with low parent-adolescent stress.…”

Section: An Integrated Perspective On Adolescent Sexuality and Healthmentioning

confidence: 92%

The Relationship Between Sexual Activity and Depressive Symptoms in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth: Effects of Gender and Family Support

Dickenson

Huebner

2015

Arch Sex Behav

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There is considerable debate over whether adolescent sexual activity is maladaptive and associated with worse mental health outcomes versus a positive developmental milestone that is associated with better mental health outcomes. Although these perspectives are often pitted against one another, the current study employed a more integrative perspective: adolescent sexual activity may be maladaptive in certain contexts, but healthy in other contexts. We investigated whether family support and gender moderated the relation between sexual activity and mental health outcomes in a diverse sample of 519 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. Specifically, we examined whether youth who engaged in more sexual activity would have fewer depressive symptoms in the context of a more supportive family environment, but more depressive symptoms in the context of a less supportive family environment and whether this effect was stronger for sexual minority girls. Consistent with the sexual health perspective, we found that among girls with more family support, those who engaged in more frequent same-sex sexual contact had lower levels of depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, we found that among boys with more family support, those who engaged in more frequent same-sex sexual contact had higher levels of depressive symptoms. In contrast, girls and boys with less family support showed no relation between sexual activity and depressive symptoms. Overall, results suggest that context is critical when determining whether same-sex sexual contact among LGB youth should be considered maladaptive or beneficial.

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Romantic and sexual activities, parent–adolescent stress, and depressive symptoms among early adolescent girls

Cited by 83 publications

References 43 publications

The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

Family Cohesion and Romantic and Sexual Initiation: A Three Wave Longitudinal Study

The Relationship Between Sexual Activity and Depressive Symptoms in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth: Effects of Gender and Family Support

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