TY - JOUR
T1 - Predictors of multiple sexual partners from adolescence through young adulthood
AU - Vasilenko, Sara A.
AU - Lanza, Stephanie T.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website ( http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth ). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. This research and the authors were supported by grants 2T32DA 017629 and P50-DA010075-18 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Purpose: To examine time-varying associations between predictors of recent multiple sexual partners from middle adolescence through young adulthood. Methods: We examined whether the odds of multiple partners in the past year were differentially predicted by substance use and depression over time, using data from a nationally representative longitudinal study (N = 11,963, 52.2% female, 18.3% African-American, 11.9% Hispanic, 3.5% Asian, 2.6% other race, M age atWave I = 16.1 years, SD = 1.8). Data were analyzed using the time-varying effect model, which estimates associations between predictors and an outcome as a function of near-continuous time. Results: The proportion of participants having multiple partners increased over time, leveling off at around 30% after age 20. Significant positive associations between substance use and multiple partners were strongest early in adolescence and decreased sharply by around age 18. The significant positive association between depression and sexual behavior weakened with age, remaining significant in young adulthood for women but not men. Conclusions: These findings suggest that factors associated with having multiple recent sexual partners change from middle adolescence through young adulthood. The time-varying effect model can be used to identify risk factors that are especially salient at different ages, thus identifying which age periods may hold the greatest promise for intervention.
AB - Purpose: To examine time-varying associations between predictors of recent multiple sexual partners from middle adolescence through young adulthood. Methods: We examined whether the odds of multiple partners in the past year were differentially predicted by substance use and depression over time, using data from a nationally representative longitudinal study (N = 11,963, 52.2% female, 18.3% African-American, 11.9% Hispanic, 3.5% Asian, 2.6% other race, M age atWave I = 16.1 years, SD = 1.8). Data were analyzed using the time-varying effect model, which estimates associations between predictors and an outcome as a function of near-continuous time. Results: The proportion of participants having multiple partners increased over time, leveling off at around 30% after age 20. Significant positive associations between substance use and multiple partners were strongest early in adolescence and decreased sharply by around age 18. The significant positive association between depression and sexual behavior weakened with age, remaining significant in young adulthood for women but not men. Conclusions: These findings suggest that factors associated with having multiple recent sexual partners change from middle adolescence through young adulthood. The time-varying effect model can be used to identify risk factors that are especially salient at different ages, thus identifying which age periods may hold the greatest promise for intervention.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Sexual behavior
KW - Time-varying effect model
KW - Young adults
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.12.025
DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.12.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 24561033
AN - SCOPUS:84910614018
SN - 1054-139X
VL - 55
SP - 491
EP - 497
JO - Journal of Adolescent Health
JF - Journal of Adolescent Health
IS - 4
ER -