TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual Behavior and Health From Adolescence to Adulthood
T2 - Illustrative Examples of 25 Years of Research From Add Health
AU - Vasilenko, Sara A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grant R03 HD096101 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development . The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of NICHD or the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
Disclaimer: This article was published as part of a supplement supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The opinions or views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funder.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Due to its long-term longitudinal design, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has provided numerous valuable insights into adolescent and young adult sexual behavior. Framed by a conceptual model of sexual behavior and health, I review research using Add Health data to study sexual behavior and health. In this paper, I review research examining both predictors (e.g., neighborhood, family, genetic, individual) and health outcomes (e.g., sexually transmitted infections, mental health) of sexual behavior in adolescents and young adults. Where possible, I focus on long-term longitudinal studies that make use of the unique strengths of the Add Health data. Existing Add Health research has provided considerable information about both the predictors and health consequences of adolescent and young adult sexual behavior. Factors ranging from neighborhoods to genetics predict whether adolescent and young adults engage in sexual behaviors. Findings on long-term outcomes of adolescent sexual behavior suggest that early sexual behavior predicts higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy in young adulthood, but not long-term changes to mental health. Unique contributions of Add Health include the ability to examine multidimensional bio-ecological predictors of sexual behavior and to examine long-term effects of sexual behavior and how sexual behaviors and their correlates change across adolescence into adulthood. Future work can leverage these strengths, and in particular the long-term longitudinal nature of the data, to uncover new insights about the developmental course of sexual behavior and health.
AB - Due to its long-term longitudinal design, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has provided numerous valuable insights into adolescent and young adult sexual behavior. Framed by a conceptual model of sexual behavior and health, I review research using Add Health data to study sexual behavior and health. In this paper, I review research examining both predictors (e.g., neighborhood, family, genetic, individual) and health outcomes (e.g., sexually transmitted infections, mental health) of sexual behavior in adolescents and young adults. Where possible, I focus on long-term longitudinal studies that make use of the unique strengths of the Add Health data. Existing Add Health research has provided considerable information about both the predictors and health consequences of adolescent and young adult sexual behavior. Factors ranging from neighborhoods to genetics predict whether adolescent and young adults engage in sexual behaviors. Findings on long-term outcomes of adolescent sexual behavior suggest that early sexual behavior predicts higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy in young adulthood, but not long-term changes to mental health. Unique contributions of Add Health include the ability to examine multidimensional bio-ecological predictors of sexual behavior and to examine long-term effects of sexual behavior and how sexual behaviors and their correlates change across adolescence into adulthood. Future work can leverage these strengths, and in particular the long-term longitudinal nature of the data, to uncover new insights about the developmental course of sexual behavior and health.
KW - Adolescent health
KW - Conceptual framework
KW - Review
KW - Sexual behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141377168&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.08.014
DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.08.014
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36404016
AN - SCOPUS:85141377168
VL - 71
SP - S24-S31
JO - Journal of Adolescent Health
JF - Journal of Adolescent Health
SN - 1054-139X
IS - 6
ER -