Abstract
This study supports a model of adolescents' risky sexual behavior in which this behavior is seen as a product of the same peer and family factors which influence a wide range of problem behaviors. The Pattersonet al. (1992) model of peer and parental factors associated with adolescents' sexual risk-taking behavior was tested on three independent samples of adolescents, ages 14 through 18. Adolescents whose peers were reported to engage in diverse problem behaviors were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Poor parental monitoring and parent-child coercive interactions were associated having deviant peers, and poor parental monitoring also had a direct relationship to risky sexual behavior. Family involvement was associated with fewer parent-child coercive interactions. Less availability of parental figures in the family was directly associated with risky sexual behavior and was also associated with poorer parental monitoring.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bank, L., Dishion, T., Skinner, M., and Patterson, G. R. (1990). Method variance in structural equation modeling: Living with “glop.” In Patterson, G. R. (ed.),Depression and Aggression in Family Interaction. Advances in Family Research, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
Bentler, P. M. (1989).EQS Structural Equations Program Manual, BMDP Statistical Software, Los Angeles.
Biglan, A. (September, 1988). Implications of behavioral assessment research for research on high risk sexual behavior. Paper presented at the Conference on Issues of Reliability and Validity of Measurements of Risk Behaviors Associated with HIV Infection Among Adolescents, Bethesda, MD.
Biglan, A., Metzler, C. A., Wirt, R., Ary, D., Noell, J., Ochs, L., French, C., and Hood D. (1990). Social and behavioral factors associated with high-risk sexual behavior among adolescents.J. Behav. Med. 13(3): 245–262.
Billy, O. G., and Udry, J. R. (1985a). The influence of male and female best friends on adolescent sexual behavior.Adolescence, 20: 21–32.
Billy, O. G., and Udry, J. R. (1985b). Patterns of adolescent friendship and effects on sexual behavior.Soc. Psychol. Q. 48: 27–41.
Brooks-Gunn, J., and Furstenberg, F. F. (1989). Adolescent sexual behavior.Am. Psychol. 44(2): 249–257.
Brunham, R., and Plummer, F. (1990). A general model of sexually transmitted disease epidemiology and its implications for control.Med. Clin. North Am. 74: 1339–1352.
Capaldi, D. (1991, April). Fourth-grade predictors of initiation of sexual intercourse by ninth grade for boys. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
Capaldi, D., and Patterson, G. R. (1989).Psychometric Properties of Fourteen Latent Constructs from the Oregon Youth Study, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1991). Sexual behavior among high school students.Morbid. Mortal. Week. Rep. 40: 885–888.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1992a). Selected behaviors that increase risk for HIV infection among high school students—United States, 1990.Morbid. Mortal. Week. Rep. 41: 238–239.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1992b).Annual Report, Division of STD/HIV Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Coates, T. J. (1990). Strategies for modifying sexual behavior for primary and secondary prevention of HIV disease.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 58(1): 57–69.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests.Psychometrika 16(3): 297–334.
Delamater, J., and MacCorquordale, P. (1979).Premarital Sexuality: Attitudes, Relationships, Behaviors, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Dishion, T. J. (1990). The peer context of troublesome behavior in children and adolescents. In Leone, P. E. (ed.),Understanding Troubled and Troublesome Youth, Sage, Beverly Hills, pp. 128–153.
Dishion, T. J., and Capaldi, D. (1994). A multivariate model for early-onset substance use in boys: Direct and indirect effects of prior antisocial behavior. Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR (in preparation).
Dishion, T. J., Reid, J. B., and Patterson, G. R., (1988). Empirical guidelines for the development of a treatment for early adolescent substance use. In Coombs, R. E. (eds.),The Family Context of Adolescent Drug Use, Haworth, New York.
Dishion, T. J., Patterson, G. R., Stoolmiller, M., and Skinner, M. L. (1991). Family, school, and behavioral antecedents to early adolescent involvement with antisocial peers.Dev. Psychol. 2: 172–180.
Donovan, J. E., and Jessor, R. (1985). Structure of problem behavior in adolescence and young adulthood.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 53: 890–904.
Donovan, J. E., Jessor, R., and Costa, F. M. (1988). Syndrome of problem behavior in adolescence: A replication.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 56: 762–765.
Fisher, L. A., and Bauman, K. E. (1988). Influence and selection in the friend-adolescent relationship: Findings from studies of adolescent smoking and drinking.J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 18: 289–314.
Flewelling, R. L., and Bauman, K. E. (1990). Family structure as a predictor of initial substance use and sexual intercourse in early adolescence.J. Marriage Family 52: 171–181.
Fox, G. L. (1980). The mother-adolescent daughter relationship as a sexual socialization structure: A research review.Family Relat. 29: 21–28.
Hagenhoff, C., Lowe, A., Hovell, M. F., and Rugg, D. (1987). Prevention of the teenage pregnancy epidemic: A social learning approach.Educ. Treat. Children 10(1): 67–83.
Hawkins, J. D., Lishner, D. M., Catalano, R. F., and Howard, M. O. (1986). Childhood predictors of adolescent substance abuse: Toward an empirically grounded theory.J. Child. Contemp. Soc. 18(1,2): 11–48.
Hayes, C. D. (1987).Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Vol. 1, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Hofferth, S. L., and Hayes, C. D. (1987).Risking the future: Adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing, Vol. 2. Working Papers and Statistical Reports, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Jessor, R., and Jessor, S. L. (1977).Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study of Youth, Academic Press, New York.
Kahn, J., Smith, K., and Roberts, E. (1984).Familial Communication and Adolescent Sexual Behavior (final report to the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs). American Institutes for Research, Cambridge, MA.
Kandel, D. B. (1985). On processes of peer influences in adolescent drug use: A developmental perspective.Adv. Alcohol Substance Use 4(3,4): 139–163.
Kastner, L. S. (1984). Ecological factors predicting adolescent contraceptive use: Implications for invervention.J. Adolesc. Health Care 5: 79–86.
Loeber, R., and Dishion, T. J. (1983). Early predictors of male delinquency: A review.Psychol. Bull. 94: 68–98.
Lowe, C. S., and Radius, S. M. (1987). Young adults' contraceptive practices: An investigation of influences.Adolescence 22(86): 291–304.
Metzler, C. W., Noell, J., and Biglan, A. (1992). The validation of a construct of high risk sexual behavior in heterosexual adolescents.J. Adolesc. Res. 7: 233–249.
Metzler, C. W., Biglan, A., Ary. D., Noell, J., Smolkowski, K., and Duncan, T. (1994a). The relationships among risky sexual behavior and other problem behaviors of adolescents (submitted for publication).
Metzler, C. W., Biglan, A., Ary, D., Noell, J., Smolkowski, K., and Duncan, T. (1994b).The Social Context for Adolescent Problem Behaviors, Oregon Research Institute, Eugene (in preparation).
Miller, P. Y., and Simon, W. (1974). Adolescent sexual behavior: Context and change.Soc. Problems 22: 58–76.
Miller, B. C., McCoy, J. K., Olson, T. D., and Wallace, C. M. (1986). Parental discipline and control attempts in relation to adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior.J. Marriage Family 48: 503–512.
Moos, R. H., and Moos, B. S. (1986).Family Environment Scale Manual, 2nd ed., Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
Newcomer, S. F., and Udry, J. R. (1987). Parental marital status effects on adolescent sexual behavior.J. Marriage Family 49: 235–240.
Noell, J., Biglan, A., Berendt, J., Ochs, L., Metzler, C. W., Ary, D., and Smolkowski, K. (1993). Problematic sexual situations for adolescents: Alcohol and unsafe sex.Health Values 17: 40–49.
Oh, M. K., Feinstein, R. A., and Pass, R. F. (1988). Sexually transmitted diseases and sexual behavior in urban adolescent females attending a family planning clinic.J. Adolesc. Health Care 9: 67–71.
O'Reilly, K. R., and Aral, S. O. (1985). Adolescence and sexual behavior: Trends and implications for STD.J. Adolesc. Health Care 6: 262–270.
Osgood, D. W., Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., and Bachman, J. G. (1988). The generality of deviance in late adolescence and early adulthood.Am. Sociol. Rev. 53: 81–93.
Patterson, G. R., and Bank, L. (1989). Some amplifying mechanisms for pathologic processes in families. In Gunnar, M. R., and Thelen, E. (eds.),Systems and Development: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, Vol. 22, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 167–209.
Patterson, G. R., DeBayrshe, B. D., and Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior.Am. Psychol. 44: 1–7.
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., and Dishion, T. J. (1992).Antisocial Boys: A Social Interactional Approach, Vol. 4 Castalia, Eugene, OR.
Pleck, J. H. (1989). Correlates of black adolescent males' condom use.J. Adolesc. Res. 4: 247–253.
Prinz, R. J., Foster, S., Kent, R. N., and O'Leary, K. D. (1979). Multivariate assessment of conflict in distressed and non-distressed mother-adolescent dyads.J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 12: 691–700.
Ramsey, E., Walker, H. M., Shinn, M., O'Neill, R. E., and Stieber, S. (1988). Parent management practices and school adjustment.School Psychol. Rev. 18(4): 513–525.
Reid, J. B., and Patterson, G. R. (1991). Early prevention and intervention with conduct problems: A social interactional model for the integration of research and practice. In Stoner, Shinn, and Walker (eds.),Interventions for Achievement and Behavior Problems, National Association of School Psychologists, Silver Spring, MD.
Rosen, D. S., Xiangdong, M., and Blum, R. W. (1990). Adolescent health: Current trends and critical issues. In Strasburger, V. C., and Greydanus, D. E. (eds.),Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, Vol. 1, Hanley & Belfus, Philadelphia, pp. 15–31.
Steinberg, L. (1987). Single parents, stepparents, and the susceptibility of adolescents to antisocial peer pressure.Child Dev. 58: 269–275.
Stern, M., Northman, J. E., and Van Slyck, M. R. (1984). Father absence and adolescent “problem behaviors”: Alcohol consumption, drug use, and sexual activity.Adolescence 19(74): 301–312.
Strunin, L., and Hingson, R. (1987). Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and adolescents: Knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.Pediatrics 79(5): 825–828.
Zelnick, M., Kantner, J., and Ford, K. (1981).Sex and Pregnancy in Adolescence, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Preparation of this paper was supported in part by Grants HD26249 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, MH45651 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and CA44648 and CA38272 from the National Cancer Institute.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Metzler, C.W., Noell, J., Biglan, A. et al. The social context for risky sexual behavior among adolescents. J Behav Med 17, 419–438 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01858012
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01858012