Citation

Henrich CC, Brookmeyer KA, Shrier LA, Shahar G. J. Pediatr. Psychol. 2006; 31(3): 286-297.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, PO Box 5010, Atlanta, Georgia 30302, USA. chenrich@gsu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/jpepsy/jsj024

PMID

15827352

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the longitudinal associations between supportive relationships with friends and parents and sexual risk behavior in adolescence based on an ecological-transactional perspective. METHODS: Analyses were conducted on 2,652 sexually active adolescents from the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). RESULTS: African-American adolescents had lower risk for sexual risk behavior. Supportive friendships and parent connectedness interacted in predicting decreased likelihood of sexual risk behavior. Mother-child communication about sex contributed to decreased likelihood of sexual risk only for girls. There were also small reciprocal effects of sexual risk behavior on decreased relationship quality over time. CONCLUSION: To better understand the parents' role in adolescent sexual risk behavior, multiple facets of parenting, the social contexts of parenting and adolescents' peers, and the effects of adolescents' behavior on these relationships should be taken into consideration.

Language: en