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Investigation of Stressful Experiences, Self-Evaluations, and Self-Standards as Predictors of Sexual Activity During Early AdolescenceUniversity of Missouri-Columbia, EML91A{at}MIZZOU.edu
University of Illinois at Chicago Stressful experiences, self-evaluations, and self-standards associated with multiple contexts of development (i.e., school, family, sports/athletics) were investigated as predictors of initiation of sexual activity during the transition to adolescence. A sample of 134 seventh and eighth graders was followed as part of a 4-wave, 2-year longitudinal study. Survival analysis was used to examine measures at Time 1 as predictors of the timing of initiation of sexual activity. Reports of greater stressful experiences and less favorable self-evaluations associated with school as well as weaker self-standards associated with family were significant predictors of less time to initiation of sexual activity. For sports/athletics, however, reports of more positive self-evaluations predicted less time to initiation. Results of mediational analyses indicated that self-evaluations for the school context partially mediated the linkage that stressful experiences relating to this context exhibited with initiation of sexual activity.
Key Words: stressful experiences self-evaluation self-standards sexual activity early adolescence
The Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 24, No. 4,
431-459 (2004) |
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