Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health | |
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The Transition of Adolescent Males |
| TABLE 1. Percentage distribution of 15-19-year-old males who had not had sexual intercourse, by reason for remaining sexually inexperienced, according to expectation regarding sexual initiation, 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males | |||
| Reason | Total | Delay | Anticipate |
| (N=433) | (N=253) | (N=180) | |
| Wait until I'm married | 24.6 | 31.9 | 12.3*** |
| No opportunity/not asked | 21.5 | 13.6 | 35.0*** |
| Wait until I'm older | 19.0 | 20.9 | 15.8 |
| Fear disease or risk of getting someone pregnant | 18.8 | 17.1 | 21.7 |
| Religious values oppose it | 9.5 | 11.0 | 6.9 |
| Not emotionally ready | 6.6 | 5.5 | 8.4 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| ***Difference between delayers and anticipators is statistically significant at p<.001. Notes: Percentages are weighted; Ns are unweighted. Teenagers reporting that they did not expect to initiate intercourse within the next year are classified as delayers; those who expected to do so sooner, as anticipators. Nineteen males were excluded because of missing data for this question. | |||
| TABLE 2. Mean scores or percentages (and standard deviations) reflecting respondents' characteristics, by expectation regarding sexual initiation | |||
| Characteristic | Total | Delay | Anticipate |
| (N=452) | (N=265) | (N=187) | |
| Means | |||
| Risky behaviors (range, 0-4) | 1.21 (0.92) | 1.03 (0.84) | 1.53 (0.98)*** |
| Precoital sexual experiences (range, 0-10) | 4.31 (3.14) | 3.49 (2.80) | 5.73 (3.19)*** |
| Approval of premarital sex (range, 1-4) | 2.62 (1.16) | 2.25 (1.14) | 3.28 (0.87)*** |
| Disapproval of gender roles (range, 1-4) | 2.17 (0.51) | 2.19 (0.53) | 2.13 (0.47) |
| Influenced by friends (range, 1-4) | 2.67 (0.73) | 2.70 (0.76) | 2.61 (0.67) |
| Influenced by parents (range, 1-4) | 3.33 (0.65) | 3.40 (0.64) | 3.20 (0.65)*** |
| Strictness of parents at age 14 (range, 1-4) | 3.24 (0.63) | 3.33 (0.60) | 3.08 (0.66)*** |
| Family income in past year (range, 1-7) | 4.29 (1.83) | 4.20 (1.76) | 4.43 (1.94) |
| Church attendance (range, 1-4) | 3.20 (1.10) | 3.36 (1.01) | 2.91 (1.19)*** |
| Grades (range, 1-5) | 3.84 (0.88) | 3.88 (0.84) | 3.75 (0.93) |
| Age in 1988 | 16.74 (1.27) | 16.72 (1.28) | 16.78 (1.25) |
| Percentages | |||
| Ever repeated a grade | 21 (41) | 22 (41) | 20 (40) |
| Lived with both parents at age 14 | 77 (42) | 78 (41) | 75 (43) |
| Mother had teenage birth | 20 (40) | 18 (38) | 23 (42) |
| Mother's education | |||
| <high school | 11 (31) | 8 (28) | 16 (37)* |
| High school | 41 (49) | 39 (49) | 45 (50) |
| >=some college | 48 (50) | 52 (50) | 39 (49)** |
| Black | 7 (25) | 6 (24) | 7 (26) |
| *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. Notes: Higher scores indicate more risky behaviors or precoital experiences, greater approval of premarital sex or disapproval of traditional gender roles, greater influence of friends and parents, greater parental strictness, higher income, more frequent church attendance and higher grades. Scores and percentages are weighted; Ns are unweighted. Teenagers reporting that they did not expect to initiate intercourse within the next year are classified as delayers; those who expected to do so sooner, as anticipators. | |||
| TABLE 3. Odds ratios from logistic regression analyses assessing the effects of selected characteristics on the likelihood that respondents initiated intercourse within one year of the first survey, by expectation regarding sexual initiation | ||||
| Characteristic | Total | Delay | Anticipate | Significance of difference between groups † |
| Risky behaviors | 1.38* | 0.96 | 1.54* | * |
| Precoital sexual experiences | 1.28*** | 1.22** | 1.24*** | ns |
| Approval of premarital sex | 1.78*** | 1.46* | 2.11** | ns |
| Disapproval of gender roles | 0.41*** | 0.29** | 0.29** | ns |
| Influenced by friends | 0.87 | 0.90 | 1.24 | ns |
| Influenced by parents | 1.51* | 2.66** | 1.22 | ns |
| Strictness of parents at age 14 | 1.54* | 1.99 | 2.30* | ns |
| Family income in past year | 1.26** | 1.45** | 1.10 | ns |
| Grades | 0.60*** | 0.64 | 0.69 | * |
| Church attendance | 1.08 | 1.29 | 1.76** | ns |
| Age in 1988 | 1.38*** | 1.60** | 1.43* | ns |
| Ever repeated a grade | 0.44** | 0.13** | 1.79 | ** |
| Lived with both parents at age 14 | 0.38*** | 0.38 | 0.64 | ns |
| Mother had teenage birth | 2.01* | 0.58 | 14.51*** | *** |
| Mother's education | ||||
| <high school | 2.46* | 1.94 | 2.20 | ns |
| High school (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | |
| >=some college | 0.62 | 0.21** | 5.21*** | *** |
| Black | 2.22 | 1.41 | 1.38 | ns |
| -2 log-likelihood | 493.4 | 199.9 | 195.1 | |
| *2 for model (df) | 183.4 (19) | 82.9 (19) | 93.0 (19) | |
| Cox and Snell pseudo R2 | .27 | .20 | .36 | |
| *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. †Indicates significance of an interaction term between each factor and the delayer-anticipator dichotomy. Notes: For scaled items, odds ratios reflect the change in odds associated with a one-point increase in the scale score; for age, odds ratios reflect the odds associated with a one-year increase in age. Teenagers reporting that they did not expect to initiate intercourse within the next year are classified as delayers; those who expected to do so sooner, as anticipators. ns=not significant. ref=reference group. | ||||
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© copyright 2002, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. |