The relationship among household structure, parental involvement and early sexual behavior in African American adolescents
Many adolescents begin to have sexual intercourse during their late middle and early high school years. Moore and colleagues (1995) reported that initial sexual behaviors are often one of the most defining events in the lives of adolescents. However, studies are limited when focusing on the effects of household structure and parental involvement and the early sexual behavior among the African American adolescent.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a weak household structure and low levels of parental involvement are factors that initiate early sexual behavior in African American adolescents. It was hypothesized that: (a) adolescents who live in single-parent households would be more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than adolescents who live in two- parent households, (c) adolescents who have low levels of parental involvement would be more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than adolescents who have high levels of parental involvement, and (d) adolescent males in the African American community more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than African American females.
Data were analyzed to determine the results using several factorial analyses of variance and Pearson product moment correlations. The findings of the analyses conducted in this study yielded: (a) The relationship between negative life events and self reported sexual attitudes is significant. Occurrences of negative life events have a significant effect on the sexual attitudes/ expressions that encourage early sexual behavior, (b) The relationship between household structure and self reported sexual attitudes is significant. The single-parent household has a significant effect on sexual attitudes/ expressions of the adolescent that encourage early sexual behavior, (c) The relationship between parental relationship and self reported sexual attitudes are significant. A weak parental relationship has a significant effect on sexual attitudes/ expressions that encourage early sexual behavior, (d) in regard to the subscale sexual attitudes, there was a significant interaction effect between negative life events and household structure and (e) there was also a significant interaction effect between negative life events and the parental relationship.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a weak household structure and low levels of parental involvement are factors that initiate early sexual behavior in African American adolescents. It was hypothesized that: (a) adolescents who live in single-parent households would be more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than adolescents who live in two- parent households, (c) adolescents who have low levels of parental involvement would be more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than adolescents who have high levels of parental involvement, and (d) adolescent males in the African American community more likely to engage in early sexual behavior than African American females.
Data were analyzed to determine the results using several factorial analyses of variance and Pearson product moment correlations. The findings of the analyses conducted in this study yielded: (a) The relationship between negative life events and self reported sexual attitudes is significant. Occurrences of negative life events have a significant effect on the sexual attitudes/ expressions that encourage early sexual behavior, (b) The relationship between household structure and self reported sexual attitudes is significant. The single-parent household has a significant effect on sexual attitudes/ expressions of the adolescent that encourage early sexual behavior, (c) The relationship between parental relationship and self reported sexual attitudes are significant. A weak parental relationship has a significant effect on sexual attitudes/ expressions that encourage early sexual behavior, (d) in regard to the subscale sexual attitudes, there was a significant interaction effect between negative life events and household structure and (e) there was also a significant interaction effect between negative life events and the parental relationship.
School:
Southern University and A&M College at Baton Rouge
Department:
Psychology
Research Advisor:
James D. Anderson
Department of Research Advisor:
Educational Policy Studies
Year of Publication:
2008