Risky Sexual Behavior: A Race-specific Social Consequence of Obesity

Scant attention has been given to the consequence of actual weight status for adolescents’ sexual wellbeing. In this article, we investigate the race-specific connection between obesity and risky sexual behavior among adolescent girls. Propensity scores and radius matching are used to analyze a samp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of youth and adolescence 2012, Vol.41 (1), p.41-52
Main Authors: Leech, Tamara G. J., Dias, Janice Johnson
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - ethnology
Adolescents
African Americans - psychology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Blacks
Body Composition
body mass
Body Mass Index
Body Weight
Child and School Psychology
Children & youth
Clinical Psychology
Condoms
Contraception
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cultural Influences
culture
Economics
Empirical Research
European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology
Female
Females
Girls
Health Behavior
Health Psychology
Health Surveys
History of Psychology
Humans
Law and Psychology
Logistic Models
Longitudinal Studies
Marriage
National Longitudinal Survey Youth Cohort
Obesity
Obesity - ethnology
Obesity - psychology
Psychology
Race
Risk
Risk-Taking
Scores
Sex
Sexual Behavior
Sexual Behavior - ethnology
Sexuality
Social Stigma
Surveys
Teenagers
United States
Well Being
Whites
Womens health
Young Adults
Youth
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Summary:Scant attention has been given to the consequence of actual weight status for adolescents’ sexual wellbeing. In this article, we investigate the race-specific connection between obesity and risky sexual behavior among adolescent girls. Propensity scores and radius matching are used to analyze a sample of 340 adolescents aged 16–17 who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Young Adult Survey in 2000 or 2002. Nearly even numbers of these participants identified as white and black (183 and 157, respectively). We find that compared to their non-obese white peers, obese white adolescent girls exhibit higher rates of multiple sex partners and sex with older partners, and are also less likely to use condoms. None of these factors are significantly related to high BMI within the black sample. These findings indicate that the negative social consequences of obesity extend beyond future economic and marriage outcomes to adolescent white women’s sexual outcomes. They also highlight the importance of context: the implications of being obese during adolescence depend on cultural meanings of obesity.
ISSN:0047-2891
1573-6601
DOI:10.1007/s10964-011-9670-6