Early Adolescent Sexual Initiation and Physical/Psychological Symptoms: A Comparative Analysis of Five Nations

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence 2010-10, Vol.39 (10), p.1211-1225
• Main Authors: Madkour, Aubrey Spriggs, Farhat, Tilda, Halpern, Carolyn Tucker, Godeau, Emmanuelle, Nic Gabhainn, Saoirse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescents; Age; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Child Health; Children & youth; Clinical Psychology; Coitus - psychology; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; Cross Cultural Studies; Decision Making; Developmental psychology; Early Adolescents; Empirical Research; Female; Females; Finland; Finland - epidemiology; Foreign Countries; France; France - epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender; Gender Differences; Girls; Health Behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Psychology; History of Psychology; Humans; Incidence; Industrial Societies; Industrialized nations; Interpersonal Relations; Law and Psychology; Life Change Events; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Maternal & child health; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; Parents & parenting; Poland; Poland - epidemiology; Probability distribution; Psychological Patterns; Psychology; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Scotland; Scotland - epidemiology; Self Efficacy; Sex; Sex Distribution; Sex education; Sexual behavior; Sexual health; Sexual intercourse; Sexuality; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sleep; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic status; STD; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teenagers; United States - epidemiology; United States of America; Young adults
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-010-9521-x

Although most people in developed countries experience sexual initiation during adolescence, little is known about inter-country variability in the psychosocial correlates of early initiation. Population-based samples of 15-year-olds (n = 6,111, 52% female) who participated in the Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children Study (Finland, Scotland, France and Poland, 1997/1998) or the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (United States, 1996) self-reported sexual intercourse experience and physical (headaches, trouble sleeping) or psychological (unhappiness, loneliness, sadness, moodiness) symptoms. Analyses were conducted stratified by gender. Sexual initiation prevalence and symptoms scores varied significantly across nations. In adjusted models, sexual initiation was not related to symptoms among boys in any nation, but significantly positively related to symptoms among girls in Poland and the US. Results support variability by gender and nation in the relationship between adolescents' sexual initiation and physical/psychological symptoms. Empirically investigating specific features of national contexts that generate these differences should be explored further.