Adolescent Women's Sports Involvement and Sexual Behavior/Health: A Process-Level Investigation

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence Vol. 33; no. 5; pp. 443 - 455
• Main Authors: Lehman, Stephanie Jacobs, Koerner, Susan Silverberg
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Springer-Verlag New York, LLC 01.10.2004; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent girls; Adolescent Pregnancy; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Community Programs; Content Analysis; Correlation analysis; Empowerment; Females; Health Behavior; Health Care Utilization; High school sports; High School Students; High schools; Involvement; Medical sciences; Pregnancy; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Reproductive health; Sexual Behavior; Sexual behaviour; Sexual health; Sexuality; Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...); Sports; Sports Participation; Student participation; Team Sports; USA; Venereal Diseases; Women; Womens Athletics; Womens health; United States; North America; America; Human; adolescent women; sexual behavior/health; Body image; Sexual behavior; Personal commitment; Personality; Risk taking; Sport; Sexually transmitted disease; Adolescent; Risk factor; Female; sports involvement; Public health
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1023/B:JOYO.0000037636.22596.41

This multimethod study explored the promising link between organized sports involvement during the high school years and sexual behavior/health among 176 adolescent women. Using more sensitive and appropriate measures than those in existing studies and directed, in part, by cultural resource theory, this study helped to fill a gap in the literature by exploring potential mediators (i.e., functional body orientation and self-empowerment/ efficacy) of that link. Results from the quantitative data indicated that adolescent women's involvement in organized team sports was favorably associated with each of the following: (a) sexual-risk-taking behavior, (b) sexual/reproductive health-seeking behavior, and (c) sexual/reproductive health. In addition, both functional body orientation and self-empowerment/efficacy emerged as mediators in the associations between sports involvement and sexual behavior/health among adolescent women. Content analysis of participant responses to open-ended items provided further confirmation of those mediating effects. Implications for the development of sports and community programs focused on the prevention of teenage pregnancy and STDs are discussed.