Sex and the Self

A 5-year longitudinal study of African American adolescents, aged 10 to 12 at Time 1, used the prototype/willingness (prototype) model to examine the (social) cognitive effects of the onset of sexual behavior on self-concept. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that becoming sexually active wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of early adolescence Vol. 28; no. 1; p. 70
Main Authors Houlihan, Amy E, Gibbons, Frederick X, Gerrard, Meg, Yeh, Hsiu-chen, Reimer, Rachel A, Murry, Velma M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC 01.02.2008
Subjects
African Americans
Cognition & reasoning
Gender differences
Self esteem
Sexual behavior
Teenagers
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Summary:A 5-year longitudinal study of African American adolescents, aged 10 to 12 at Time 1, used the prototype/willingness (prototype) model to examine the (social) cognitive effects of the onset of sexual behavior on self-concept. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that becoming sexually active was related to favorable changes in adolescents' self-concepts and that this effect was moderated by gender. The effect was more pronounced among boys than girls. Positive self-concept, in turn, was related to subsequent risky sexual behavior. Sexual onset was also associated with positive changes in adolescents' images of the typical adolescent who has sex (i.e., sex prototype). This increase in prototype favorability marginally predicted subsequent willingness to have risky sex. In sum, sexual debut was related to increases in adolescents' self-concepts and risk cognitions, both of which predicted risky sexual behavior. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0272-4316
1552-5449