Identity, intimacy, status and sex dating goals as correlates of goal-consistent behavior and satisfaction in Australian youth.

The most common dating goals of adolescents are identity, intimacy, status and sex. In this study of Australian youth (16-30 years, N = 208), dating goals were expected to explain goal-consistent behavior in each domain. Also, goals coupled with consistent behavior were expected to be associated with greater satisfaction in each domain. Age, gender, same-sex versus other-sex attraction, and cohabitation were also examined. The four dating goals had small intercorrelations, and for each domain but sex, youth who reported more of a dating goal also reported more goal-consistent behavior. For identity, intimacy and sex, participants were more satisfied when they had more goal-consistent behavior. Goal × Behavior interactions were associated with satisfaction in the domains of intimacy and sex, and identity was the most salient dating goal domain. Individual differences in goals, behavior and satisfaction were most pronounced for gender and cohabitation. Few differences were found between same-sex and other-sex attracted youth.

Individual, familial, friends-related and contextual predictors of early sexual intercourse.

This study examined the unique and simultaneous contribution of adolescents' characteristics, parent-child relationship and friends' characteristics on early sexual intercourse, while accounting for family status. A longitudinal multi-sample design was used. The first sample was recruited in a suburban context (n = 265; 62% girls) and the second sample in an urban setting (n = 136; 61% girls). All predictors were measured in Grade 8 and age at first intercourse was assessed yearly for three years. Being in a non-intact family, low parental control, high antisocial behaviors, low self-disclosure, high proportion of other-sex friends and high substance use were associated with earlier sexual intercourse. When all predictors were considered simultaneously, more antisocial behaviors, high proportion of other-sex friends and non-intact family structure significantly discriminated youth reporting first intercourse at age 13 or less from those who reported first intercourse at age 14, at age 15, or were virgins at age 16 among both samples.

A longitudinal examination of risky sexual behaviors among Canadian and Italian adolescents: Considering individual, parental, and friend characteristics.

In this study, two longitudinal models of early adolescent risky sexual behaviors (RSB) were compared using a pooled sample of 267 Canadian and Italian adolescents (55% females; 53% Canadians) assessed yearly from grade 8 to 10. We focused on parenting practices (monitoring, control, limit setting), adolescent problem behaviors (antisocial behaviors, substance use) and their friends' deviance (antisocial behaviors, substance use) as predictors of condom use frequency and lifetime number of sexual partners. The socialization model postulates that youths' problem behaviors and RSB are behaviors learned within the friendship network where deviancy training can occur. The selection model posits that delinquent youth tend to affiliate with each other, and that RSB is one of many behaviors that can form the basis of selection. Using structural equation modeling, this study showed that the socialization model was the most accurate to explain the emergence of RSB. A full mediation of parenting practices, passing through deviant friends and youths' problem behavior, was observed for condom use. The same process applied to number of sexual partners, but a direct effect for parenting practices was also found.