Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion
Top Ten Findings
Family Matters: The Link Between Family Structure and Teen Sex
May 2009
1. Teen romantic relationships. Compared to teens in intact families, those in married step-parent and single-father families tend to have less stable romantic relationships. Compared to teenagers in intact families, peers in married-stepparent and single-father families tended to have less stable romantic relationships. This association between family structure and teenage dating was mediated by (i.e., operating through) the higher number of family transitions, that is – divorce, remarriage, cohabitation – that were associated with non-intact family structures. This was true taking into consideration adolescents’ gender, age, race/ethnicity, parental marital status at birth, residential stability and parental education.
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2. Sexual initiation. Adolescents living with both biological parents are significantly less likely to initiate sexual activity compared to peers in other family forms. Even after accounting for a set of parental involvement variables, adolescents living with two biological parents were significantly less likely to transition into sexual activity when compared to adolescents from all other family structures. Adolescents from other family structures were between 40% and 198% more likely to transition into sexual activity than adolescents living with two biological parents.
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3. Parental marital status at birth. Adolescents whose parents were married at the time of their birth are less likely to engage in sexual activity than peers whose parents were cohabiting or single at the time of their birth. Adolescent females ages 15-19 whose parents were married at the time of the adolescent's birth were 42% less likely to report having engaged in sexual activity when compared to similar adolescents whose parents were cohabiting at the time of the adolescent's birth and 26% less likely to report having engaged in sexual activity when compared to similar adolescents whose parents were not living together at the time of the adolescent's birth.
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4. Older partners. Adolescent girls in intact families are less likely to initiate sexual activity with an older partner than peers in non-intact families. Adolescent girls who lived with both biological/adoptive parents had, on average, reduced odds (46 percent) of initiating sexual activity with older (by at least three years) partners versus remaining abstinent compared to peers who lived in non-intact families.
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5. Neighborhood context. The family composition of a neighborhood appears to be associated with individual teen sexual behavior. Adolescent females were especially likely to engage in premarital intercourse if they live in neighborhoods with relatively high levels of female labor force participation, or if they live in neighborhoods in which a high percentage of women are separated or divorced. The percentage of religious adherents in the community population was inversely related to the likelihood of adolescents' sexual activity. In addition, among non-black adolescent females, the likelihood of premarital sexual activity went down as the percentage of orthodox church members in the neighborhood went up.
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6. Family transitions. For adolescent boys, family transitions, such as parental divorce or remarriage, are associated with greater likelihood of engaging in sexual activity. For male adolescents, each change in parental marital status (e.g. divorce, remarriage, separation, etc.) between ages 6 and 11 increased the males’ odds of engaging in sexual intercourse by 37%.
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7. Childhood family structure. For adolescent girls, the proportion of childhood lived with a single parent is linked to teen sexual activity. For female adolescents, the percentage of time from birth to age 11 spent in a single-parent home was related to age at first sexual intercourse. For each additional year spent in a single parent household, the likelihood that females would engage in sexual intercourse during adolescence increased by roughly 8%.
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8. Out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Women who experienced more changes in their family situation during childhood are more likely to become pregnant out of wedlock. In this study, women who had more experienced transitions in their living arrangements during childhood and adolescence were more likely to become pregnant out of wedlock. This effect was significant regardless of race, ethnicity, parental education, and the age of the adolescent.
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9. Teenage pregnancy. Adolescent boys in intact families are less likely to cause a teen pregnancy than peers in single-parent families. When compared to adolescent males that lived with both biological parents at age 14, those living with a single mother at age 14 had almost twice the odds of ever having impregnated a girl. Those living with their mother and her partner (a male other than the biological father) also had greater odds of ever having impregnating a girl, but difference was not statistically significant.
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10. Teenage birth. Teenage girls in intact families are less likely to give birth in high school than peers in other family forms. Compared with adolescent females from all other family types, girls living with two married biological parents during their eighth-grade year were roughly 50% less likely to give birth before the end of their twelfth-grade year (high school dropouts included).
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Events:Religious Practice and Civic Life: What the Research Says October 4, 2007 |