Sex and Education: Does Sexual Debut During Adolescence Lead to Poor Grades?

CONTEXT: Because many U.S. teenagers experience their first sexual intercourse during high school, understanding whether sexual behavior and academic performance are related is important. However, research on sexual debut and grades has produced inconsistent findings. METHODS: Data collected over fo...

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Published in:Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 81 - 90
Main Authors: Whitworth, Tanya Rouleau, Paik, Anthony
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Jun2019
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jun2019
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        atl: Sex and Education: Does Sexual Debut During Adolescence Lead to Poor Grades?
      aug:
        au:
          Whitworth, Tanya Rouleau
          Paik, Anthony
        affil: Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
      sug:
        subj:
          Sexual Intercourse Psychosocial Factors
          Attitude to Sexuality In Adolescence
          Academic Performance Evaluation
          Human
          Adolescence
          United States
          Prospective Studies
          Questionnaires
          Regression
          Black Persons Psychosocial Factors
          Female
          Hispanic Americans Psychosocial Factors
          Sex Factors
          Dating
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Female
      ab: CONTEXT: Because many U.S. teenagers experience their first sexual intercourse during high school, understanding whether sexual behavior and academic performance are related is important. However, research on sexual debut and grades has produced inconsistent findings. METHODS: Data collected over four years from a specific cohort (1,321 eighth‐ and ninth‐graders) of a nationally representative longitudinal study, the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, were examined using fixed‐effects regression models to assess the relationship between first sexual intercourse and grade point average (GPA). RESULTS: Overall, no relationship was found between students' first sexual intercourse and GPA. For black females and Latinos of either gender, having had first sexual intercourse was associated with a lower GPA (coefficients, –216 and –161, respectively, corresponding to grade point decreases multiplied by 100). For black females, this association was observed only in the context of romantic relationships (–243). The predicted GPAs for black females aged 14 or 15 who reported first intercourse in a romantic relationship were significantly lower than those for their counterparts who had not had intercourse, whereas at 18 this was reversed. For Latinos, the predicted GPAs of 14‐ and 15‐year‐olds who had had sex were also lower than those of their sexually inexperienced counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Although first sexual intercourse may not disrupt the academic performance of older adolescents, it may contribute to lower grades among younger minority adolescents. Further research is needed using such contextual variables as age, race, ethnicity, gender and relationship context.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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