Parents' Risky Behavior Rubs Off On Kids
Smoking, Drinking, Seatbelt Use Linked To Sex
POSTED: 10:22 a.m. EDT August 30, 2002
Parents who smoke and drink and generally do not take care of their health may influence their children to do the same, according to a new study.
Researchers from Southwest Texas State University and Lehman College in New York found a link between parents' risky behavior to early sexual activity in teens.
The researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which includes information on sexual behavior for about 19,000 adolescents in grades seven through 12. The data set also provides information on risky health behaviors, such as smoking, drinking heavily and not using a seat belt, for one parent in each teen's household.
"Adolescents whose parents engage in risky behavior, especially smoking, are especially likely to be sexually active. They are also more likely to smoke, drink, associate with substance-using peers and participate in delinquent activity," said study co-authors Esther Wilder, of Lehman College, and Toni Terling Watt, of Southwest Texas State University.
Adolescents whose parents smoked were about 50 percent more likely to have had sex. They were also more likely to have had sex by age 15, according to the study, published in the September issue of the Milbank Quarterly, a journal of public health and health care policy.
Teens whose parents drink heavily tend to drink as well, and teen alcohol use is closely linked to the early onset of sexual activity, the researchers said. For boys, but not girls, parents' failure to wear seat belts is associated with a modest increased likelihood of adolescent sex.
"Because parents serve as important role models for their children, it stands to reason that parents who exhibit unsafe behaviors are especially likely to have children with similar tendencies," the researchers said.
But there are ways to reduce adolescents' risks, according to the researchers.
High levels of supervision by parents resulted in a reduced likelihood of sexual activity in some children. Boys whose fathers were present at key times of the day -- when they leave and return from school and bed time -- were less likely to be sexually active, as are girls whose mothers were present at those times. However, mothers' presence had no impact on boys' likelihood of being sexually active and fathers' presence had no impact on girls'.
Among the respondents, 37 percent of girls and 39 percent of boys reported having had sex. Nearly two-thirds of these adolescents used a contraceptive, most often a condom, during their first sexual experience.
Unsafe parental behavior had little or no effect on whether the sexually active teen used contraceptives during his or her sexual encounter, according to Wilder and Watt.
The researchers found little to explain why some teenagers use contraceptives and others do not, although the study showed that it might be related to the year in which the adolescent first had sex. Teenagers who first had sex in 1991 or later were more likely to use contraceptives, likely reflecting the greater awareness of sexually transmitted diseases inspired, in part, by the AIDS activism movement.
Researchers from Southwest Texas State University and Lehman College in New York found a link between parents' risky behavior to early sexual activity in teens.
The researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which includes information on sexual behavior for about 19,000 adolescents in grades seven through 12. The data set also provides information on risky health behaviors, such as smoking, drinking heavily and not using a seat belt, for one parent in each teen's household.
"Adolescents whose parents engage in risky behavior, especially smoking, are especially likely to be sexually active. They are also more likely to smoke, drink, associate with substance-using peers and participate in delinquent activity," said study co-authors Esther Wilder, of Lehman College, and Toni Terling Watt, of Southwest Texas State University.
Adolescents whose parents smoked were about 50 percent more likely to have had sex. They were also more likely to have had sex by age 15, according to the study, published in the September issue of the Milbank Quarterly, a journal of public health and health care policy.
Teens whose parents drink heavily tend to drink as well, and teen alcohol use is closely linked to the early onset of sexual activity, the researchers said. For boys, but not girls, parents' failure to wear seat belts is associated with a modest increased likelihood of adolescent sex.
"Because parents serve as important role models for their children, it stands to reason that parents who exhibit unsafe behaviors are especially likely to have children with similar tendencies," the researchers said.
But there are ways to reduce adolescents' risks, according to the researchers.
High levels of supervision by parents resulted in a reduced likelihood of sexual activity in some children. Boys whose fathers were present at key times of the day -- when they leave and return from school and bed time -- were less likely to be sexually active, as are girls whose mothers were present at those times. However, mothers' presence had no impact on boys' likelihood of being sexually active and fathers' presence had no impact on girls'.
Among the respondents, 37 percent of girls and 39 percent of boys reported having had sex. Nearly two-thirds of these adolescents used a contraceptive, most often a condom, during their first sexual experience.
Unsafe parental behavior had little or no effect on whether the sexually active teen used contraceptives during his or her sexual encounter, according to Wilder and Watt.
The researchers found little to explain why some teenagers use contraceptives and others do not, although the study showed that it might be related to the year in which the adolescent first had sex. Teenagers who first had sex in 1991 or later were more likely to use contraceptives, likely reflecting the greater awareness of sexually transmitted diseases inspired, in part, by the AIDS activism movement.
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