Sexual Activity Among Youth And Its Link To Other Risk Behaviors
December 11, 2008 by rainier
Sexual activity has been found to be an indicator of a larger lifestyle pattern of unhealthy risk behaviors, including using tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs, and being involved in violence.A study of youth ages 12 to 16 published in Pediatrics, found nonvirginal boys were four times more likely to smoke and six times more likely to have ever used alcohol than boys who were virgins. Nonvirginal girls faced the same risks: compared to virginal girls they were seven times more likely to smoke and 10 times more likely to use marijuana.The researchers stated, “Our data confirm that drug use, sexual activity, and other troublesome activities and feelings are common even among the youngest students. It has been increasingly recognized that these behaviors are interrelated.” The report called sexual activity a “significant associate of other health-endangering behaviors,” and it found the older the adolescent the more likely sexual activity would be linked with alcohol or marijuana use. Sexual activity can be an indicator of substance abuse. Adolescents who have three or more sexual partners in one year, are more likely to engage in illicit drug use.The Alan Guttmacher Institute, in its report, Sex and America’s Teenagers,stated that young teenagers who use alcohol, tobacco and marijuana on a regular basis are more likely to be having sex.
Nationwide, among students who are currently sexually active, one-fourth reported they had used alcohol or drugs at last sexual tercourse.Other research shows the misuse of alcohol often results in an earlier onset of sexual activity.33 In fact, one survey of teens (ages 13 to 18) found 17 percent of those who had an intimate one-on-one encounter with someone of the opposite sex admitted doing something sexual under the influence of drugs or alcohol that they would not have done if they had not been under that influence. Among older girls (ages 17 to 18) who had had intimate encounters, percent said drugs or alcohol had influenced their decision to do something sexual.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study about cigarette smoking, based on the data from the 1992 National Health Interview Survey of Youth Risk Behavior (NHIS-YRBS), found a relationship between smoking and sexual activity. Those who were current smokers or former smokers were significantly more likely to have engaged in sexual intercourse than youth who had never used cigarettes. Sexual activity was reported by 80 percent of current smokers and 80.4 percent of former smokers compared to sexual experience being reported by a minority (41.4 percent) of those who had never smoked.
Significant evidence exists revealing that adolescents who have violent lives are likely to also be involved in sex and substance abuse. A study published in The Journal of Adolescent Health reported that eight percent of all students were considered fighters (those who had been in a fight in the last 30 days). However, those eight percent of students accounted for 25 percent of those who had sex with multiple partners.
