This cross-sectional study examined the relationship among maternal HIV, pubertal development, gender, ethnicity, and spirituality and adolescent participation in sexual possibility situations (SPSs) and in sexual activity. SPSs are social encounters with cross-gender peers that afford the opportunity to engage in sexual activity. Heterosexual African American and Latino adolescents (10 to 14 years) and their HIV-positive or HIV-negative mothers (N = 176) were interviewed about risk and protective factors related to sexual behavior. Results indicate that physically mature adolescents are more likely to participate in SPSs, that girls are less likely than boys to participate in SPSs, and that more spiritual adolescents are less likely to participate in SPSs. Increased time in SPSs is associated with engagement in sexual behavior, and family religiosity is associated with decreased probability of sexual behavior. Mothers’ HIV status was not associated with SPS participation or engagement in sexual behavior. Suggestions about further refinement of research using SPSs are explored.
Alan Guttmacher Institute. (2002). In their own right: Addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of American men. New York: Author.
2.
Albert, B., Brown, S., & Flanagan, C. (Eds.). (2003). 14 and younger: The sexual behavior of young adolescents. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
3.
Aten, M. J., Siegel, D. M., Enaharo, M., & Auinger, P. (2002). Keeping middle school students abstinent: Outcomes of a primary prevention intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 31, 70-78.
4.
Bachanas, P. J., Morris, M. K., Lewis-Gess, J. K., Sarett-Cuasay, E. J., Flores, A. L., Sirl, K., et al. (2002). Psychological adjustment, substance use, HIV knowledge, and risky sexual behavior in at-risk minority females: Developmental differences during adolescence. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27, 373-384.
5.
Bachanas, P. J., Morris, M. K., Lewis-Gess, J. K., Sarett-Cuasay, E. J., Sirl, K., Ries, J. K., et al. (2002). Predictors of risky sexual behavior in African American adolescent girls: Implications for prevention interventions. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27, 519-530.
6.
Bauman, L. J., Camacho, S., Silver, E. J., Hudis, J., & Draimin, B. (2002). Behavioral problems in school-aged children of mothers with HIV/AIDS. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 7, 39-54.
7.
Bowser, B. P. (1994). African-Americanmale sexuality. In A. S. Rossi (Ed.), Sexuality across the life course (pp. 127-150). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8.
Brendgen, M., Vitaro, F., Doyle, A. B., Markiewicz, D., & Bukowski, W. M. (2002). Same-sex peer relations and romantic relationships during early adolescence: Interactive links to emotional, behavioral, and academic adjustment. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 48, 77-103.
9.
Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G. J., Klebanov, P. K., & Sealand, N. (1993). Do neighborhoods influence child and adolescent development?American Journal of Sociology, 99, 353-395.
10.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Paikoff, R. (1993). “Sex is a gamble, kissing is a game.” Adolescent sexuality, contraception and pregnancy. In S. P. Millstein, A. C. Petersen, & E. O. Nightingale (Eds.), Promoting the health behavior of adolescents: New directions for the 21st century (pp. 180-208). New York: Oxford University Press.
11.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Paikoff, R. (1997). Sexuality and developmental transitions during adolescence. In J. Schulenberg, J. L. Maggs, & K. Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence (pp. 190-219). New York: Cambridge University Press.
12.
Brooks-Gunn, J., Warren, N. P., Russo, J., & Gargialo, J. (1987). Validity of self-report measures of girl’s pubertal status. Child Development, 58, 829-841.
13.
Brown, B. B. (1999). You’re going out with who?: Peer group influences on adolescent romantic relationships. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 291-329). New York: Cambridge University Press.
14.
Campbell, M. K., DeVellis, B. M., Strecher, V. J., Ammerman, A. S., DeVellis, R. F., & Sandler, R. S. (1994). Improving dietary behavior: The effectiveness of tailored messages in primary care settings. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 783-787.
15.
Capaldi, D. M., Crosby, L., & Stoolmiller, M. (1996). Predicting the timing of first sexual intercourse for at-risk adolescent males. Child Development, 67, 344-359.
16.
Chabon, B., Futterman, D., & Hoffman, N. D. (2001). HIV infection in parents of youths with behavioral acquired HIV. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 649-650.
17.
Cohen, D. A., Farley, T. A., Taylor, S. N., Martin, D. H., & Schuster, M. A. (2002). When and where do youths have sex? The potential role of adult supervision. Pediatrics, 110. Retrieved November 7, 2004, from http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/110/6/e66
18.
Crockett, L. J. (1997). Cultural, historical and subcultural contexts of adolescence: Implications for health and development. In J. Schulenberg, J. L. Maggs, & K. Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence (pp. 23-53). New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Curtin, F., & Schulz, P. (1998). Multiple correlations and Bonferroni’s correction. Biological Psychiatry, 44, 775-777.
20.
DiClemente, R. J. (2000). Looking forward: Future directions for HIV prevention research. In J. L. Peterson & R. J. DiClemente (Eds.), Handbook of HIV prevention (pp. 311-324). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
21.
Dugan, T. M., & Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L. (2003). A training program for sex research interviewers. In D. di Mauro, G. Herdt, & R. Parker (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality research training initiatives (pp. 880-892). New York: Social Science Research Council.
22.
Dunphy, D. (1963). The social structure of urban adolescent peer groups. Sociometry, 26, 230-246.
23.
East, P. L. (1998). Impact of adolescent childbearing on families and younger siblings: Effects that increase younger siblings’ risk for early pregnancy. Applied Developmental Science, 2, 62-74.
24.
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
25.
Fair, C. D., Spencer, E. D., Weiner, L., & Riekert, K. (1995). Healthy children in families affected by AIDS: Epidemiological and psychosocial considerations. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 12, 165-181.
26.
Ford, K., & Norris, A. E. (1993). Urban Hispanic adolescents and young adults: Relationship of acculturation to sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 30, 316-323.
27.
Forehand, R., Steele, R., Armistead, L., Morse, E., Simon, P., & Clark, L. (1998). The Family Health Project: Psychosocial adjustment of children whose mothers are HIV infected. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 66, 513-520.
28.
Gunnoe, M. L., Hetherington, E. M., & Reiss, D. (1999). Parental religiosity, parenting style, and adolescent social responsibility. Journal of Early Adolescence, 19, 199-225.
29.
Halpern, C. T., Udry, J. R., Campbell, B., & Suchindran, C. (1993). Testosterone and pubertal development as predictors of sexual activity: A panel analysis of adolescent males. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 436-447.
30.
Halpern-Felsher, B. L., Millstein, M. G., & Ellen, J. M. (1996). Relationship of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior: A review and analysis of findings. Journal of Adolescent Health, 19, 331-336.
31.
Havens, J. F., Mellins, C. A., & Hunter, J. (2002). Psychiatric Aspects of HIV/AIDS in childhood and adolescence. In M. Rutter & E. Taylor (Eds.), Child and adolescent psychiatry: Modern approaches (4th ed., pp. 828-841). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
32.
Havens, J. F., Mellins, C. A., & Ryan, S. (2005). Child psychiatry: Areas of special interest/psychiatric sequelae of HIV and AIDS. In B. Sadock & V. Sadock (Eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (8th ed., pp. 3434-3441). New York: Williams & Wilkins.
33.
Hayward, C., Killen, J. D., Wilson, D. M., Hammer, L. D., Litt, I. F., Kraemer, H. C., et al. (1997). Psychiatric risk associated with early puberty in adolescent girls. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 255-262.
34.
Herman-Giddens, M. E., Slora, E. J., Wasserman, R. C., Bourdony, C. J., Bhapkar, M. V., Koch, G. G., et al. (1997). Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: A study from the pediatric research in office settings network. Pediatrics, 99, 505-512.
35.
Hogan, D. P., Sun, R., & Cornwall, G. T. (2000). Sexual and fertility behaviors of American females aged 15-19 years: 1985, 1990 and 1995. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 1421-1425.
36.
Holder, D. W., Durant, R. H., Harris, T. L., Daniel, J. H., Obeidallah, D., & Goodman, E. (2000). The association between adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26, 295-302.
37.
Holland, J. C., Kash, K. M., Passik, S., Gronert, M. K., Sison, A., Lederberg, M., et al. (1998). A brief spiritual beliefs inventory for use in quality of life research in life-threatening illness. Psycho-Oncology, 7, 460-469.
38.
Ingersoll, G. M. (1995). The contribution of level of cognitive complexity and pubertal timing to behavioral risk in young adolescents. Pediatrics, 95, 528-533.
39.
Jemmott, J. B., & Jones, J. M. (1993). Social psychology and AIDS among ethnic minority individuals: Risk behaviors and strategies for changing them. In J. B. Pryor & G. D. Reeder (Eds.), The social psychology of HIV infection (pp. 183-224). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
40.
Jessor, R. (1998). New perspectives on adolescent risk behaviors. In R. Jessor (Ed.), New perspectives on adolescent risk behaviors (pp.1-12). New York: Cambridge University Press.
41.
Kotchick, B. A., Forehand, R., Brody, G., Armistead, L., Simon, P., Morse, E., et al. (1997). The impact of maternal HIV infection on parenting in inner-city African American families. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 447-461.
42.
Kreuter, M. W., Strecher, V. J., & Glassman, B. (1999). One size does not fit all: The case for tailoring print materials. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 21, 276-283.
43.
Lammers, C., Ireland, M., Resnick, M., & Blum, R. (2000). Influences on adolescents’ decision to postpone onset of sexual intercourse: A survival analysis of virginity among youths aged 13 to 18 years. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26, 42-48.
44.
Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
45.
Lee, M. B., Lester, P., & Rotherum-Borus, M. J. (2002). The relationship between adjustment of mothers with HIV and their adolescent daughters. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 7, 71-84.
46.
Lewis, L. J., Brackis, E., Mellins, C. A., & Dolezal, C. (2001, August). Spirituality and mental health in adolescents affected by HIV. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.
47.
Lynch, C. O. (2001). Risk and protective factors associated with adolescent sexual activity. Adolescent & Family Health, 2, 99-107.
48.
McBride, C. K. (2000). Individual, familial and contextual factors predicting situations of sexual possibility in Latina adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Miami.
49.
Mellins, C. A., Brackis-Cott, E., Dolezal, C., & Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L. (2005). Behavioral risk in early adolescents with HIV+ mothers. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36, 324-351.
50.
Meschke, L. L., Bartholomae, S., & Zentall, S. R. (2002). Adolescent sexuality and parent-adolescent processes: Promoting healthy teen choices. Journal of Adolescent Health, 31(Suppl. 6), 264-279.
51.
Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., Dugan, T., & Ehrhardt, A. A. (with Mellins, C. A., & Williams, S.). (1995). Psychosexual Development Interview: Male/baseline version (PDI-Risk-C-M-1); Female/baseline version (PDI-Risk-C-F-1). Unpublished interview schedule. Available from H. F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, 1051 Riverside Dr., Unit 15, New York, NY 10032.
52.
Miller, B. C., & Benson, B. (1999). Romantic and sexual relationship development during adolescence. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 99-121). New York: Cambridge University Press.
53.
Miller, B. C., McCoy, J. K., & Olson, T. D. (1986). Dating age and stage as correlates of adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 361-371.
54.
Morris, L., Warren, C. W., & Aral, S. O. (1993). Measuring adolescent sexual behaviors and related health outcomes. Public Health Reports, 108, 31-36.
55.
Paikoff, R. (1995). Early heterosexual debut: Sexual possibility situations during the transition to adolescence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 65, 389-401.
56.
Paikoff, R., Parfenoff, S. H., Williams, S. A., McCormick, A., Greenwood, G. L., & Holmbeck, G. N. (1997). Parenting, parent-child relationships and sexual possibility situations among urban, African American preadolescents: Preliminary findings and implications for HIV prevention. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 11-22.
57.
Petersen, A. C., Crockett, L., Richards, M., & Boxer, A. (1988). A self-report measure of pubertal status: Reliability, validity, and initial norms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 17, 117-133.
58.
Phinney, J. (1992). The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure: A new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7, 156-176.
59.
Ramirez-Valles, J., Zimmerman, M. A., & Newcomb, M. D. (1998). Sexual risk behavior among youth: Modeling the influence of prosocial activities and socioeconomic factors. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 39, 237-253.
60.
Resnick, M. D., & Blum, R. W. (1994). The association of consensual sexual intercourse during childhood with adolescent health risk behaviors. Pediatrics, 94, 907-913.
61.
Rosario, M., Meyer-Bahlberg, H. F. L., Hunter, J., Exner, T. E., Gwadz, M., & Keller, A. M. (1996). The psychosexual development of urban lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 113-126.
62.
Satcher, D. (2001). The Surgeon General’s call to action to promote sexual health and responsible sexual behavior. Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon General.
63.
Smith, C. A. (1997). Factors associated with early sexual activity among urban adolescents. Social Work, 42, 334-346.
64.
Smith, E. A., & Udry, J. R. (1985). Coital and non-coital sexual behaviors of White and Black adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 75, 1200-1203.
65.
Stanton, B., Kim, N., Galbraith, J., & Parrott, M. (1996). Design issues addressed in published evaluations of adolescent HIV-risk reduction interventions: A review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 18, 387-396.
66.
Strecher, V. J., Kreuter, M., Den Boer, D. J., Kobrin, S., Hospers, H. J., & Skinner, C. S. (1994). The effects of computer-tailored smoking cessation messages in family practice settings. Journal of Family Practice, 39, 262-270.
67.
Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
68.
Thornton, A. (1990). The courtship process and adolescent sexuality. Journal of Family Issues, 11, 239-273.
69.
Udry, J. R. (1990). Hormonal and social determinants of adolescent sexual initiation. In J. Bancroft & J. M. Reinisch (Eds.), Adolescence and puberty (pp. 70-87). London: Oxford University Press.
70.
Udry, J. R., & Bearman, P. S. (1998). New methods for new research on adolescent sexual behavior. In R. Jessor (Ed.), New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior (pp. 241-269). New York: Cambridge University Press.
71.
Upchurch, D. M., Aneshensel, C. S., Sucoff, C. A., & Levy-Storms, L. (1999). Neighborhood and family contexts of adolescent sexual activity. Journal of Marriage & the Family, 61, 920-933.
