Forced Intercourse, Individual and Family Context, and Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescent Girls

Purpose: This study tested the hypothesis that individual and family factors associated with adolescent risky sexual behavior (RSB) operate differently in their relationship to RSB among girls who have experienced forced sexual intercourse (FSI), as compared to those girls who have not. Methods: Data were collected from 3,863 eighth-grade girls from a larger statewide sample. Different subgroups of participants received different sets of questions, so 655-2,548 students were included in each analysis. Multilevel modeling was used to examine relationships of individual (social negotiation skills, personal safety, depression, and sensation-seeking personality) and family factors (sibling deviance, parental monitoring, and quality of family relationships) to RSB. FSI was examined as a predictor of RSB and as a moderator of the relationship between individual and family variables and sexual risk. Results: In the case of individual predictors, social negotiation skills were associated with lower RSB for all girls, but these skills had a stronger relationship to RSB among girls who had experienced FSI. Depression and sensation-seeking tendencies had small positive relationships to RSB for all girls. In the case of family predictors, for girls without a history of FSI, parental monitoring was associated with lower RSB. However, among girls who had experienced FSI, parental monitoring was not significantly related to RSB, but sibling deviance was associated with lower RSB. Conclusions: Results suggest that social negotiation skills and parental monitoring may warrant further attention in research and intervention. (C) 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.