Personal and social factors influencing age at first sexual intercourse

Abstract

Early initiation of sexual activity is a concern, in part because of increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and unwanted pregnancies among young people. In this study, 241 high schoolers were administered a questionnaire to establish the relationships between age at first sexual intercourse and personal qualities (sexual style, attractiveness, physical maturity, restraint, autonomy expectations, and attitudes to gender roles), smoking and drug use, and aspects of the social context (social activities, media impact, peer norms). There were few effects of sex of respondent and none in which respondents' sex impacted on age of initiation. Overall (and among the male sample), perceptions of greater physical maturity, greater use of uncommon (mostly illicit) drugs, and expectations of earlier autonomy significantly differentiated between early and later initiators. This group of factors tends to confirm the view that early experience of sexual intercourse is correlated with problem behaviors and a press toward "adult" behaviors. For girls, this pattern was even clearer, with use of uncommon drugs being replaced as a significant contributor to early sexual experience by relative lack of restraint. We conclude that the desire to achieve the transition to adulthood at an earlier age than their peers constitutes a powerful incentive for young people to become sexually active.