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. 2012 Mar 1;22(1):135-149.
doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00752.x.

Exploring the Link between Caregiver Affect and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Does Neighborhood Disadvantage Matter?

Margo Gardner  1 , Anne Martin, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
Affiliations

Exploring the Link between Caregiver Affect and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Does Neighborhood Disadvantage Matter?

Margo Gardner et al. J Res Adolesc. .

Abstract

In a sample of urban youth (N = 1,070), we examined the links between primary caregiver affect (i.e., warmth and hostility) and two measures of sexual behavior in adolescence - early sexual initiation and sex with multiple partners. We also examined the extent to which neighborhood disadvantage moderated associations between caregiver affect and adolescent sexual behavior. We found that caregiver hostility was positively associated with early sex and sex with multiple partners in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of disadvantage, but inversely associated with both sex outcomes in neighborhoods characterized by low levels of disadvantage. Caregiver warmth, on the other hand, was inversely associated with early sexual initiation and sex with multiple partners in all neighborhoods regardless of neighborhood disadvantage.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual model reflecting potential neighborhood-level moderation of the youth-level link between caregiver affect and adolescent sexual behavior.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graph represents the interaction between caregiver hostility and concentrated disadvantage in models predicting early sexual initiation. Unshaded area shows the values of concentrated disadvantage at which the effect of caregiver hostility is significant.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Graph represents the interaction between caregiver hostility and concentrated disadvantage in models predicting multiple sex partners. Unshaded area shows the values of concentrated disadvantage at which the effect of caregiver hostility is significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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