Dynamic Relationships Between Parental Monitoring, Peer Risk Involvement and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Bahamian Mid-Adolescents

Abstract

CONTEXT Considerable research has examined reciprocal relationships between parenting, peers and adolescent problem behavior; however, such studies have largely considered the influence of peers and parents separately. It is important to examine simultaneously the relationships between parental monitoring, peer risk involvement and adolescent sexual risk behavior, and whether increases in peer risk involvement and changes in parental monitoring longitudinally predict adolescent sexual risk behavior. METHODS Four waves of sexual behavior data were collected between 2008/2009 and 2011 from high school students aged 13–17 in the Bahamas. Structural equation and latent growth curve modeling were used to examine reciprocal relationships between parental monitoring, perceived peer risk involvement and adolescent sexual risk behavior. RESULTS For both male and female youth, greater perceived peer risk involvement predicted higher sexual risk behavior index scores, and greater parental monitoring predicted lower scores. Reciprocal relationships were found between parental monitoring and sexual risk behavior for males and between perceived peer risk involvement and sexual risk behavior for females. For males, greater sexual risk behavior predicted lower parental monitoring; for females, greater sexual risk behavior predicted higher perceived peer risk involvement. According to latent growth curve models, a higher initial level of parental monitoring predicted decreases in sexual risk behavior, whereas both a higher initial level and a higher growth rate of peer risk involvement predicted increases in sexual risk behavior. CONCLUSION Results highlight the important influence of peer risk involvement on youths’ sexual behavior and gender differences in reciprocal relationships between parental monitoring, peer influence and adolescent sexual risk behavior.

Associations Between Croatian Adolescents’ Use of Sexually Explicit Material and Sexual Behavior: Does Parental Monitoring Play a Role?

“…Parental monitoring usually describes parental knowledge of the child's whereabouts, activities and company (Sieverding, Adler, Witt, & Ellen, 2005;Wang, Stanton, Deveaux, & Lunn, 2015), with the literature pointing to its importance for health sexual development 5 (Borawski, Ievers-Landis, Lovegreen, & Trapl, 2003). Wight, Williamson, and Henderson (2006) observed that young people with high parental monitoring at baseline reported fewer sexual experiences than their peers two years later.…”

“…Among female participants, high parental monitoring was also related to more frequent condom and contraception use. In a longitudinal study carried out among 13-to 17-year-old adolescents in the Bahamas, initial levels of parental control had protective effects on sexual risk-taking 18 months later among both male and female adolescents (Wang et al, 2015). Parental monitoring can also buffer the effects of adolescent exposure to problematic media content, either directly, by restring access, or indirectly--by enabling an active and mediating parental engagement.…”

Risky sexual behaviors and associated factors among preparatory school students in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia

“…This was congruent with studies conducted in Ethiopia (Negeri, 2014;Mariam et al, 2018;Mullu et al, 2016;Ali, 2017). However, it contradicts studies conducted in three Asian countries (Hanoi, Shanghai, and Taipei), Nigeria, Bahamas, Cambodia and else were in Ethiopia (Nigatu et al, 2018; Dadi and Teklu, 2014; Kahsay et al, 2017;Ifeadike et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2015). Maternal educational status was not a significant contributing factor to student"s risky sexual behaviors.…”

Influence of parental factors on adolescents’ transition to first sexual intercourse in Nairobi, Kenya: a longitudinal study

“…However, males in mid- and late- adolescence had lesser odds of transitioning to first sexual intercourse compared to those in early adolescence. Previous studies have shown that adolescents’ behavior is significantly correlated with that of their peers [ 13 , 43 ]. Thus, it is possible that male adolescents who resist peer pressure to engage in sexual intercourse in early adolescence may continue to resist pressure to become sexually active as they grow older.…”