Family Structure, Maternal Dating, and Sexual Debut: Extending the Conceptualization of Instability

Abstract

Family structure influences the risk of early onset of sexual intercourse. This study proposes that the family structures associated with risk-single-mother, step-parent, and cohabiting-influence early sexual debut due to family instability, including shifts in family structure and maternal dating, which can undermine parental control and transmit messages about the acceptability of nonmarital sex. Previous research has not considered maternal dating as a component of family instability, assuming single mothers who date and those who do not date experience comparable levels of family disruption and transmit similar messages about the acceptability of nonmarital sex. Hypotheses are assessed using logistic regression models predicting the odds of early onset of sexual intercourse among 9959 respondents (53 % female, 47 % male) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Respondents were ages 12-17 at the first wave of data collection and 18-26 at the third wave, when respondents reported the age at which they first had sexual intercourse. Results show that maternal dating is a source of family instability with repercussions for early sexual debut. Parental control and permissive attitudes towards teenage sex and pregnancy link at-risk family structures and maternal dating to early sexual initiation among females, though these variables do not fully explain family structure and maternal dating effects. Among males, the influence of maternal dating on early sexual debut is fully explained by the learning of permissive sexual attitudes.

Motherhood in early adolescence: a case-control study in Southern Brazil

“…In the same way, the family, as a basis for the establishment of social bonds, continues to play an important role for teenagers, even if they naturally move away from family ties and strengthen their friendship bonds 21 . Although the literature pointed out an unstable family structure as a risk factor for early sexual initiation in adolescents and for motherhood 22 , the present study was not able to detect such effect. This result maybe implies that trusting not only on parents but, specially, on extended family had contributed for the protective effect on adolescent motherhood.…”

Do Changes to Family Structure Affect Child and Family Outcomes? A Systematic Review of the Instability Hypothesis

“…Neither parent–child relationship quality nor material disadvantage show evidence of mediating the (nonsignificant) link between parental separation and adult partnership status. There were no significant differences in the mediation by gender in Vargas et al () or Zito and De Coster (). This suggests that the stress mediation pathway is similar for boys and girls.…”

“…Three studies found mediation for some of the transitions or some of the outcomes but not all (Bachman et al, ; Sun & Li, ; Vargas, Roosa, Knight, & O'Donnell, ). The overwhelming majority of the studies with family functioning and parenting mediating variables, however, found no evidence that these variables were mediators during adolescence (Bachman et al, ; Krohn, Penly Hall, & Lizotte, ; Langenkamp & Frisco, ; Schroeder et al, ; Shaff et al, ; Walper et al, ; Zito, ; Zito & De Coster, ). Finally, no studies suggested that parent functioning was a consistent mediator: Bachman et al () found that parents' psychological distress was a mediator only for cohabiting relationships lasting at least 2 years; and neither Bachman et al () nor Zito () found any mediation effect by parent functioning.…”

Family Support and Teenage Pregnancy

“…The quality of family support may influence the occurrence of pregnancy in adolescence. For example, studies indicate that the earlier an adolescent initiates the sex life, the greater the likelihood of becoming pregnant at this stage of development (Maranhão et al 2017), and, in turn, the early sexual initiation is related to factors of the family instability, such as maternal dating in single-parent female families and permissive parental educational practices (Zito and De Coster 2016).…”