Sociosexual Development of Preadolescents

The Extent of Premarital Sex Practices among Secondary Schools Adolescents in Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, South Eastern Nigeria

“…This means that there was no significant difference in the extent of premarital sex among secondary school adolescents by age. The finding is in agreement with the findings of several studies by Westney et al [49], Morris et al [50], Billy et al [51], Udry [52] and Zelnik et al [53] who observed that early pubertal development (e.g., age at menarche for girls, level of pubertal development for boys) is associated with early initiation of sexual activity.…”

Another Look at Heterosocial Behaviors: One Side of the Early Intimate Sexual Behaviors Coin

“…Previous studies by Westney, Jenkins, & Benjamin (1983) focused on upper elementary school girls, not girls in middle school. Similarly, the work by Grover and colleagues (2005; 2007) targeted primarily Euro-American adolescents, not African American teens.…”

“…The Heterosocial Behavior Questionnaire (Westney, Jenkins, & Benjamine, 1983; modified by Doswell, 1999) is a self-report rating scale comprised of 10-items assessing two aspects, social contexts (e.g., where the boy-girl interactions occurred (HSC)) and heterosocial behaviors(e.g., behavior engaged in by boys and girls (HSB)). Social contexts items for example assessed if during the past year the girl had spent time alone with a boy in a private place(e.g., someone's apartment) without any grown-ups around.…”

The Missing Politics and Unsettled Science of the Trend Toward Earlier Puberty

“…Earlier maturation in girls has been linked to disorders of the family as a unit (Ellis, McFadyen-Ketchum, et aI., 1999). Some investigators have noted the acceptance or pursuit of risk, such as sexual or combative risk, the display of social dominance, or any of a range of other be-havioral dysfunctions (Rubin, Reinisch, et al, 1981;Udry and Cliquet, 1982;Sandler, Wilcox, et al, 1984;Westney, Jenkins, et al, 1984;Udry, Billy, et al, 1985;Warren and Brooks-Gunn, 1989;Helm and Lidegaard, 1990;Udry, 1990;Constant, Abrams, et al, 1993;Flannery, Rowe, et al, 1993;Halpern, Udry, et al, 1993Orr and Ingersoll, 1995;Schaal, Tremblay, et al, 1996;Larsen and Kragstrup, 1997;Laitinen-Krispijn, van der Ende, et al, 1999a;Otor and Pandey, 1999;Rieder and Coupey, 1999;Magnusson, 2001). In a large survey of 17-year-old Swedish girls, those reporting sexual debut-coitarche-before age 15 were compared to those debuting later; the first group was about twice as likely to report menarche at age 11 or earlier, as well as perceived social age exceeding chronological age by 2 years or more.…”