Sensation Seeking Predicting Growth in Adolescent Problem Behaviors

There is limited literature on the relationship between sensation seeking and adolescent risk behaviors, particularly among African Americans. We tested the association between psychometrically-derived subscales of the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale and the intercepts and slopes of individual growth curves of conduct problems, sexual risk taking, and substance use from ages 13-18 years by sex. Boys and girls had different associations between sensation seeking and baseline levels and growth of risk behaviors. The Pleasure Seeking scale was associated with baseline levels of conduct problems in boys and girls, baseline substance use in boys, and growth in sexual risk taking and substance use by girls. Girls had the same pattern of associations with the Danger/Novelty scale as the Pleasure Seeking scale. Knowledge about the relationships between adolescent risk taking and sensation seeking can help in the targeted design of prevention and intervention programs for the understudied population of very low-income, African American adolescents

Analysis of Coital and Non-Coital Sexual Behavior in Adolescents: Spain, 2016

This report has been carried out with the support of a pre-doctoral contract of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU13/03841), awarded to the first author.The adolescent population is considered a group that is at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or HIV. The objective of this study was to analyze the characteristics of the sexual behavior (both coital and non-coital) of Spanish adolescents and the differences on the basis of gender. It was a representative sample of 2703 Spanish adolescents of between 14 and 20 years old. In total, 49.9% of participants were males (M = 15.95; SD = 1.30) and 51.1% females (M = 15.83; SD = 1.28). The results show that 27% of adolescents maintain penetrative sexual relations, 45.7% engage in non-penetrative sex, and 27.3% have never had sexual experience. On the basis of gender, males initiate non-penetrative sexual behavior, vaginal sex, and anal sex earlier than females, have a greater number of non-penetrative sexual encounters under the influence of alcohol and have a greater number of anal and vaginal sex partners. Females, on the other hand, tend to have partners who are older than them. No gender differences were found in the case of condom use in the first and last sexual contact with anal and vaginal penetration, or in the consistent use of condoms in anal and vaginal sexual encounters, of which it is particularly worth noting that 47.2% of adolescents use condoms inconsistently in vaginal sexual relations, and 81.9% in anal relations. It can be concluded that it is necessary to intervene and educate adolescents on the prevention of STIs/HIV at an early age, taking into account a gender perspective.Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU13/03841