Parenting and Adolescent Risky Sexual Behaviors

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to evaluate the developmental pathways that lead to early-age sexual risk behaviors. Aim 1 will examine if supportive parenting and monitoring in the 7th grade prospectively predict deviant peer affiliations and substance use in the 8th grade, which in turn, are hypothesized to predict risky sexual behaviors in the 9th grade. Aim 2 will examine the same mediational model using latent growth trajectories. Examining the developmental pathways both prospectively and dynamically will provide a clearer picture of how these variables move together within and across time. These models will be tested using data from a randomized intervention trial which aimed to change parenting practices but never discussed sex or contraception. Thus, if the developmental pathways proposed by this study are correct and the intervention successfully changed parenting practices, then the sample will demonstrate differences between the control and intervention groups in risky sexual behaviors through deviant peer affiliations and substance use. Empirical support of these relations would provide strong evidence for the developmental pathways proposed by this study and have important policy implications for prevention programs. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]