Reported sexual behaviors and self-esteem among young adolescents
D. P. Orr, M. L. Wilbrandt, C. J. Brack, S. P. Rauch and G. M. Ingersoll
Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.
Six hundred seventy-seven adolescents in grades 7 through 9 of a
blue-collar, midwestern junior high school responded to a survey of sexual
behavior and self-esteem. The focus of this study was on the relationship
between sexual experience and self-esteem. Fifty-five percent of the
students reported having had at least one coital experience; 7% reported
having intercourse about once a week. The proportion of sexually
experienced adolescents increased with age; 28% of 12-year-olds, 52.7% of
13-year-olds, 60.1% of 14-year-olds, 73.6% of 15-year-olds, and 90% of
16-year-olds reported having intercourse on at least one occasion. More
boys of all ages were sexually active than girls. Six percent of students
had had, or were suspicious of having had, a sexually transmitted disease;
7.8% were involved in a pregnancy. The average of the self-esteem scores
for girls was significantly lower than the average for boys. There was an
interaction effect between gender and coital history for self-esteem. Girls
who reported having had intercourse had lower self-esteem scores than those
who did not. On the other hand, self-esteem of sexually experienced and
inexperienced boys did not differ, nor did self-esteem of virginal boys and
girls. Boys and girls with a history of sexually transmitted diseases had
lower self-esteem than all others. Pregnancy, on the other hand, did not
seem to affect self-esteem of the sexually experienced adolescents. This
cross-sectional study does not permit determination of whether the lower
average self-esteem among certain girls was antecedent to or a consequence
of sexual experience.
