Adolescent Sexual Behavior Patterns, Mental Health, and Early Life Adversities in a British Birth Cohort.

Abstract

This study tested adolescent sexual behavior patterns at age 14, their association with mental health at age 17 (psychological well-being, substance use, and self-harm attempts), and the influence of early life adversities upon this association. A British birth cohort (5,593 boys and 5,724 girls from the Millennium Cohort Study) was used. Latent class analysis suggested five subgroups of adolescent sexual behaviors: a no sexual behavior (50.74%), a kisser (39.92%), a touching under clothes (4.71%), a genital touching (2.64%), and an all sexual activities class (1.99%). Adolescents from the kisser, touching under clothes, genital touching, and all sexual activities classes reported significantly more substance use and self-harm attempts compared to adolescents from the no sexual behavior group. The associations became weaker after controlling for early life adversities (reducing around 4.38% to 37.35% for boys, and 9.29% to 52.56% for girls), and reduced to a smaller degree after further controlling for mental health variables at 14. The associations between sexual behaviors and psychological well-being became non-significant after controlling for early life adversities. Adolescents who have engaged in low-intensity sexual activities at early age may have poorer reported mental health, a pattern that is stronger for girls and early life adversity may partially explain this association.