Daniel Adkins - Univ. of Utah
Social influences on sexuality in adolescence and young adulthood
Date: 08/30/2018 (Thu)
Time: 3:30pm- 5:00pm
Location: Seminar will be held on-site: Gross Hall 270
Organizer: Tyson Brown
Meeting Schedule: Login or email the organizer to schedule a meeting.
All meetings will be held in the same location as the seminar unless otherwise noted.
9:00am - Breakfast at 9:15 with Angie O'Rand
9:30am - Breakfast with Angie O'Rand
10:00am - Breakfast with Angie O'Rand
10:30am - Jasmin Wertz
11:00am - Leah Richmond-Rakerd
11:30am - Matt Dupre
12:00pm - Lunch- Susan Jacobs et al.
12:30pm - Lunch-Susan Jacobs et al.
1:00pm - Lunch-Susan Jacobs et al.
1:30pm - MIke Hauser
2:00pm - Mike Hauser
2:30pm - Giovanna Merli
3:00pm - Seminar Prep
3:30pm - Seminar Presentation (3:30pm to 5:00pm)
5:00pm - Seminar Kick-Off celebration
Additional Comments: Abstract: This study investigates the influence of physical illness on sexual risk-taking behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood, both directly and through moderation of the impact of social disadvantage. We hypothesize positive effects for social disadvantage and physical illness on sexual risk behavior, consistent with the development of fast life history behavioral strategies, among adolescents facing greater life adversity. Using the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we develop a mixed effects multinomial logistic regression model predicting sexual risk behavior (nonmonogamous sex v. monogamous sex, and nonmonogamous sex v. no sex) by social characteristics, physical illness, interactions thereof, and control covariates. Analyses use multiple imputation to address a modest amount of missing data. Subjects reporting higher levels of physical illness had lower odds of abstinence v. engaging in nonmonogamous sex (OR=0.79, p<0.001), and lower odds of having monogamous sex v. engaging in nonmonogamous sex (OR=0.89, p<0.001), compared to individuals in better health. Physical illness significantly moderated the gender (OR=0.85, p<0.001), race/ethnicity (e.g., OR=1.23, p<0.001), and childhood SES (OR=0.95; p<0.05) effects for the abstinent v. nonmonogamous sex comparison. All substantive findings were robust across waves and in sensitivity analyses. These findings offer general, but not universal, support for the predictions of life history theory. Physical illness and various social disadvantages are generally associated with increased sexual risk behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. Further, analyses show that the buffering effects of several protective social statuses (i.e., female gender, white ethnicity, high SES) against sexual risk-taking are substantially eroded by physical illness.