There is considerable debate
over whether adolescent sexual activity is maladaptive and associated with
worse mental health outcomes versus a positive developmental milestone that is
associated with better mental health outcomes. Although these perspectives are
often pitted against one another, the current study employed a more integrative
perspective: adolescent sexual activity may be maladaptive in certain contexts,
but healthy in other contexts.
We investigated whether family support and
gender moderated the relation between sexual activity and mental health
outcomes in a diverse sample of 519 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. Specifically, we examined whether
youth who engaged in more sexual activity would have fewer depressive symptoms
in the context of a more supportive family environment, but more depressive
symptoms in the context of a less supportive family environment and whether
this effect was stronger for sexual minority girls. Consistent with the sexual
health perspective, we found that among girls with more family support, those
who engaged in more frequent same-sex sexual contact had lower levels of
depressive symptoms.
Unexpectedly, we found that among boys with more family
support, those who engaged in more frequent same-sex sexual contact had higher
levels of depressive symptoms. In contrast, girls and boys with less family
support showed no relation between sexual activity and depressive symptoms.
Overall, results suggest that context is critical when determining whether
same-sex sexual contact among LGB youth should be considered maladaptive or
beneficial.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/xzH97X
By:
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 South 1530 East, Room 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0251, USA. janna.dickenson@psych.utah.edu.
- 2Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 South 1530 East, Room 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0251, USA.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv insight
No comments:
Post a Comment