Objective: To examine the association between patterns of outof-school care o ver time and the initiation of sex among young adolescents living in low-income urban families. Design: A prospective cohort study (using a...Objective: To examine the association between patterns of outof-school care o ver time and the initiation of sex among young adolescents living in low-income urban families. Design: A prospective cohort study (using a 16-month follow-u p) examining the predictive value of changes in out-of-school-care arrangemen ts on early sex initiation. Setting and Participants: By using a multistage stra tified area probability sampling strategy, we selected 494 subjects aged 11 to 1 3 years living in low-income central city neighborhoods who did not report havi ng had sexual intercourse by time 1.Main Outcome Measure: Adolescent report of having had sexual intercourse by time 2.Results: Bivariate results suggested th at being at home with an adult during out-of-school hours was related to less sex initiation than self-care, care at another person’s home, and attendance a t an organized/supervised activity. Adjusting for demographic attributes, parent al monitoring, parental curfews, and family routines, remaining in out-of-home care or selfcare was associated with a 2.5 times (95%confidence interval, 1. 3-5.1 times) increase in the likelihood of initiating sexual intercourse when compared with being at home with an adult at both assessment times. Conclusion: Policies and programs that enable young adolescents to spend their out-of-scho ol hours at home with an adult may help reduce the risk of early sex initiation among youth in low-income urban areas.展开更多
文摘Objective: To examine the association between patterns of outof-school care o ver time and the initiation of sex among young adolescents living in low-income urban families. Design: A prospective cohort study (using a 16-month follow-u p) examining the predictive value of changes in out-of-school-care arrangemen ts on early sex initiation. Setting and Participants: By using a multistage stra tified area probability sampling strategy, we selected 494 subjects aged 11 to 1 3 years living in low-income central city neighborhoods who did not report havi ng had sexual intercourse by time 1.Main Outcome Measure: Adolescent report of having had sexual intercourse by time 2.Results: Bivariate results suggested th at being at home with an adult during out-of-school hours was related to less sex initiation than self-care, care at another person’s home, and attendance a t an organized/supervised activity. Adjusting for demographic attributes, parent al monitoring, parental curfews, and family routines, remaining in out-of-home care or selfcare was associated with a 2.5 times (95%confidence interval, 1. 3-5.1 times) increase in the likelihood of initiating sexual intercourse when compared with being at home with an adult at both assessment times. Conclusion: Policies and programs that enable young adolescents to spend their out-of-scho ol hours at home with an adult may help reduce the risk of early sex initiation among youth in low-income urban areas.