title: Sexual activity and problem behaviors among black, urban adolescents.
abstract: This article focuses on whether sexual activity is best considered in the same paradigm as adolescent substance use and assault or separately. Among black, inner-city adolescents (N = 705), followed longitudinally since first grade, 3 questions were examined: (1) how these 3 behaviors co-occur, (2) their early family and school precursors, and (3) their relations with adolescent school behavior and parental supervision. The 3 most frequent patterns were compared: no problem behaviors, only sexual activity, and the combination of sexual activity, heavy substance use, and/or assault. In general, the multiproblem adolescents differed from the other adolescents in their behavior and parental supervision. While sex-only males were similar to the no-problem males, sex-only-females differed from the no-problem girls in their family origins. These results suggest that by examining adolescent behaviors in their co-occurring combinations in epidemiologically defined populations, variations in pathways to deviance can be better understood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ensminger
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D002641:Chicago; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010553:Personality Development; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D014505:Urban Population