title: Coital and non-coital sexual behaviors of white and black adolescents.
abstract: As part of a longitudinal study of young adolescents, data were collected in 1980 on the non-coital and coital sexual experiences of male and female adolescents who ranged in age from 12 to 15 at the time of the initial contact. The follow-up data were collected two years later. Both a Guttman-scale analysis and a longitudinal analysis of these data indicate different sexual patterns between White and Black teens; Whites are more likely than Blacks to engage in a predictable series of non-coital behaviors for a period of time before their first intercourse experience. Of the sexual behaviors studied, the pre-coital experiences of Black teens were less predictable and often involved only necking. These differences in sexual norms offer a partial explanation for the different pregnancy rates between these two groups. They also suggest that sexual and contraceptive education and counseling need to be cognizant of these differences since pre-coital experience may function as both a mechanism to prolong abstinence and to promote a gradual acceptance of one's sexuality.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001741:Black or African American; D002648:Child; D003075:Coitus; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D044465:White People