title: Why don't smart teens have sex? A behavioral genetic approach.
abstract: Academic achievement and cognitive ability have been shown to predict later age at first sexual intercourse. Using a sample of 536 same-sex twin pairs who were followed longitudinally from adolescence to early adulthood, this study tested whether relations between intelligence, academic achievement, and age at first sex were due to unmeasured genetic and environmental differences between families. Twins who differed in their intelligence or their academic achievement did not differ in their age at first sex. Rather, the association between intelligence and age at first sex could be attributed entirely to unmeasured environmental differences between families, whereas the association between academic achievement and age at first sex could be attributed entirely to genetic factors.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, USA. harden@psy.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Kathryn P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Harden
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult