title: Father Knows Best: Paternal Presence and Sexual Debut in African-American Adolescents Living in Poverty.
abstract: Adolescents found within single-parent families without a residential father have reported higher levels of sexual debut and higher levels of reported pregnancy. Using data from the Mobile Youth Survey, the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the presence of a father figure on the sexual debut of African-American adolescents living in poverty and to determine if gender moderates the relationship between the presence of a father figure and sexual debut. Additionally, this study will examine the family processes in which the presence of a father figure can affect the sexual debut of African-American adolescents who live within economically and socially disadvantaged communities. The results revealed that African-American adolescents reporting a father figure had lower rates of sexual debut than those youth reporting no father figure. Gender was not found to be a significant moderator in the relationship between father figure presence and sexual debut. However, existing curfews and family rules did account for some of the effects of presence of a father figure and sexual debut. The results suggest that when adolescents have a father figure in their lives, it may reduce the possibility of early sexual debut.
authors.affiliation: Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.
authors.forename: Cheri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Langley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D003075:Coitus; D003142:Communication; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005220:Fathers; D006801:Humans; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D011203:Poverty; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Adolescent; African-American; Fatherhood; Sexual Risk; Sexual initiation; adolescente; afroamericanas; iniciación sexual; paternidad; riesgo sexual; 初次性行为; 性风险; 父亲; 青少年; 非裔美国人