SEXUAL ABUSE HISTORY AND NUMBER OF SEX PARTNERS AMONG FEMALE ADOLESCENTS

A survey completed in 1996 of 10,868 adolescent females from one Midwe stern state indicates that 10% had experienced sexual abuse by an adul t or by someone older than themselves-9% in the past and 1% in an ongo ing situation, Past and current victims of sexual abuse had had more s exual partners during the past year (2.3 and 1.2, respectively) than t heir peers who had never been sexually abused (0.5). Regardless of sex ual abuse history teenagers whose activities were closely monitored by their parents, who received high fevers of parental support and whose parents disapproved of teenagers having sex had fewer sexual partners than other adolescents. Respondents who had experienced physical abus e in addition to sexual abuse were at further increased risk of having had multiple sexual partners. Overall, sexually abused adolescents wi th a supportive family had fewer recent partners than those from a les s supportive family environment; family context had less influence on number of partners among respondents with no history of sexual abuse.