Em. Alderman et al., PROBLEM BEHAVIORS IN INNER-CITY ADOLESCENTS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS, Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, 16(5), 1995, pp. 339-344
This study examines the prevalence of problem behaviors (sexual activi
ty, substance use, delinquency, and school failure) in a clinical hosp
ital-based sample of 217 inner-city, 14 to 17 year olds with a variety
of serious, chronic medical illnesses and compares this prevalence to
that in a group of 121 similar-aged, healthy friends with no known ch
ronic illnesses living in the same community. No differences were foun
d between groups in substance use, delinquency, percent who had ever h
ad sexual intercourse, or mean age at first intercourse. There was a s
ignificant interaction effect of chronic illness and gender on age at
first intercourse (p = .015); boys without chronic illness initiated s
exual intercourse at a younger age than those with an illness. Convers
ely, girls with a chronic illness initiated sexual intercourse at a yo
unger age than their girlfriends without illness. Contrary to expectat
ions, significantly more of the healthy friends had repeated a grade i
n school than had those with chronic illness (p = .002). Results are d
iscussed in terms of the interrelationships of chronic illness, gender
, and environment on problem behaviors.