THE TIMING OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE AMONG ADOLESCENTS - FAMILY, PEER ANDOTHER ANTECEDENTS

Children's perceptions of their relationships with their parents and p eers in 1976 and 1981, respectively along with other salient anteceden t variables, were related to their age at first sexual intercourse as reported in 1987. Data came from the National Survey of Children, a th ree-wave longitudinal study of 1,145 children age 7-11 (Wave 1), 12-16 (Wave 2), and 18-22 (Wave 3). Antecedent variables were taken from bo th Round 1 and Round 2 surveys. When the same variables were present a t bath times, the more recent data were used if the survey occurred pr ior to age at first sexual intercourse; if not, the Round 1 data were used. Separate analyses were run to predict timing of sexual intercour se for males and females. Age of first date, dating often, number of f riends perceived to have had sex at age 16 being Black, having parents undergo marital changes during the child's school years, and fighting at school were the most significant predictors of age at first sexual intercourse among mates. All of these variables except fighting at sc hool and dating frequency were significant predictors among females. A dditional significant variables predicting age of first sex among fema les were menarche, parents' education, mother's coercive behavior and love withdrawal, and attitudes about attending religious services.