Journal of Pediatric Care

Stress, depressive symptoms, coping and sexual behavior

Joint Event on 18^th International Conference on Pediatrics Health & 2^nd Edition of International Conference on Adolescent Health & Medicine
August 06-07, 2018 Madrid, Spain

Maryam Ghobadzadeh

University of Minnesota, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Pediatr Care

DOI: 10.21767/2471-805X-C3-012

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how adolescents’ reports of stressful life events, depressive symptoms, and coping were related with their sexual risk behaviors. This study used data from waves 1 and 2 (ages 13-20 years, N=3,884) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative longitudinal data set of 7th-through 12th-grade students in the US collected between 1994 and 2009. After controlling for covariates, stressful life events predicted having a positive history of STIs, contraceptive nonuse at last sexual intercourse, and more frequent sex for both females and males (ORs ranging from 1.18 - 2.16). Lack of problem-focused coping was related to greater risk of contraceptive nonuse at last sexual intercourse among females (aOR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.10-1.16) and males (aOR = 1.16, CI 1.06-1.26). Findings suggest that interventions promoting healthy responses to stressful life events might positively influence adolescents’ sexual risk behaviors. Screening adolescents for stressful life events may identify at-risk youth sooner, leading to tailored preventive interventions.