Early onset of adolescent sexual behavior and drug involvement

Event history analysis was used to investigate the dynamic relationship between drug use and sexual activity prior to age 16. The data are from the two youngest birth cohorts (N = 2,711) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults, a nationally representative sample of young Americans. Models were estimated separately for all males and females and among whites, blacks, and Hispanics. When other important risk factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, family intactness, biological maturity, conventionality, and school context are controlled, reported prior use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs greatly increases the risk of early sexual activity for adolescent males and females. The higher the stage of drug involvement and the earlier the reported onset into drugs, the greater the probability of early sex. These patterns appear for each ethnic group, although they are weaker among blacks. Implications of the findings for the "problem behavior" perspective are discussed. The identification of drug use as a highly significant potential risk factor for adolescent sexual behavior assumes special importance because of the relationship between intravenous drug use and the transmission of the HIV virus.