The influence of early sexual debut and pubertal timing on psychological distress among Taiwanese adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the relative influence of early sexual debut (ESD) and pubertal timing on psychological distress from adolescence to young adulthood in Taiwan, a non-Western society with a distinct cultural and family context. Data were from a cohort sample of 15-year-olds (N = 2595) first interviewed in 2000, with four follow-ups during a 7-year period. Psychological distress was assessed by a reduced form of the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised. ESD was defined by first intercourse at age 15 or younger. Multivariate analyses via growth curve modeling found a greater increase in psychological distress over time in adolescents with ESD (β = .28, p < .05). Early-pubertal adolescents were at greater risk for the onset of psychological distress (β = .46, p < .05). Further, early pubertal adolescents with an ESD appeared to be especially likely to be distressed (β = 3.39, p < .05). In addition, analyses showed a non-linear trajectory of psychological distress between the ages of 15 and 22, with distress escalating (β = .45, p < .001) as age increased before tapering off as adolescents became young adults (β = −.03, p < .001). Results suggest the contributing influence of both ESD and pubertal timing on distress trajectories, independent of parental and family characteristics.

Keywords:

• psychological distress
• early sexual debut
• pubertal timing
• longitudinal analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions for the improvement in the quality of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

Support from Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan under grants 102-2628-S-010-001-MY2 and 101-2410-H -010-005-MY2 is also gratefully acknowledged.