Adolescent Sexual Behavior Patterns, Mental Health, and Early Life Adversities in a British Birth Cohort

Figures & data

Figure 1. Models tested in this study

Table 1. Item-response probabilities for the five classes model of adolescent sexual behavior at 14

	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors at 14 years
Sexual behaviors at 14 years, yes	No sexual behavior (N = 5,742)	Kisser (N = 4,518)	Touching under clothes (N = 533)	Genital touching (N = 299)	All sexual activities (N = 225)
Hold hands	.20	.95	.96	.96	.98
Kiss	.03	.66	.93	.97	1.00
Cuddle together	.14	.89	.98	.98	1.00
Let others touch under clothes	.00	.01	.78	.97	.99
Touch others under clothes	.00	.00	.70	.85	.99
Touch others genitals	.00	.00	.08	.80	1.00
Let others touch their genitals	.00	.00	.09	.93	.99
Perform oral sex on others	.00	.00	.00	.09	.91
Let others perform oral sex on them	.00	.00	.00	.17	.90
Sexual intercourse	.00	.00	.00	.17	.62

Table 2. Multivariate ordered logistic regressions for latent class membership of sexual behavior at 14 years old among boys

	Multivariate ordered logistic regression
Variable	OR	OR^a	OR^b	OR^c	OR^d
Maternal psychological distress before 7	0.98 (0.96, 1.01)
Maternal psychological distress since 7	1.00 (0.97, 1.02)
Paternal psychological distress before 7		0.99 (0.95, 1.02)	1.02 (0.97, 1.07)	1.03 (0.97, 1.09)	0.99 (0.91, 1.08)
Paternal psychological distress since 7	0.98 (0.95, 1.02)
Family socioeconomic position before 7	0.96 (0.90, 1.03)
Family socioeconomic position since 7	1.02 (0.95, 1.08)
Parent-child relationship		1.01 (1.00, 1.02)	1.00 (0.98, 1.01)	0.99 (0.97, 1.01)	0.99 (0.96, 1.02)
Verbal abuse (Ref = no)	1.30***(1.15, 1.47)
Physical abuse (Ref = no)		1.56*** (1.36, 1.79)	2.23*** (1.84, 2.70)	2.29*** (1.76, 2.97)	2.65*** (1.77, 3.97)
Sexual harassment or assault (Ref = no)	1.56 (0.96, 2.54)
Domestic violence before 7 (Ref = no)	1.09 (0.89, 1.33)
Domestic violence since 7 (Ref = no)	1.20 (0.96, 1.49)
Mother’s problem drinking (Ref = no)		1.09 (0.89, 1.33)	1.33 (0.97, 1.82)	1.76**(1.20, 2.60)	1.22 (0.65, 2.27)
Father’s problem drinking (Ref = no)	1.21*(1.03, 1.43)
Mother’s drug use (Ref = no)	1.23 (0.75, 2.02)
Father’s drug use (Ref = no)	1.06 (0.70, 1.61)
Parental absence (Ref = parents presence)
Either parent absence before 7	1.38**(1.12, 1.69)
Either parent absence since 7	1.37***(1.18, 1.60)

Brant test was applied to test the proportional odds assumption. If the proportional odds assumption was not violated, one odds ratio in the column OR is reported; if it was violated, generalized ordered logit model (gologit2) was used and four odds ratios in the columns OR^a, OR^b, OR^c, and OR^d are reported. The five classes were interpreted as: “no sexual behavior” (class 1), “kisser” (class 2); “touching under clothes” (class 3); “genital touching” (class 4); and “all sexual activities” (class 5).

^aClass 1 versus class 2, 3, 4, and 5.

^bClass 1 and 2 versus class 3, 4, and 5.

^cClass 1, 2, and 3 versus class 4 and 5.

^dClass 1, 2, 3, and 4 versus class 5.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 3. Multivariate ordered logistic regressions for latent class membership of sexual behavior at 14 years among girls

	Multivariate ordered logistic regression
Variable	OR	OR^a	OR^b	OR^c	OR^d
Maternal psychological distress before 7		0.98 (0.96, 1.01)	0.96 (0.92, 1.00)	1.00 (0.95, 1.05)	0.99 (0.92, 1.06)
Maternal psychological distress since 7	1.02 (0.99, 1.04)
Paternal psychological distress before 7	0.97 (0.93, 1.01)
Paternal psychological distress since 7		1.00 (0.96, 1.04)	1.01 (0.95, 1.07)	1.00 (0.92, 1.09)	1.09 (0.98, 1.21)
Family socioeconomic position before 7	0.95 (0.89, 1.02)
Family socioeconomic position since 7	1.04 (0.98, 1.11)
Parent-child relationship	1.00 (0.99, 1.01)
Verbal abuse (Ref = no)	2.25***(2.01, 2.53)
Physical abuse (Ref = no)	1.68***(1.43, 1.98)
Sexual harassment or assault (Ref = no)	6.26***(4.69, 8.36)
Domestic violence before 7 (Ref = no)	1.21 (0.98, 1.50)
Domestic violence since 7 (Ref = no)	0.92 (0.70, 1.21)
Mother’s problem drinking (Ref = no)	0.96 (0.79, 1.18)
Father’s problem drinking (Ref = no)	1.15 (0.96, 1.38)
Mother’s drug use (Ref = no)	1.59 (0.77, 3.28)
Father’s drug use (Ref = no)	1.22 (0.80, 1.88)
Parental absence (Ref = parents presence)
Either parent absence before 7	1.34**(1.09, 1.65)
Either parent absence since 7	1.62***(1.38, 1.90)

Brant test was applied to test the proportional odds assumption. If the proportional odds assumption was not violated, one odds ratio in the column OR is reported; if it was violated, gologit2 was used and four odds ratios in the columns OR^a, OR^b, OR^c, and OR^d are reported. The five classes were interpreted as: “no sexual behavior” (class 1), “kisser” (class 2); “touching under clothes” (class 3); “genital touching” (class 4); and “all sexual activities” (class 5).

^aClass 1 versus class 2, 3, 4, and 5.

^bClass 1 and 2 versus class 3, 4, and 5.

^cClass 1, 2, and 3 versus class 4 and 5.

^dClass 1, 2, 3, and 4 versus class 5.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 4. Univariate and multivariate regressions for mental health outcomes for boys

Mental health	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Psychological Well-being	Class 2	−0.00 (−0.23, 0.22)	−0.24* (−0.46, −0.02)	−0.15 (−0.37, 0.07)
	Class 3	0.80** (0.30, 1.31)	0.21 (−0.30, 0.72)	0.22 (−0.27, 0.72)
	Class 4	0.97** (0.30, 1.64)	0.27 (−0.38, 0.92)	0.16 (−0.49, 0.80)
	Class 5	1.37** (0.51, 2.23)	0.55 (−0.29, 1.40)	0.11 (−0.77, 0.98)
Substance use	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors
	Class 2	1.37*** (1.29, 1.45)	1.31*** (1.24, 1.39)	1.17*** (1.10, 1.25)
	Class 3	1.86*** (1.74, 1.97)	1.73*** (1.62, 1.85)	1.35*** (1.24, 1.47)
	Class 4	2.07*** (1.94, 2.21)	1.94*** (1.80, 2.07)	1.41*** (1.28, 1.55)
	Class 5	2.37*** (2.23, 2.51)	2.22*** (2.08, 2.37)	1.48*** (1.31, 1.64)
Self-harm attempts	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors
	Class 2	1.97*** (1.41, 2.77)	1.73** (1.21, 2.46)	1.77** (1.24, 2.55)
	Class 3	3.12*** (1.79, 5.44)	2.32** (1.28, 4.22)	2.23* (1.19, 4.18)
	Class 4	3.24** (1.57, 6.65)	2.03 (0.92, 4.45)	1.60 (0.68, 3.74)
	Class 5	6.68*** (3.24, 13.77)	4.39*** (2.05, 9.38)	2.86* (1.20, 6.82)

Substance use at 17 was log-transformed. For psychological well-being and substance use at 17, the mean differences and 95% confidence interval are reported here, with higher scores indicating more negative psychological well-being and more substance use. For self-harm attempts at 17, the odds ratios and 95% confidence interval are reported here. The five classes were interpreted as: “no sexual behavior” (class 1), “kisser” (class 2); “touching under clothes” (class 3); “genital touching” (class 4); and “all sexual activities” (class 5). Boys from the “no sexual behavior” class were the reference group. Model 1 is the univariate regression. Model 2 controlled for early life adversities. Model 3 is the same as Model 2 with mental health outcomes at 14 being further controlled for.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 5. Univariate and multivariate regressions for mental health outcomes for girls

Mental health	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Psychological well-being	Class 2	0.66*** (0.41, 0.90)	0.01 (−0.23, 0.25)	−0.05 (−0.27, 0.18)
	Class 3	1.59*** (0.96, 2.22)	0.56 (−0.06, 1.19)	0.33 (−0.27, 0.94)
	Class 4	1.08** (0.27, 1.90)	−0.16 (−0.96, 0.64)	−0.59 (−1.38, 0.19)
	Class 5	2.29*** (1.29, 3.30)	0.64 (−0.38, 1.66)	0.10 (−0.89, 1.09)
Substance use	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors
	Class 2	1.40*** (1.33, 1.47)	1.27*** (1.20, 1.34)	1.08*** (1.01, 1.15)
	Class 3	1.95*** (1.84, 2.07)	1.73*** (1.60, 1.85)	1.22*** (1.09, 1.34)
	Class 4	2.06*** (1.91, 2.21)	1.78*** (1.62, 1.94)	1.11*** (0.95, 1.28)
	Class 5	2.41*** (2.29, 2.53)	2.13*** (1.99, 2.27)	1.21*** (1.06, 1.36)
Self-harm attempts	Latent class membership of early sexual behaviors
	Class 2	1.98*** (1.60, 2.44)	1.34* (1.06, 1.69)	1.24 (0.97, 1.59)
	Class 3	3.09*** (2.04, 4.67)	1.88** (1.19, 2.98)	1.51 (0.95, 2.41)
	Class 4	4.38*** (2.64, 7.28)	2.30** (1.26, 4.22)	1.66 (0.89, 3.07)
	Class 5	8.20*** (5.06, 13.29)	3.89*** (2.24, 6.73)	2.49** (1.35, 4.62)

Substance use at 17 was log-transformed. For psychological well-being and substance use at 17, the mean differences and 95% confidence interval are reported here, with higher scores indicating more negative psychological well-being and more substance use. For self-harm attempts at 17, the odds ratios and 95% confidence interval are reported here. The five classes were interpreted as: “no sexual behavior” (class 1), “kisser” (class 2); “touching under clothes” (class 3); “genital touching” (class 4); and “all sexual activities” (class 5). Girls from the “no sexual behavior” class were the reference group. Model 1 is the univariate regression. Model 2 controlled for early life adversities. Model 3 is the same as Model 2 with mental health outcomes at 14 being further controlled for.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available on the UK Data Service at https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk.