The impact of body image and Afrocentric appearance on sexual refusal self-efficacy in early adolescent African American girls

Abstract

Research examining the association between body image and sexual risk-taking has been mostly limited to clinical and/or White female samples. It is unclear whether body image plays a role in sexual risk-taking among African American early adolescent females. Moreover, research has neglected to consider body image within a cultural and ethnic framework. A positive sense of Afrocentric appearance may influence, either positively or negatively, sexual attitudes and behaviors among African American early adolescent girls. The purpose of this study, conducted with 156 urban African American early adolescent females, was to examine the relationships among body image, Afrocentric appearance, and sexual refusal self-efficacy. Results found no significant association between body image and sexual refusal self-efficacy. However, structural equation modeling found that a positive sense of Afrocentric appearance significantly predicted increased sexual refusal self-efficacy. Implications of this study in regard to culturally-based teenage pregnancy prevention and education initiatives are discussed.