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Adolescents’ Sexual Initiation: The Interaction of Race/Ethnicity and Immigrant Status

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Abstract

This paper provides an in-depth examination of the joint effects of race/ethnicity and immigrant status on adolescents’ intercourse risk. We employ a sample of 4,535 females and 3,759 males from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS 88/94) who were followed for 6 years beginning in the eighth grade. We use discrete-time logistic regression models to estimate the associations of race/ethnicity and immigrant generational status with first intercourse hazard, and to evaluate the statistical interactions between race/ethnicity and immigrant status. Overall, Asian and Hispanic girls had lower and non-Hispanic Black girls had higher estimated risks relative to non-Hispanic White girls. Hispanic boys and White non-Hispanic boys had similar intercourse risks, but Black boys had higher and Asian boys lower relative risks. However, these patterns are contingent on immigrant status. Among girls, the protective effects of Asian or Hispanic identity are found only among second generation youth. Risk profiles for boys are more complex: being a third-plus generation Hispanic is associated with a higher risk while an Asian identity is associated with a lower risk only among first- and second-generation youth. These findings confirm the importance of accounting for the overlap between race/ethnicity and immigrant status in models of adolescent behavior. As the demographic diversity of the US population grows, researchers must include both race/ethnicity and immigrant status in their models of adolescent behavior.

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Notes

  1. Respondents who identified as non-Hispanic Black or White were not asked about their ethnic background, but information on language used at home sheds some light on the ethnic origins of Black and White immigrants. More than half (56%) of Black immigrants reported living with French speakers, suggesting Haitian or West African origins. The ethnic origins of White immigrant youth are more difficult to pin down: Among White immigrant respondents, the modal language category (23%) was “unspecified”; specific languages mentioned by the White respondents included Italian, French, German, Greek, Polish, and Portuguese.

  2. The less advantaged position of immigrant families generally holds across race/ethnic groups. In our sample, for example, both Hispanic and Asian immigrants are over-represented in the lowest-income households. Asians are somewhat better off in that a greater proportion report having a college-educated parent.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported, in part, by grants T32 NRSA-NIA AG000155-18 & 19 (Demography of Aging and the Life Course) and T32 NRSA-NICHD HD07168-30 (Population and Health). We would like to thank Kathryn Harker Tillman, John Reynolds, Lori Reid and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and advice.

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  1. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 123 W. Franklin St., CB #8120, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516-2524, USA

    Naomi J. Spence

  2. Department of Sociology, Center for Demography and Population Health, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2240, USA

    Karin L. Brewster

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Correspondence to Naomi J. Spence.

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Spence, N.J., Brewster, K.L. Adolescents’ Sexual Initiation: The Interaction of Race/Ethnicity and Immigrant Status. Popul Res Policy Rev 29, 339–362 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-009-9147-4

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