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Perceived Physical Maturity, Age of Romantic Partner, and Adolescent Risk Behavior

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Abstract

Early pubertal timing and advanced physical maturity for age confer elevated risk for problem behaviors for both boys and girls. However, examinations of possible biological and social mediators have been limited. Using more than 4,000 adolescents under age 15 who participated in Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we examined the relationship between perceived physical maturity and membership in risk behavior clusters, and tested whether having a romantic partner mediates the maturity/risk behavior relationship. Results of multinomial regression models indicated that for both boys and girls, advanced physical maturity was associated with membership in higher risk clusters, and that having a romantic partner plays an important mediating role in this association. For females, the additional impact of having an older partner, versus any partner at all, was substantial and particularly important for the highest risk clusters. The role of partner age could not be tested for males. Because romantic partners elevate risk for young adolescent males and females, there is a need to identify and understand facets and developmental functions of adolescent romantic relationships that play a role in substance use and sexual decisions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (R01-DA14496, Denise Dion Hallfors, PI). We appreciate the additional programming support from Aubrey Spriggs in the Department of Maternal & Child Health, UNC-CH. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth/contract.html).

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Correspondence to Carolyn Tucker Halpern.

Appendix: Cluster names and description of defining behavioral patterns

Appendix: Cluster names and description of defining behavioral patterns

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Halpern, C.T., Kaestle, C.E. & Hallfors, D.D. Perceived Physical Maturity, Age of Romantic Partner, and Adolescent Risk Behavior. Prev Sci 8, 1–10 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-006-0046-1

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