Smart teens don’t have sex (or kiss much either)

doi:10.1016/S1054-139X(99)00061-0

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 26, Issue 3, March 2000, Pages 213-225

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(99)00061-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the relationship between an intelligence measure and a wide spectrum of partnered sexual activity ranging from holding hands to sexual intercourse among adolescents.

Method: Analyses are based on two separate samples of adolescents. The core sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) includes approximately 12,000 adolescents enrolled in the 7th to 12th grades. The Biosocial Factors in Adolescent Development projects followed approximately 100 white males and 200 black and white females over 3- and 2-year periods, respectively. Both studies used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) as an intelligence measure, and confidential self-reports of sexual activity. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between PPVT scores and coital status in Add Health data; proportional hazard models were used to examine the timing of initiation of noncoital and coital activities as a function of PPVT scores in the Biosocial Factors sample.

Results: Controlling for age, physical maturity, and mother’s education, a significant curvilinear relationship between intelligence and coital status was demonstrated; adolescents at the upper and lower ends of the intelligence distribution were less likely to have sex. Higher intelligence was also associated with postponement of the initiation of the full range of partnered sexual activities. An expanded model incorporating a variety of control and mediator variables was tested to identify mechanisms by which the relationship operates.

Conclusions: Higher intelligence operates as a protective factor against early sexual activity during adolescence, and lower intelligence, to a point, is a risk factor. More systematic investigation of the implications of individual differences in cognitive abilities for sexual activities and of the processes that underlie those activities is warranted.

Section snippets

Sample descriptions and general data collection sequences

To examine both coital and noncoital behavior, we rely on two separate samples of adolescents. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) (22) collected two waves of data, separated by about a year, on approximately 12,000 adolescents (core sample) enrolled in the 7th to 12th grades. The Biosocial Factors in Adolescent Development projects (Biosocial Factors) 23, 24 followed approximately 100 white males, and 200 black and white females over a 3- and 2-year period,

Add health—coital status

First, we report the basic relationship between AHPVT scores and coital status at Wave I in the Add Health data. Because patterns of adolescent sexual activity vary by gender, age, and race, we tested whether the relationship between AHPVT scores and coital status was moderated by these factors. There were statistically significant interactions between the linear and squared AHPVT terms and biological sex, and between age and AHPVT scores. Interactions with race were not significant. To explore

Discussion

Based on data from a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents, we found a significant curvilinear relationship between intelligence, as measured by the AHPVT, and coital status. Controlling for age, pubertal development, and mother’s education, adolescents who are at the upper and lower ends of the AHPVT distribution (i.e., ±1 standard deviation or more) are less likely to have had sex. This relationship does not vary by race, but the shape of the relationship does vary by age.

Acknowledgements

The Biosocial Factors in Adolescent Development projects were supported by Research Grant HD12806 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to JRU, a center grant from NICHD to the Carolina Population Center (HD05798), and a Clinical Research Unit Grant (RR00046) from the National Institutes of Health. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was designed by JRU (PI) and Peter Bearman, and was funded by Grant PO1-HD31921 from NICHD to the Carolina

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Original ArticlesSmart teens don’t have sex (or kiss much either)

Abstract

Section snippets

Sample descriptions and general data collection sequences

Add health—coital status

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Structure of problem behavior in adolescence and young adulthood

J Consult Clin Psychol

Linkages between sexual activity and alcohol and drug use among American adolescents

Fam Plann Perspect

The onset and cross-temporal patterning of sexual intercourse in middle adolescenceProspective relations with behavioral and emotional problems

Child Dev

Adolescent sexual behavior, pregnancy, and parentingResearch through the 1980s

J Marr Fam

Toward a More Perfect UnionBasic Skills, Poor Families, and Our Economic Future

The g FactorThe Science of Mental Ability

Socioeconomic status, IQ, and delinquency

J Abnorm Psychol

The Bell CurveIntelligence and Class Structure in American Life

Sexual behavior and nonsexual devianceA sibling study of their relationship

Dev Psychol