PEDIATRICS Vol. 93 No. 4 April 1994, pp. 570-575
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A Comparison of Risky Health Behaviors of Sexually Active, Sexually Abused, and Abstaining Adolescents

Stephen Nagy PhD1, Anthony G. Adcock HSD2, and M. Christine Nagy PhD3

1 College of Education, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
2 Department of Health Education, Troy State University
3 Health Research Consulting Service, College of Community Health Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Objective. To report on rates of sexual abuse among a normative sample of adolescents and identify psychosocial correlates associated with sexual abuse.

Method. An anonymous self-report survey examining an array of psychosocial items to which 3448 grade 8 and 10 students from rural and metropolitan school districts in a southern state responded.

Results. There was a 105 rate of sexual abuse among this normative sample. Victims of forced sex were disproportionately female and African-American, and were more likely to reside in single-parent households. These sexually abused girls reported significantly higher levels of risky health behaviors and risky attitudes on 11 (P < .001) of the 12 comparisons. Sexually abused boys showed a similar pattern on eight (P < .001) comparisons.

Conclusions. Indications are that forced sex experiences are associated strongly with risky health behaviors in some adolescents, which should alert clinicians to the possibility of sexual abuse.

Submitted on May 18, 1993
Accepted on August 27, 1993




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