Age Difference Sex

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The “true” self may or may not exist, but our ideals and projections about it sure do.
Is there a right time for a first sexual experience?
Despite the controversies surrounding first-time sex, most young people in the United States become sexually active well before adulthood. According to a 2012 study looking at participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, sexual debut (first sexual experience) is classified as "early" if it occurs before age 15, "normative" if it occurs between 15 and 19, and "late" if it occurs after the age of 19.
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But does the age at which this sexual debut occurs make a difference in terms of later problems or benefits? A new long-term study, reported in this month's issue of Developmental Psychology, highlights the risks and rewards of sexual induction during adolescence and after.
Considering how important one's first sexual experience can be in establishing normal sexual relations and romantic pairings, it's essential that potential risks such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease be recognized. Research consistently shows that adolescents who have a sexual debut before age 15 are less likely to use contraception than those who debut in the normative or late groups. They are also more likely to have a history of substance abuse and emotional problems.
In terms of gender differences, males who are early starters are more likely to be aggressive and prone to antisocial behavior than later starters. Early-starting females, on the other hand, are more prone to depression than late starters, although the difference can fade over time. Males who start early are also more likely to experience less shame and guilt than females do, although both genders usually view first-time sex as a positive experience.
Part of the problem with research into the timing of sexual debuts is that these studies are usually cross-sectional, one-time snapshots that offer no way to determine how early or late sexuality can affect later development. For example, regarding the link between early starters and substance abuse, does the substance use make adolescents more likely to experiment with sex early, or does an early sexual debut make them more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol later? Also, most research in this area usually focuses on early starters and the adverse problems they seem to face. But what about the normative and late-start groups? How do they compare to the early starters?
For that matter, what about the positive aspects of adolescent sex? Although research into adult sexuality identifies a wide range of psychological benefits, including stress relief, good health, and lower mortality, extending this kind of research to adolescents is often controversial. The new study, published in Developmental Psychology, takes a closer look at the positive and negative aspects of first-time sex in adolescents, whether early, normative, or late. Rachel Lynn Golden from the University of Denver and a team of fellow researchers analyzed the experiences of 200 tenth-grade students (100 males and 100 females) carefully selected to ensure that their racial and ethnic distribution matched that of the United States. They were assessed on seven occasions, or "waves," at least one year apart (or 18 months for the later waves).
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Along with standard tests measuring drug use, self-worth, and mental health status, all of the participants completed questionnaires on their dating history, sexual behavior, dating satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction. Participants who were already sexually active by Wave One were questioned about when their sexual debut had occurred. To provide more objective responses, the mother of each participant, and a close friend named by each participant, were asked to evaluate the participant on psychosocial competence, substance abuse, and romantic appeal. (Participants who dropped out of the study before their sexual debut or who were still not sexually active by Wave Seven were dropped from the analysis.)
Results showed that an early sexual debut tends to be associated with higher risk of internalizing symptoms (depression, withdrawal, loneliness), externalizing symptoms (aggression, antisocial behavior), substance abuse, and poor self-worth. Earlier sexual debut was associated with positive benefits as well, including greater romantic appeal, greater sexual satisfaction (for males), and greater dating satisfaction (for males). For females, there seems to be little difference in sexual and dating satisfaction among those reporting early, normative, or late sexual debuts.
The advantage of a longitudinal study is that it allows researchers to follow participants over years to see changes that occur. Although the results of this study matched what has been reported in previous studies—a linkage between early debut and both internalizing and externalizing behavior—the differences between early, normative, and late-debut adolescents largely disappeared by the time of the final wave, five or six years after high school.
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So what do these results suggest? As Golden and her coauthors point out, it isn't clear whether the problems that seem to come with an early introduction to sex are due to the sexual experience itself or to other issues that may influence how young people develop later in life, such as early substance abuse, antisocial behavior, or childhood abuse. Whatever these problems may be, young people with an early sexual debut do "grow out of them" with time.
Having an early sexual debut isn't necessarily all bad. Although young people who begin early tend to have lower feelings of self-worth than those who get a later start, there do seem to be trade-offs—at least for males. Those in the 10th and 12th grades who are early starters tend to have higher levels of romantic appeal and report greater dating and sexual satisfaction. That females don't show similar results may be linked to general beliefs about female sexuality, as well as issues of shame and guilt.
Overall, the results suggest that young people who delay their first sexual experience until they are a little older tend to be better equipped with social skills and are likely to make mature decisions regarding contraception and protection against disease. Sexual-education programs can be made more effective by discussing the results of studies such as this one with young people and letting them make up their own minds about when to make a sexual debut.
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While there are limits to what can be learned from this kind of research, the results still provide important information on a subject that continues to be a political hot potato in many countries, including the United States. Recognizing that a sexual debut, whether early, normative, or late, can carry both risks and rewards allows young people to make informed choices about what can be one of the most important decisions of their lives.
Romeo Vitelli, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Toronto, Canada.
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The “true” self may or may not exist, but our ideals and projections about it sure do.

November/December 2002 Pages 304 - 309
Christine E. Kaestle,University of North Carolina
Donald E. Morisky,Department of Community Health Sciences
Dorothy J. Wiley,University of California, Los Angeles
First published online: November 1, 2002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1363/3430402
CONTEXT: The age difference between a female and her partner may influence relationship dynamics in ways that put the female at increased risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Very little is known, however, about how romantic involvement progresses to intercourse, particularly among adolescent females with older male partners.
METHODS: Data from 1,975 female participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed using logistic regression to determine whether the age difference between an adolescent female and her romantic partner is a risk factor for sexual intercourse.
RESULTS: Adolescent females involved with an older partner have higher odds of having intercourse with that partner than females with partners their own age, after adjustment for demographic covariates. The magnitude of this association is most dramatic among the youngest females—for example, the odds of intercourse among 13-year-old females with a partner six years older are more than six times the odds among 13-year-old females with a same-age partner (odds ratio, 6.4), while 17-year-old females with partners six years older have about twice the odds of intercourse when compared with those who have a same-age partner (2.1).
CONCLUSIONS: Young adolescent females with substantially older partners are much more likely than their peers to have sex with their partner, which exposes them to the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2002, 34(6):304-305
Researchers and policymakers have focused concern and attention on adolescent females who have romantic relationships with older males. The age difference between a female and her partner may influence relationship dynamics in ways that put the female at greater risk of both unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). However, our current understanding of the role of age gaps in romantic relationships is limited, and it is based mainly on studies of couples who are already sexually active. We address this limitation by investigating how the age difference between partners is related to whether a romantic relationship includes sexual intercourse.
Having an older partner is associated with early sexual debut. In a survey of sixth graders, students who reported ever having had a boyfriend or girlfriend at least two years older had more than 30 times the odds of those who had never had a boyfriend or girlfriend of having had sex. The survey, however, did not specify whether sex had occurred with the older partner, and results did not differ between students with an older partner and those with a same-age partner.1 Age gaps between partners also influence contraceptive use: An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) showed that adolescents with a sexual partner who was older by more than two years had a reduced likelihood of using condoms.2
Females have a higher risk than males of contracting STDs during sexual intercourse with an infected partner, and the health risks associated with an unplanned pregnancy are borne by females. For these and other reasons, many studies of the effect of age difference on sexual behavior have focused on the experiences of adolescent and young adult women.3 For example, Darroch and colleagues examined data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and found that the pregnancy rate for females whose sexual partners were older by six or more years was 3.7 times the rate for females whose partners were within two years of their age.4 Using data from the same survey, Glei found that females aged 15-17 whose partner was three or more years older were 33% less likely than those with partners closer in age to use contraceptives; in contrast, among females 18 and older, having an older partner had little effect on contraceptive use.5
Two studies have investigated the association between age difference and aspects of females' sexual debut. Abma and colleagues used 1995 NSFG data to examine partner age difference in the context of measuring "wantedness" of first intercourse. Their findings suggested that wantedness is inversely related to the age difference between a young woman and her partner, and that it may be related to her limited control over the situation.6 Furthermore, Leitenberg and Saltzman found that among females who had had first sexual intercourse at ages 11-12, those who had a partner five or more years their senior had an elevated risk of attempted suicide, substance abuse and pregnancy. Among females who had had first intercourse between the ages of 13 and 15, having older partners was associated only with truancy. In contrast, among females whose age at first intercourse was 16-18, having older partners was not linked to these negative outcomes. Thus, adverse effects of partner age difference may lessen as females mature.7
Particular demographic characteristics are associated with sexual behavior among adolescents and may be associated differentially with age gap between a female and her romantic partner.8 To better understand the link between age gap and sexual intercourse, to adjust for confounding and to examine how relationships among adolescents may be influenced by demographic characteristics, we considered age, race and ethnicity, religion and family characteristics in analyses of a nationally representative sample of American adolescent females who had a romantic partner.
Add Health is a probability-based, nationally representative survey of U.S. adolescents who were enrolled in grades 7-12 in the 1994-1995 school year.9 Participants completed an in-home questionnaire that asked for demographic information, as well as information about health behaviors, community characteristics and health status. The first wave of Add Health was conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is described in detail elsewhere.10
We used the publicly available version of results from the first wave of Add Health, which contained data on 6,504 adolescents and 2,801 variables.11 Of a total of 3,356 female respondents, 2,131 indicated that they had had a male romantic partner, defined as the first male that the respondent listed when asked, "In the last 18 months have you had a special romantic relationship with anyone?"* Older females were more likely to report a romantic relationship: For example, 80% of females who were 17 or older reported a romantic partner, compared with 65% of those aged 15-16 and 45% of those aged 14 or younger.
Complete data for the variables that were relevant to our study were available for 1,975 females who reported having had a male romantic partner. Of the 156 females excluded because of incomplete records, 53% had missing data on religion, mother's education or partner's age; for the remainder, we could not estimate the age at which the romantic relationship began. Excluded females for whom we could estimate this age tended to be slightly younger than females in the study group (mean age, 14.3 vs. 14.7). However, the age gaps between excluded females and their partners were no different from those between study group respondents and their partners.
The outcome of interest, which we treated as a dichotomous variable, was whether a respondent had had intercourse with her romantic partner. Reports of intercourse were verified by analyzing responses to the question "When you had sexual intercourse with [your partner], did he insert his penis into your vagina?"
The main independent variable of interest was the difference in age between a respondent and her male partner, which we treated as a continuous variable (coded in single years). We estimated the respondent's age at the start of the romantic relationship by calculating the interval between the month and year of her birth and the month and year during which the relationship began. We then calculated the difference between a respondent's age and the age of the partner (as reported by the respondent); a positive value indicated an older male partner, and a negative value a younger partner.
Other covariates that we examined were the respondent's age at the start of the romantic relationship (coded in single years), her race or ethnicity (coded as white, black, Hispanic or other), her religious affiliation (coded as Baptist, Catholic, none or other), her mother's educational level (whether the mother had graduated from college) and whether a "mother figure" lived in her home at the time of the interview. For these analyses, the definition of a mother or mother figure was not confined to the respondent's biological mother. Although of interest to us, it was not feasible to directly estimate socioeconomic status from questionnaire data; information about household income was often missing.
We used STATA version 6 to adjust for the clustered sample design and to standardize demographic estimates of adolescents to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, as recommended by the Carolina Population Center.12 We used maximum likelihood multivariate logistic regression to model the relationship between partner age gap and the odds that a respondent had had intercourse with her partner, as well as to adjust odds ratios for the effects of demographic covariates.13 The cutoff level for significance was taken as p<.05.
When a female begins a relationship with a new partner, the relationship may either progress to sexual intercourse or end before the couple has engaged in intercourse. Some respondents, however, reported an ongoing romantic relationship. Although intercourse might not have occurred by the interview date, it may have done so after the study, thereby censoring data for these relationships. In addition, because respondents may have been likely to list their current relationship first, reporting may have been biased toward ongoing relationships. To explore the effects of these potential biases, we repeated some of our analyses using data from the 993 respondents who reported only relationships that had already ended. In this way, the outcome of their relationship (intercourse or no intercourse) was firmly established.
Most survey respondents were younger than 17 at the start of their relationship, had a partner who was older by 1-5 years, were white and had a resident mother figure who was not a college graduate (Table 1). Respondents' ages at the start of the relationship ranged from seven to 19 years, and their mean and median ages were about 15 years (not shown).
The differences in age between a female and her romantic partner ranged from less than five to more than 28 years. Partners' ages ranged from eight to 44 years, and the mean and median ages were 16-17 years. Nearly 10% of the partners were 20 or older, and 90% were in their teens. Just 7% of adolescent females had a partner who was younger, mostly by one year (not shown). Partnerships with same-age or younger males were less common among females aged 13 or younger than among older females (16% vs. 28-37%—Table 2).
Nearly one-half of respondents (43%) reported having had sexual intercourse with their romantic partner, indicating that having a romantic relationship involves a
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Age Difference Sex