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Birth Order and First Sexual Experience: Do Siblings Influence Sexual Debut in Adolescents?

Pasqualini, M; Sacker, A; McMunn, A; (2021) Birth Order and First Sexual Experience: Do Siblings Influence Sexual Debut in Adolescents? Archives of Sexual Behavior 10.1007/s10508-021-01979-w. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Birth order may foster specific roles for individuals within the family and set in train a dynamic that influences the development of specific behaviors. In this paper, we explored the relationship between birth order, sex, timing of sexual initiation, and its consequences for risky sexual behavior and sexual health. We conducted a path analysis to simultaneously estimate direct and indirect effects using data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL-3). Whereas women born as only-children were more likely to sexually debut at later ages, middle-child boys were significantly more prone to initiate sexual intercourse earlier compared with first-borns. As expected, early sexual initiation was associated with riskier behaviors and sexual health outcomes. These associations were partially moderated by siblings role as confidants about sexuality. Our findings have implications for preventive programs aimed at promoting healthy sexual debuts and behaviors over the life span.

Type: Article
Title: Birth Order and First Sexual Experience: Do Siblings Influence Sexual Debut in Adolescents?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-021-01979-w
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01979-w
Language: English
Additional information: © 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Adolescent sexual behaviors, Birth order, Child siblings, Family relations, Structural equation model
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10121554
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