Citation

Knowles A, Rinehart JK, Steinberg L, Frick PJ, Cauffman E. J. Res. Adolesc. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of California, Irvine.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jora.12499

PMID

30983069

Abstract

The current study evaluates two predictors of adolescent sexual risk-taking, specifically whether impulse control or future expectations predict condom use and casual sex. We examine whether risky sex occurs among youth who tend to act without thinking about the future, or instead, youth who report low future expectations. We consider these relations longitudinally among a sample of sexually active justice-involved adolescent males (N = 752, M age = 15.58) a group at heightened risk for sexual risk-taking. We found that optimistic expectations for the future predict a higher likelihood of engaging in consistent condom use, whereas high impulse control is related to a lower likelihood of casual sex. Implications for intervention and research on positive sexual health are discussed.

© 2019 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Language: en