Original article
Developmental relationships between adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior in young adulthood

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00402-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the developmental relationship between adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior in young adulthood.

Methods

A gender-balanced, ethnically diverse urban sample of 808 children in Seattle was surveyed at age 10 years in 1985 and followed prospectively to age 21 years in 1996. Semiparametric group-based modeling was used to determine trajectory groups of binge-drinking, cigarette smoking, marijuana use, and the use of other illicit drugs. Negative binomial regressions and logistic regressions were used to examine whether these trajectory groups predicted the number of sex partners and condom use at age 21 years.

Results

Specific forms of adolescent substance use significantly predicted risky sexual behavior at age 21 years, after other substance use and early measures of sexual behavior were controlled. Early binge-drinkers had significantly more sex partners than nonbinge-drinkers. Late onset binge-drinkers and marijuana users had significantly more sex partners and were less likely to use condoms consistently than those who did not binge drink or use marijuana. Experimenters in cigarette smoking, who did not escalate smoking, were more likely to use condoms consistently than nonsmokers. In contrast, the use of other illicit drugs in adolescence did not predict risky sexual behavior at age 21 years.

Conclusions

The effects of adolescent substance use on risky sexual behavior at age 21 years differed for youths with developmentally different substance use trajectories in this urban sample disproportionately drawn from high crime neighborhoods. To prevent risky sexual behavior among young adults, attention should be paid to binge-drinking and marijuana use during adolescence.

Section snippets

Sample and procedure

The participants in this study are 808 youths who participated in the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP). They were recruited in the fall of 1985 from all fifth-grade students attending 18 Seattle elementary schools serving high-crime neighborhoods (N = 1053). Of these 1053 fifth-grade students, 808 (77%) consented to take part in a longitudinal study. Four-hundred-and-twelve (51%) of the sample were male; 372 (46%) were European-American, 195 (24%) were African-American, 170 (21%) were

Trajectory groups of adolescent substance use

Using SGM procedures, we tested one-group to five-group models of trajectories of binge-drinking and marijuana use; one-group to six-group models of trajectories of cigarette smoking; and one-group to four-group models of trajectories of other illicit drug use. Based on the BIC criterion, as well as a requirement that at least 1% of the sample was included in each trajectory group, a four-group model was selected as the best-fitting model for binge-drinking and marijuana use. A five-group model

Discussion

We identified qualitatively distinct trajectories of adolescent binge-drinking, cigarette smoking, marijuana use, and other illicit drug use using prospective longitudinal data from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP). Overall, these substance use trajectories were found to have unique and significant relationships with risky sexual behavior in young adulthood with the exception of other illicit drug use trajectories. Adolescent binge-drinking trajectories were significantly related

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by research grants #1R03DA13382-01 and #R01DA09679 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Points of view are those of the authors and not the official positions of the funding agencies.

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