Parental and Adolescent Religiosity
Karen Christoffel Flowers
The relationship between parental and adolescent religiosity factors and adolescent sexual risk-taking among older adolescents in the Anglophone/Latin Caribbean
Problem. Sexually active youth across the Anglophone/Latin Caribbean have been identified as among the most-at-risk for HIV infection. Studies conducted in the United States have identified parental and religiosity factors associated with adolescent sexual risk-taking, but these relationships remain largely unexplored in the Caribbean region. -- Method. This cross-sectional study, based on survey data generated by the Seventh-day Adventist Caribbean Youth Survey, investigated the relationship between parental and adolescent religiosity factors and sexual at-risk behaviors reported by adolescents ages 16-18 years attending Seventh-day Adventist Church-operated secondary schools across the region. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the significance and strength of these factors as predictors of adolescent sexual risk-taking, alone and together as a set of predictors. Predetermined criteria for statistical significance and explanatory power were used to evaluate the usefulness of each predictor in prediction model-building for specific sexual at-risk behaviors. -- Results. Five predictors achieved statistical significance in relation to one or more sexual at-risk behaviors and met established levels of predictive strength required for inclusion in a prediction model. Parental monitoring was the most consistent overall predictor of adolescent sexual risk-taking, and parental disapproval of adolescent sex the strongest, contributing 22% to explained variance in a prediction model for recent sexual partnering. The increased presence of all these predictors was consistently related to reduced levels of sexual risk-taking. The other five predictors investigated did not demonstrate sufficient explanatory power to be considered useful as model components. The prediction model for number of sexual partners in the last three months, comprised of parental disapproval of adolescent sex, parental monitoring, and importance ascribed to religion, was the strongest, explaining 39% of the variance. The prediction model for sexual experience, comprised of parental disapproval of adolescent sex, parental monitoring, and SDA Church affiliation, explained 25% of the variance. The model for predicting lifetime number of sexual partners, explaining 17% of the variance, included parental disapproval of adolescent sex, parental monitoring, and father connectedness. The prediction model for timing of sexual debut explained 6% of the variance and was comprised of father connectedness and parental monitoring.