Developmental Relations and Patterns of Change Between Alcohol Use and Number of Sexual Partners From Adolescence Through Adulthood

摘要

This study explored two unanswered questions regarding the role of alcohol use in sexual behavior. The first concerns whether alcohol use temporally precedes and predicts changes in sexual behavior assessed as the number of sexual partners, whether the reverse pattern holds, or whether the association reflects a common, external cause. Second, this study assessed whether associations between these behaviors change as adolescents transition to adulthood. These questions were addressed using a bivariate dual change latent difference score model. Drinking frequency and number of yearly sex partners were assessed eight times across a 13-year period in a sample of 553 individuals, beginning in the 9^th grade (age: M = 15.11, SD = 0.43). In addition to an association between the individual growth trajectories of these behaviors, alcohol use was a leading indicator of changes in number of sex partners throughout adolescence, but the reverse pattern was not supported. Importantly, the predictive association could not be explained by individual differences in impulsivity, excitement seeking, conduct problems, hostility/aggression, conventional attitudes, gender, or divorce. Finally, in a developmentally meaningful pattern, alcohol use ceased to significantly predict changes in the number of sexual partners as adolescents transitioned to adulthood.