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Author: Thomson, Elizabeth
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Wu, Lawrence L.
Thomson, Elizabeth
Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation
CDE Working Paper No. 95-26, Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1965.
Also: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu:80/cde/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Center for Demography and Ecology
Keyword(s): Control; Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Structure; Fathers, Biological; Sexual Activity; Sexual Experiences/Virginity; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper, we examine effects of family structure on age at entry into first sexual intercourse prior to marriage for recent cohorts of women. Previous research on the link age between family structure and sexual initiation has employed relatively crude measures of family structure, typically a snapshot of the respondent's family structure at age 14. We use retrospective parent histories from the 1979-87 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to construct dynamic measures of family structure using information on the numbers and types of parents in the responden t's household between birth and age 18. These measures allow us to adjudicate between hypotheses on the effects of prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, prolonged absence of a biological father, parental control during adolescence, and instability in family structure. We find no effect, net of other family effects, of being born out-of-wedlock, prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, or prolonged absence of a biological father on age at first sexual intercourse. Our results are, however, consistent with effects predicted by an instability hypothesis and a variant of the parental control hypothesis that stresses the role of fathers. See also, IRP Discussion Paper Abstracts - 1998, on-line
Bibliography Citation
Wu, Lawrence L. and Elizabeth Thomson. "Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation." CDE Working Paper No. 95-26, Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1965.
2. Wu, Lawrence L.
Thomson, Elizabeth
Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation
Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Structure; Fathers, Biological; Sexual Activity; Sexual Experiences/Virginity; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper, we examine effects of family structure on age at entry into first sexual intercourse prior to marriage for recent cohorts of women. Previous research on the link age between family structure and sexual initiation has employed relatively crude measures of family structure, typically a snapshot of the respondent's family structure at age 14. We use retrospective parent histories from the 1979-87 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to construct dynamic measures of family structure using information on the numbers and types of parents in the respondent's household between birth and age 18. These measures allow us to adjudicate between hypotheses on the effects of prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, prolonged absence of a biological father, parental control during adolescence, and instability in family structure. We find no effect, net of other family effects, of being born out-of-wedlock, prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, or prolonged absence of a biological father on age at first sexual intercourse. Our results are, however, consistent with effects predicted by an instability hypothesis and a variant of the parental control hypothesis that stresses the role of fathers.
Bibliography Citation
Wu, Lawrence L. and Elizabeth Thomson. "Family Change and Early Sexual Initiation." Presented: Washington, DC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 1995.
3. Wu, Lawrence L.
Thomson, Elizabeth
Race Differences in Family Experience and Early Sexual Initiation: Dynamic Models of Family Structure and Family Change
Journal of Marriage and Family 63,3 (August 2001): 682-696.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00682.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Age at First Intercourse; Attitudes; Children; Divorce; Family Structure; Fathers, Biological; Fathers, Presence; Neighborhood Effects; Parental Influences; Parents, Single; Racial Differences; Risk-Taking; Sexual Activity; Sexual Experiences/Virginity; Turbulence

We examine the effects of family structure on age at first sexual intercourse before marriage for a recent cohort of women. Previous research on the linkage between family structure and sexual initiation has employed relatively crude measures of family structure-typically a snapshot of the respondent's family structure at age 14. We use retrospective parent histories from the 1979-1987 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to construct dynamic measures of family structure, using information on the number and types of parents in the respondent's household between birth and age 18. We use these measures in proportional hazard models to test the effects of prolonged exposure to a single-mother-family, prolonged absence of a biological father, parental presence during adolescence, and family turbulence. For White women, age-specific rates of first sexual intercourse are significantly and positively associated with the number of family transitions; for Black women, age-specific rates are significantly and positively associated with having resided in a mother-only or father-only family during adolescence. Net of other effects of family structure, we find no significant effects for White or Black women of being born out of wedlock, prolonged exposure to a single-mother family, or prolonged absence of a biological father. Our results for White women are consistent with a turbulence hypothesis, whereas for Black women our results suggest the importance of family structure during adolescence. For neither White nor Black women are our results consistent with hypotheses positing earlier initiation of sexual activity for women with prolonged exposure to a single-mother or father-absent family.
Bibliography Citation
Wu, Lawrence L. and Elizabeth Thomson. "Race Differences in Family Experience and Early Sexual Initiation: Dynamic Models of Family Structure and Family Change." Journal of Marriage and Family 63,3 (August 2001): 682-696.