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Title: Associations Between Father Absence and Age of First Sexual Intercourse
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Mendle, Jane
Harden, K. Paige
Turkheimer, Eric
Van Hulle, Carol A.
D'Onofrio, Brian M.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Rodgers, Joseph Lee
Emery, Robert E.
Lahey, Benjamin B.
Associations Between Father Absence and Age of First Sexual Intercourse
Child Development 80,5 (September/October 2009): 1463-1480.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01345.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Adolescent Sexual Activity; Age at First Intercourse; Family Structure; Fathers, Absence; Genetics; Kinship; Sexual Activity; Siblings

Children raised without a biological father in the household have earlier average ages of first sexual intercourse than children raised in father-present households. Competing theoretical perspectives have attributed this either to effects of father absence on socialization and physical maturation or to nonrandom selection of children predisposed for early sexual intercourse into father-absent households. Genetically informative analyses of the children of sister dyads (N = 1,382, aged 14–21 years) support the selection hypothesis: This association seems attributable to confounded risks, most likely genetic in origin, which correlated both with likelihood of father absence and early sexual behavior. This holds implications for environmental theories of maturation and suggests that previous research may have inadvertently overestimated the role of family structure in reproductive maturation.
Bibliography Citation
Mendle, Jane, K. Paige Harden, Eric Turkheimer, Carol A. Van Hulle, Brian M. D'Onofrio, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Joseph Lee Rodgers, Robert E. Emery and Benjamin B. Lahey. "Associations Between Father Absence and Age of First Sexual Intercourse." Child Development 80,5 (September/October 2009): 1463-1480.