Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

First Advisor

Wyndol Furman, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Julia Dmitrieva

Third Advisor

Benjamin Hankin

Fourth Advisor

Bruce Pennington

Fifth Advisor

Maria Riva

Keywords

Adolescence, Attachment, Emerging adulthood, Hierarchical linear modeling, Romantic relationships, Sexual behavior

Abstract

The prevalence of early sexual behavior places many youth at risk for unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay among romantic styles, relationship qualities, and sexual behavior at both the within-person and between-person levels. Frequencies of light nongenital, heavy nongenital, and genital sexual behavior were examined as well as risky sexual behavior. 200 young people from a community sample were assessed at six time points from ages 15 through 21. Avoidant styles were associated with less frequent sexual behavior at both within- and between-person levels, and with more risky sexual behavior at the between-person level. Support and more frequent sexual behavior were significantly associated at the within-person level, and gender moderated associations between support and sexual behavior at the between-person level. Participants who reported more negative interactions in comparison with their peers reported more frequent and more risky sexual behavior. Only avoidant styles exhibited a similar pattern of between-person and within-person associations with sexual behavior, suggesting that styles and qualities may operate at either or both levels depending on the construct in question. Associations among styles, qualities and sexual behavior may also depend on how sexual behavior is measured.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Meredith Cerian Joppa

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

75 p.

Discipline

Clinical psychology, Developmental psychology, Psychology

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