An Ecological, Risk-Factor Examination of Adolescents' Sexual Activity in Three Ethnic Groups

DANIEL F. PERKINS University of Florida This study examines the extent to which the ecological, risk-factor approach for studying sexual activity in samples of mostly European Americans is useful for explaining adolescent sexual activity in three ethnic groups. We hypothesized that as exposure to risk factors increased, so would the likelihood of sexual activity in all the ethnic groups. Ethnic and gender differences in the relationship between risk factors and sexual activity were also examined. We found significant risk factors at all three levels of the social ecology. There was little support for the notion that risk factors predicting sexual activity differ among the ethnic groups, although we found a few gender differences. The results of these analyses highlight similarities among the three ethnic groups. Key Words: adolescents, African Americans, ecological perspective, Latinos, risk factors, sexual activity. Small and Luster (1994) proposed an ecological, risk-factor model for understanding why some teens are sexually active and others are not. Central to this model is the concept of cumulative risk, which posits that as exposure to risk factors increases, the probability of becoming sexually active also increases. The model also proposes that the risks adolescents are exposed to can be organized into four categories representing different aspects of the adolescent's ecology: (a) individual characteristics, such as low academic ability; (b) family factors, such as low levels of parental monitoring; (c) extrafamilial factors, such as low attachment to the school, living in economically distressed neighborhoods, and being pressured by peers to engage in risk-taking behaviors; and (d) macrosystem influences, such as cultural values, media messages about sexuality, and public policies to reduce rates of teenage pregnancies (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1989; Small & Luster, 1994). In a study with an ethnically diverse sample (51 % European American) from a community in the Southwestern United States, Small and Luster (1994) found initial support for this model. However, differences among ethnic groups were not examined in that study. Only 1% of female adolescents who were exposed to zero risk factors were sexually active, compared with 80% of those who were exposed to eight or more risk factors. Among male adolescents, 15% of those exposed to zero risk factors were sexually active, and 93% of those with scores of five or more risk factors were sexually active. A discriminant analysis showed that significant risk factors for sexual activity were found at all levels of the social ecology that were examined (i.e., individual, family, extrafamilial contexts) for both males and females. Similar results were obtained with a European American sample from Wisconsin (Small & Luster, 1990). This study utilizes Small and Luster's conceptual model to examine factors related to sexual activity among adolescents from three ethnic groups-African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans. Because the model has been tested primarily with samples of European American adolescents, of particular interest to us was the usefulness of this model for predicting sexual activity among African American and Latino adolescents. Also of interest was whether or not the same risk factors were associated with sexual activity in each of the three ethnic groups. Although the risk factors associated with sexual activity may be similar across ethnic groups, we were hesitant to assume, a priori, that no differences would be found in the predictors of sexual activity across ethnic groups, given the diverse experiences of different sociocultural groups in the U.S. Relatively little research has compared factors related to sexual activity across all three ethnic groups, and the research that has compared two or more of these three groups has not produced consistent results. Our particular interest in testing the ecological, risk-factor model on African American and Latino adolescents was prompted by a number of findings. …