Teenagers’ Sexual Identity May Not Reflect Behavior; Both Are Linked to Risk

Abstract

Teenage women’s sexual identity frequently does not mesh with their sexual behavior, and as analyses of data from the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey show, both identity and behavior are independently related to the likelihood of risky outcomes among young women. Lesbians and bisexual women reporting any male partners had an elevated likelihood of having been pregnant, and participants reporting sexual experience with women were more likely than others to have had four or more partners. Sexual coercion was the most consistent predictor of risk outcomes. While acknowledging several study limitations, the analysts say that their findings show that adolescents whose sexual identities or behaviors "place them outside the heterosexual majority" are at increased risk of unhealthy outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)