Timing of First Alcohol Use and First Sex in Male and Female Adolescents

We examined associations between timing of first alcohol use and first sexual intercourse in adolescent males and potential differences in observed associations between males and females.

Data were drawn from 4,079 male and 4,059 female participants of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, aged 12-16 years at the first assessment. Cox proportional hazards regression models were estimated predicting age at first sexual intercourse from age at first alcohol use, without and with adjustment for correlated sociodemographic and individual- and family-level risk factors. Analyses were conducted separately for males and females, with interactions between alcohol use and respondent sex (female vs. male) modeled in subsidiary analyses.

Onset of first drink was strongly predictive of earlier sexual intercourse for both males and females, with effects of drinking most pronounced for females during early adolescence.

Results highlight age at first alcohol use as an important predictor of sexual onset in male as well as female adolescents and suggest that effective prevention efforts focusing on delay of sexual intercourse might also focus on delay on alcohol use.