Reported sexual behaviors and self-esteem among young adolescents

Six hundred seventy-seven adolescents in grades 7 through 9 of a blue-collar, midwestern junior high school responded to a survey of sexual behavior and self-esteem. The focus of this study was on the relationship between sexual experience and self-esteem. Fifty-five percent of the students reported having had at least one coital experience; 7% reported having intercourse about once a week. The proportion of sexually experienced adolescents increased with age; 28% of 12-year-olds, 52.7% of 13-year-olds, 60.1% of 14-year-olds, 73.6% of 15-year-olds, and 90% of 16-year-olds reported having intercourse on at least one occasion. More boys of all ages were sexually active than girls. Six percent of students had had, or were suspicious of having had, a sexually transmitted disease; 7.8% were involved in a pregnancy. The average of the self-esteem scores for girls was significantly lower than the average for boys. There was an interaction effect between gender and coital history for self-esteem. Girls who reported having had intercourse had lower self-esteem scores than those who did not. On the other hand, self-esteem of sexually experienced and inexperienced boys did not differ, nor did self-esteem of virginal boys and girls. Boys and girls with a history of sexually transmitted diseases had lower self-esteem than all others. Pregnancy, on the other hand, did not seem to affect self-esteem of the sexually experienced adolescents. This cross-sectional study does not permit determination of whether the lower average self-esteem among certain girls was antecedent to or a consequence of sexual experience.