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THE IMPACT OF FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FAMILY PROCESS
ON ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR: RACE AND GENDER
VARIATIONS
by
Thomas I-Ping Lo
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(SOCIOLOGY)
December 2007
Copyright 2007 Thomas I-Ping Lo
Object Description
| Title | The impact of family structure and family process on adolescent sexual behavior: race and gender variations |
| Author | Lo, Thomas I-Ping |
| Author email | loiping@hotmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Sociology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2007-08-21 |
| Date submitted | 2007 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2007-10-01 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Ransford, H. Edward |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Biblarz, Timothy J. Silverstein, Merril |
| Abstract | Using the 1994-1995 National Study of Adolescent Health dataset, I conducted two investigations on the impact of family structure and family influences on sexual activity for white, black, Hispanic, and Asian adolescents. The first investigation determined the best explanation (family transitions, parental supervision, parental attitudes, family support, and peer influence) for the relationships between non-traditional households (unwedded mother, divorced/separated mother, and stepparent households) and sexual activity. The second investigation determined which of these explanations are either directly or indirectly associated with sexual activity. These analyses were conducted on the total sample and within gender, race, and race-gender subgroups.; Initially, parental attitudes, parental supervision, and family transition explanations best mediated the unwedded, divorced/separated, and stepparent household effects respectively, although they only provided a partial explanation for the relationship. Within gender subgroups, similar results were found except that the stepparent household effect for males is fully explained by the family transition explanation. Within adolescent's race and race-gender subgroups, the best explanation varied by family configuration and subgroup contexts.; Experiencing family transitions, mother-child activities, mother-child problem and sex discussions, parental meal presence and strictness, mother's religiosity and disapproval of adolescent sexuality, family support, and acquaintance with deviant peers were associated with sexual activity for the total sample. Gender analyses revealed similar results except that the family support effect for females is significantly stronger than for males.; The second investigation found that mother-child problem discussions and sex discussions, mother's disapproval of adolescent sexuality, family support, and acquaintance with deviant peers are directly associated with adolescent activity while family transition, mother's religiosity, mother-child activities, and parental strictness are indirectly associated with sexual activity. Indirect relationships were only found for white males and females.; Important findings include 1) unwedded mother and two biological parent households share many similar characteristics, 2) contrary to the literature, sexual activity risk was no greater for some non-traditional households than two parent households and 3) parental monitoring variables were not while parental interaction variables were associated with sexual activity. Policy and counseling recommendations are suggested based on these findings. This study demonstrated that the family structure-adolescent sexual activity relationship is highly contextualized for each non-traditional household. |
| Keyword | adolescent; sexuality; family structure; family influence; family process; race; gender |
| Coverage date | 1994/1995 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m838 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Lo, Thomas I-Ping |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Lo-20071001 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume51/etd-Lo-20071001.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | THE IMPACT OF FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FAMILY PROCESS ON ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR: RACE AND GENDER VARIATIONS by Thomas I-Ping Lo A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOCIOLOGY) December 2007 Copyright 2007 Thomas I-Ping Lo |
