Correlates of Time to Sexual Debut in 15--19-Year-Olds in the Jamaica Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey 2006: A Survival Analysis

• Activity Number: 490
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2016 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): Tamika Royal-Thomas* and Novie Younger-Coleman and Jan Van den Broeck and Debajyoti Sinha and Daniel McGee and Shelly McFarlane and Damian Francis and Rainford Wilks
• Companies: University of the West Indies and University of the West Indies and University of Bergen and Florida State University and Florida State University and University of the West Indies and University of the West Indies and University of the West Indies
• Keywords: Cox proportional hazards model ; Survival analysis ; Resiliency ; Age at first sexual encounter ; Martingale residuals ; Schoenfeld residuals

Abstract

Myriad risk factors are associated with early onset of sexual encounter in youth. The community based, Jamaica Youth Risk and Resiliency Behaviour Survey 2006 data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models to assess association of resiliency and connectedness to parents with early sexual debut in 1317 adolescents aged 15-19 years. Resiliency, defined as any characteristic that protects persons from engaging in risky behavior such as unsafe sexual activity, violence and marijuana use, was for this study, measured by the teens' connectedness to parents and awareness of an adult inside or outside the home who had high expectations of them. Cox proportional hazards models, stratified by sex, quantified associations between the resiliency and connectedness factors and time to first sexual encounter with adjustments for confounders, namely, socioeconomic status, alcohol and marijuana use. Model adequacy was assessed using the Schoenfeld and Martingale residuals tests which indicated that the model assumptions were satisfied. Results suggested that smoking marijuana and resiliency due to high expectations outside the home are significant correlates of early sexual debut.