Low school engagement and sexual behaviors among African American youth: Examining the influences of gender, peer norms, and gang involvement

Abstract

This research examined whether negative peer influences (i.e., norms favoring risky sex and drug use and gang involvement) mediated the relationship between school engagement (i.e., grade point averages [GPAs] obtained from school records and student–teacher connectedness) and sexual behaviors (i.e., sexual début, sex without condoms, group sex, and sex while using drugs) among African American high school adolescents, and whether these relationships varied by gender. Five hundred sixty-three high school adolescents (ages 13 to 19) completed self-administered questionnaires that assessed school engagement markers, peer influences, sexual début, and risky sex. Major findings for boys indicate that GPA was negatively associated with both sexual début and risky sex. Additionally, the relationship between student–teacher connectedness and risky sex was mediated by gang involvement. For girls, higher GPAs were associated with fewer norms favoring risky sex and drug use and such norms were associated with sexual début. Moreover, the relationships between GPA, sexual début and risky sex was mediated by risky peer norms. Intervention programs to delay sexual début and reduce risky sex among youths should attend to the gendered ways through which such behaviors occur.