Een onderzoek naar het verband tussen peers en seksuele ervaring van adolescenten

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to find out the influence of peers on the sexual experience of adolescents. This influence is divided into four concepts; expected sexual attitudes of friends, perceptions of the sexual experience of friends, communication about sexuality with friends and peer pressure. Method: Data was conducted from a large-scale longitudinal research on the sexual and relational development of adolescents in the Netherlands. The sample is partially random and consists of 1297 adolescents, aged 11 to 18 years. A regression analysis was applied to test if the four independent variables are related to adolescent sexual experience. A moderation analysis was applied to test whether there are differences between boys and girls in every relation. Results: All four concepts showed a correlation with sexual experience, in which the perceptions of the sexual experience of friends and communication about sexuality with friends were most important. No differences between boys and girls were found, except for the relation between communication about sexual experience with friends and actual sexual experience. Conclusions: Peers have a major influence on the sexual behaviors of adolescents. Implications for further research are discussed.