TY - JOUR
T1 - Adolescents' sexual behavior and academic attainment
AU - Frisco, Michelle L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author acknowledges the support of the Penn State Population Research Institute and several funders, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the National Science Foundation (REC0126167, principal investigator Chandra Muller); the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (R01 HD40428-02, principal investigator Chandra Muller, and R01-HD050144, principal investigator Gary Sandefur); and the Career Development Program in Women's Health Research at Penn State (K 12HD055882, principal investigator Carol Weisman), a program sponsored by NICHD. Opinions reflect those of the author and not necessarily those of the granting agencies. The author also thanks Chandra Muller, Daniel Powers, Molly A. Martin, and Michael Massoglia for their helpful comments on this article.
PY - 2008/7
Y1 - 2008/7
N2 - High school students have high ambitions but do not always make choices that maximize their likelihood of educational success. This was the motivation for investigating the relationships between high school sexual behavior and two important milestones in academic attainment: earning a high school diploma and enrolling in distinct postsecondary programs. The analysis of data from 7,915 participants in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988-94 presented here indicated that the timing of sexual initiation, the nonuse of contraceptives, and parenthood all predict female and male students' academic attainment. Furthermore, sexual behavior has more ramifications as attainment milestones become more competitive. These findings point to the importance of considering how students' choices across multiple life domains influence academic attainment, an important predictor of socioeconomic opportunity in adulthood.
AB - High school students have high ambitions but do not always make choices that maximize their likelihood of educational success. This was the motivation for investigating the relationships between high school sexual behavior and two important milestones in academic attainment: earning a high school diploma and enrolling in distinct postsecondary programs. The analysis of data from 7,915 participants in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988-94 presented here indicated that the timing of sexual initiation, the nonuse of contraceptives, and parenthood all predict female and male students' academic attainment. Furthermore, sexual behavior has more ramifications as attainment milestones become more competitive. These findings point to the importance of considering how students' choices across multiple life domains influence academic attainment, an important predictor of socioeconomic opportunity in adulthood.
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U2 - 10.1177/003804070808100304
DO - 10.1177/003804070808100304
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:50949134494
SN - 0038-0407
VL - 81
SP - 284
EP - 311
JO - Sociology of Education
JF - Sociology of Education
IS - 3
ER -