Correlates of Age at First Sexual Intercourse in a National Sample of Young Women

Abstract

A subsample of814 sexually experienced adolescent females from the 1979 Un ited States National Survey of Younig W'omen was analyzed to assess the correlates of age at first sexual intercourse. Multiple regression procedures were used to examine sets of variables sequentiallv. In the hierarchical regression model, the control variables (responidenit's age, race, religion, and age at menarche), along with three independent l'ariables (houisehold income, ideal age for first marriage, and ideal age for first birth), predicted age at first sexual intercourse. The control variables accounted for a major portion of the variance in the model. Of the controls, chronological age and age at mettarche w-ere highly significant across all the models tested.