Attitudinal Predictors of Sexual Activity in Hispanic Adolescent Females

Abstract

This study examined attitudinalfactors that discriminate between virgins and nonvirgins among an urban sample of junior and senior high school adolescents. The sample consisted of 240 Hispanic adolescent females, age 12 through 18 years. Virgins significantly differed from nonvirgins within both the junior high school sample (12-through 15-year-olds) and the senior high school group (16-through 18-year-olds). There were notable differences and similarities between the two age groups on which attitudes most powerfully discriminated between the virgins and the nonvirgins. The younger females were most strongly influenced by their perception of their friends 'attitudes and behavior regarding premarital sexuality. The older females were most powerfully influenced by their own attitudes about premarital sexuality. Additionally, achievement orientation discriminated virgins from nonvirgins among the younger females while perception of parental attitudes toward premarital sexuality discriminated older virgins from nonvirgins.