Adolescent Religiosity and Contraceptive Usage

Religiosity appears to be an important factor in explaining variations in sexual activity and contraceptive usage among adolescents. While adolescents religious commitment diminishes their propensity to engage in sexual intercourse it is associated with less effective contraceptive usage among those who do become sexually active. The data used in the present analysis were collected as part of an intergenerational panel study of mothers and children in which families were selected by a sample of the July 1961 birth records of 1st 2nd and 4th-born white children in the Detroit metropolitan area. In addition to an initial personal interview with the mothers 5 telephone reinterviews were obtained over an 18-year period. In 1980 a full personal interview was also conducted with the child born in 1961. Results from logistic regression analysis controlling for frequency of recent sexual activity parental socioeconomic status and parental marital stability determined that never-married sexually experienced taeenage girls regularly attending religious services were less likely to have used an effective medical method of contraception than those who were rarely attending religious services. There was a striking difference in exposure to sexual relations among frequent and infrequent church attenders. Of those never-married young women who attended religious services once or more/week 38.8% had had sexual intercourse. In contrast 65.4% of those who went to church less than monthly had experienced sexual relations. Adolescents expressed commitment to religion appears to be related to sexyak exoeruebce Religious affiliation does not appear to play an important role determining sexual ecperience.