Aggression, rule-breaking common among Taiwanese teenagers who have early sex

Posted on March 7, 2014

TAIWAN - Taiwanese teenagers - and especially females - who become sexually active at a very young age are more likely to be rule-breakers and be more aggressive than their peers. These are the findings of a national study of Taiwanese youth led by Wei J. Chen of the National Taiwan University, with Chia-Hua Chan as first author.

Nearly 19,000 sixteen- to nineteen-year-old Taiwanese adolescents took part in a national survey which was conducted through a self-administered web-based questionnaire. Sociodemographic data and information on respondents' sexual experience and substance abuse was collected. Adolescent emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the Youth Self-Report that focuses on eight syndromes associated with teenagers, ranging from anxiety and somatic complaints to having social problems or showing rule-breaking and aggressive behavior.

Chen's team found that sexual initiation during adolescence was consistently associated with externalizing problems including rule-breaking and aggressive behavior. This was especially true for adolescents who started having sex at a very young age, and for females. Adolescents who were withdrawn or socially isolated tended to delay their first sexual experiences more than others.

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Category(s):Mental Health in Asia, Teenage Issues

Source material from Medical News Today