Factors Associated with Adolescent Girls in Age-discordant Relationships: A Look at Risk Behaviors, Menarche, Depression and Parental Monitoring.

Abstract

The current study examined age-discordant relationships in adolescent girls living in St. Maarten and how this relates to age at menarche, engagement in risk-taking behaviors, depression and parental monitoring. Rates of HIV infections in the Caribbean are the second highest in the world, teenage pregnancy is also common, making it important to study relationship behaviors during adolescence. Data was drawn from N=181 adolescents from two schools on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten participating in a 2-wave longitudinal study. The first set of questions compared girls in age-discordant romantic relationships to those in same-age relationships or no relationships in regard to age at menarche, risk behaviors, levels of depression and parental monitoring. At wave 1, those in age-discordant relationships reported significantly higher delinquency than girls in no relationship and reported significantly higher substance use than girls with same-age relationships or no relationship. At wave 2, girls in age-discordant relationships reported significantly less parental monitoring when compared to girls with no relationship. A second set of analyses focused on examining how differences in dating status of adolescent girls associated with levels of delinquency, substance use, depression and parental monitoring over time. It was found that girls who were in relationships reported higher substance use over time when compared to girls not in relationships. Together these results add to the literature regarding adolescent dating behaviors and risk-taking, and they emphasize the importance of parental monitoring when designing prevention and intervention aimed at minimizing the risk of long-term implications such as teenage pregnancy and HIV.