Keep an Eye on That Teen: The Influence of Parental Monitoring and Impulsivity on Dutch Adolescents’ Sexual Debut

Abstract

During adolescence, adolescents start exploring sexual behavior with others, which has implications for sexual health. An early sexual debut can be risky, because it is related to several negative outcomes, such as unwanted pregnancies, STIs and depression. Since sexual development is influenced by parents, the current study aims to answer the question how parental monitoring is related to Dutch adolescents’ age at their sexual debut and whether impulsivity mediates this relationship. Data from a Dutch longitudinal cohort study ‘The Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey’ (TRAILS) were used, which consists of selfreport questionnaires. To examine the relations between parental monitoring, impulsivity and age at sexual debut, three linear regression analyses were performed in a sample of 595 Dutch adolescents, aged between 11 and 18 in which 59.9% were girls, and 40.1% were boys. Additionally, a mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the indirect effect of parental monitoring on age of sexual debut through impulsivity. Results showed that higher levels of parental monitoring and a later sexual debut were positively related, as expected. No relationships were found between parental monitoring and impulsivity, nor between impulsivity and age at sexual debut. Moreover, impulsivity did not explain the relation between parental monitoring and age at sexual debut. This could be due to the fixedness of the trait. Further research could focus more specifically on norms and attitudes on sexual behavior that adolescents learn from their parents.