caa a22 4500 606231579 CHVBK 20210128101221.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150401xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10508-014-0410-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10508-014-0410-3 Pubertal Timing and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Rural African American Male Youth: Testing a Model Based on Life History Theory [Elektronische Daten] [Steven Kogan, Junhan Cho, Leslie Simons, Kimberly Allen, Steven Beach, Ronald Simons, Frederick Gibbons] Life History Theory (LHT), a branch of evolutionary biology, describes how organisms maximize their reproductive success in response to environmental conditions. This theory suggests that challenging environmental conditions will lead to early pubertal maturation, which in turn predicts heightened risky sexual behavior. Although largely confirmed among female adolescents, results with male youth are inconsistent. We tested a set of predictions based on LHT with a sample of 375 African American male youth assessed three times from age 11 to age 16. Harsh, unpredictable community environments and harsh, inconsistent, or unregulated parenting at age 11 were hypothesized to predict pubertal maturation at age 13; pubertal maturation was hypothesized to forecast risky sexual behavior, including early onset of intercourse, substance use during sexual activity, and lifetime numbers of sexual partners. Results were consistent with our hypotheses. Among African American male youth, community environments were a modest but significant predictor of pubertal timing. Among those youth with high negative emotionality, both parenting and community factors predicted pubertal timing. Pubertal timing at age 13 forecast risky sexual behavior at age 16. Results of analyses conducted to determine whether environmental effects on sexual risk behavior were mediated by pubertal timing were not significant. This suggests that, although evolutionary mechanisms may affect pubertal development via contextual influences for sensitive youth, the factors that predict sexual risk behavior depend less on pubertal maturation than LHT suggests. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2014 At-risk populations nationallicence Environmental stress nationallicence Sexual development nationallicence Puberty nationallicence Evolution and psychology nationallicence Males nationallicence Kogan Steven Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, 305 Sanford Drive, 30602, Athens, GA, USA aut Cho Junhan Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, 305 Sanford Drive, 30602, Athens, GA, USA aut Simons Leslie School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA aut Allen Kimberly Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA aut Beach Steven Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA aut Simons Ronald School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA aut Gibbons Frederick Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA aut Archives of Sexual Behavior Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 44/3(2015-04-01), 609-618 0004-0002 44:3<609 2015 44 10508 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0410-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0410-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kogan Steven Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, 305 Sanford Drive, 30602, Athens, GA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cho Junhan Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia, 305 Sanford Drive, 30602, Athens, GA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Simons Leslie School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Allen Kimberly Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Beach Steven Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Simons Ronald School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gibbons Frederick Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Archives of Sexual Behavior Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 44/3(2015-04-01), 609-618 0004-0002 44:3<609 2015 44 10508