Couple & Family Contexts

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that lead to adolescent sexual risk behavior by investigating both the family contexts and romantic relationships that influence adolescent couples' decision-making.

In the United States, inner-city African American and Latino youth are vulnerable to the negative consequences of sexual risk behavior. Despite the fact that sexual risk behavior is a dyadic behavior, almost all of the social-cognitive theories emphasize individual-based variables to explain behavior. Little research has studied both members of an adolescent couple or has used measures from each member to predict future sexual activity of that dyad. The overall aim of the present study is to identify explanatory models of couple sexual risk behavior among a sample of unmarried, non co-habiting Latino and African American high school-aged dyads that are romantically linked. In addition, the present research also will study the parents of adolescent couples. In doing so, the present research will apply theories of cognition, emotion and emotion regulation, and a new theory of parental monitoring to the study of adolescent sexual risk behavior among couples.