Poster #108 - Gender Differences in the Association between Sexual Knowledge and Intentions among Rural Middle School Students

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Teen pregnancy rates are much higher in rural American communities than the national average (Hill, Graber, 2017; Thompson et al., 2018). Female teens from these areas are more likely to report engaging in sexual activity and omission of contraceptives than their counterparts in urban environments (Thompson et al., 2018). Thus, further inquiry into rural adolescents’ perceptions of pregnancy prevention knowledge and their intentions to engage in sexual activity is needed. The purpose of this research is to examine the association between adolescents’ intention to have sex and their understanding of how to prevent unplanned pregnancy. Data were collected from rural middle school students participating in an evidence-based pregnancy prevention program. Students were asked if they intended to have sex within the following six months and whether they understood how to prevent an unplanned pregnancy.

The sample for this investigation includes 3,163 students from a rural county in the southeastern United States (51% male, 53% White), with an average age of 12.7 (SD = 1.14). Surveys were given to students in their classrooms prior to participating in the pregnancy prevention program (pre-test) as well as approximately 2 months later at the conclusion of the program (post-test). Surveys assessed demographics, risk and protective factors, intentions to engage in sexual activity, and pregnancy prevention knowledge. The post-test evaluations included questions about student perceptions of changes in knowledge and intentions to have sex attributable to the prevention program. Preliminary evaluations of the pre-test cross-sectional data are reported here. Using OLS regression, we evaluated gender and pregnancy prevention knowledge, as well as their interaction, as predictors of intentions to have sex. Future analysis will also include evaluation of the post-test data and student perceptions of intervention effectiveness.

Both main effects and the interaction were statistically significant. Males reported statistically higher intentions to have sex in the next 6 months compared to females (B = .61, t = 17.30, p < .001); however, it should be noted that average responses for both genders still ranged within the “definitely not” to “probably not” end of the response options for intentions to have sex. The interaction between gender and pregnancy prevention knowledge (B = .13, t = 4.54, p < .001) indicated that for girls, higher levels of self-reported pregnancy prevention knowledge were associated with lower intentions to have sex in the next six months. For boys, intentions to have sex in the next six months were relatively comparable regardless of self-reported knowledge of pregnancy prevention (See Figure 1).

These findings indicate that middle school aged girls from rural communities who report higher pregnancy prevention knowledge are also reporting the lowest intentions to have sex. This finding informs future gender-sensitive pregnancy prevention programming by indicating that more pregnancy prevention knowledge is not linked to increased risk for intention to have sex. Additional evaluations of gender differences in risk and protective factors related to future intentions to have sex will be evaluated as well as perceived impacts of the pregnancy prevention program on intention to have sex.

Authors

• Kathryn Louise Muir, University of Florida
  Presenting Author

• Allison S. Metz, University of Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah D. Lynne, University of Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julia A. Graber, University of Florida
  Non-Presenting Author