Adolescent Overweight Perception and Sexually Transmitted Disease Status in Young Adulthood Among Females

Introduction:  It has been hypothesized that body dissatisfaction can hinder the negotiation of safer sex practices.  Further, studies show that among female adolescents weight and appearance are associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in sexual risk behaviors.  Perceived overweight during adolescence could place sexual health at risk throughout the life course because adolescence is a developmental period when individuals begin to internalize a new appearance created by puberty, overweight is a socially stigmatized trait, and expectations about intimate relationships are formed. However, associations between adolescent body image and young adult sexual health have not received much attention. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine associations between overweight perception during adolescence and sexually transmitted disease (STD) outcomes in young adulthood among females. 

Methods: Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Waves I, II, and III contractual data sets. Respondents were in grades 7-12 at Wave I, grades 8-12 at Wave II, and ages 18-26 at Wave III (young adulthood). Using an analytic sample of 1,769 Non-Hispanic White and Non-Hispanic Black respondents, binary logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of adolescent overweight perception on being diagnosed with one or more STDs (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas) during young adulthood. Age at Wave II, adolescent body mass index, adolescent socioeconomic factors, adolescent self-esteem, and young adult body mass index were controlled for in the models. Analyses were restricted to females and stratified by race.

Results:Preliminary results suggest that among females, overweight perception during adolescence is not significantly associated with STD risk during young adulthood.  This finding holds when data are stratified or pooled by race.

Conclusions: Although the findings are null, more research is needed about this topic because national recommendations for sexual health education suggest that understanding associations between body image, intimate relationships, and sexuality is an important life skill for youth.  Future efforts should explore the long term effects of a variety of adolescent body image measures and the mediating effects of sexual risk behaviors.