Explaining attitudes about homosexuality in Confucian and non-Confucian nations: is there a 'cultural' influence?

The majority of research on attitudes about homosexuality has concentrated on the global North and on Christian and Muslim majority nations. Little research attention has been given to the factors that shape tolerance in societies with a Confucian heritage. Residents of Confucian counties are less tolerant than Europeans and Americans.

Adolescent overweight, social relationships and the transition to first sex: gender and racial variations.

Context: Being overweight influences adolescents' relationships by increasing their likelihood of experiencing social alienation and discrimination. Its role in sexual development is relatively understudied, as are potential mechanisms through which weight may influence early sexual activity.

Methods: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used in discrete-time event history analyses investigating the association between body weight, social relationships and timing of sexual debut among 8,197 respondents who were in grades 7-12 in 1994-1995 (Wave 1) and were young adults in 2001-2002 (Wave 3).

Adolescent Precursors of Early Union Formation among Asian Americans and Whites.

Using a framework that emphasizes independent vs. interdependent self-construals, this study investigates the relatively low rates of early marriage and cohabitation among Asian Americans compared to Whites. Data from Waves 1 and 3 of Add Health are used to test five hypotheses that focus on family value socialization and other precursors measured in adolescence.

Longitudinal predictors of change in number of sexual partners across adolescence and early adulthood.

Purpose: Although sexual risk behavior has negative consequences in adolescence and early adulthood, little is known about pathways of sexual risk across development and their correlates. Study goals were to examine trajectories of number of sexual partners across adolescence and into early adulthood, and to investigate hypothesized individual and family-level predictors.

Methods: A subset of 8,707 white, black, and Mexican American participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reported on their motivations to have sex, family warmth, and perceptions of maternal attitudes about sex at Wave 1 and on their sexual relationships at each year of age across the three waves of the study.