The effects of familial variables and self-esteem on the sexual risk taking behaviors of late adolescent girls in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of familial variables and self-esteem on the sexual risk raking behaviors of late adolescent girls in Turkey. Familial variables that were investigated included; family structure, perceived parental support, perceived parental control and communication with the mother about sexual issues. The participants were 166 Turkish female undergraduate students from Istanbul Bilgi University and Boğaziçi University who were enrolled in Introduction to Psychology courses. The scales used were Demographic Information Questionnaire, Sexual Risk Taking Inventory, Communication With the Mother about Sexual Issues Inventory, two sub-scales of McMaster Family Assessment Device and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale. Contrary to the expectations, the results revealed that there were no differences between girls from intact and non-intact families in terms of sexual risk taking behaviors. Girls who engaged in sexual risk taking behaviors did not rate their parents as less supportive than girls who did not engage in sexual risk taking behaviors. Perceived parental control was found to have an effect only on the type of contraception used by the participants but it did not have an effect on other sexual risk taking behaviors. Lastly, the results indicated that participants who had a sexual intercourse experience had lower levels of self-esteem than those who did not have such an experience. The main reason for failing to find relationships between familial variables and sexual risk taking behaviors of the adolescents were mostly related to the low rate of participants who had a sexual intercourse experience and the characteristics of the Turkish culture.