Popularity and Sexual Behavior

Abstract

In this study longitudinal associations were examined between perceived popularity and sexual behaviour in adolescents. Specifically, I investigated whether popular adolescents reported more sexual behaviour over time. In addition, examined was if popular perceived boys report more sexual behaviour than popular perceived girls. Two waves of data were analyzed from 310 adolescents, ages 14-18, from nine different schools. Longitudinal hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant positive association between perceived popularity at wave 1 and subsequent sexual behaviour at wave 2. This means that more popular adolescents reported more sexual behavior after six months. No moderation effect of gender was found. Furthermore, reverse effects from sexual behavior at wave 1 to perceived popularity at wave 2 were examined, but here no significant association was found.