ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2015
Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on early sexual behavior: Gender difference in externalizing behavior as a mediator.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Internal assets in low-income urban adolescents from 12 to 17 years: Gender variation.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2025Article
- Profiles of individual assets and mental health symptoms in at-risk early adolescents.Journal of adolescence · 2019Article
- Developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior from ages 4 to 12: Prenatal cocaine exposure and adolescent correlates.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Article
- Prenatal and concurrent cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco effects on adolescent cognition and attention.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Article
- Individual assets and problem behaviors in at-risk adolescents: A longitudinal cross-lagged analysis.Journal of adolescence · 2018Article
- Association of prenatal cocaine exposure, childhood maltreatment, and responses to stress in adolescence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2017Article
- The association of prenatal cocaine exposure, externalizing behavior and adolescent substance use.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2017Article
- Gender-related Differences in Inhibitory Control and Sustained Attention among Adolescents with Prenatal Cocaine Exposure.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2016Article
- Pathways to adolescent sexual risk behaviors: Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2016Article
- Autonomic functioning among cocaine-exposed kindergarten-aged children: Examination of child sex and caregiving environmental risk as potential moderators.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
- Prenatal drug exposure and executive function in early adolescence.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
- Prenatal cocaine exposure, early cannabis use, and risky sexual behavior at age 25.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
- Cognitive and functional outcomes at age 21 after prenatal cocaine/polydrug exposure and foster/adoptive care.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) is associated with increased risk for externalizing behavior problems; childhood externalizing behavior problems are linked with subsequent early sexual behavior. The present study examined the effects of PCE on early sexual initiation (sexual intercourse prior to age 15) and whether externalizing behavior in preadolescence mediated the relationship.
methodsThree hundred fifty-four (180 PCE and 174 non-cocaine exposed; 192 girls, 142 boys), primarily African-American, low socioeconomic status, 15-year-old adolescents participated in a prospective longitudinal study. Adolescents' sexual behavior was assessed at 15 years using the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Externalizing behavior was assessed at 12 years using the Youth Self-Report.
resultsLogistic regression models indicated that adolescents with PCE (n=69, 38%) were 2.2 times more likely (95% CI=1.2-4.1, p<.01) to engage in early sexual intercourse than non-exposed peers (n=49, 28%) controlling for covariates. This relationship was fully mediated by self-reported externalizing behavior in girls but not in boys, suggesting childhood externalizing behavior as a gender moderated mediator. Blood lead level during preschool years was also related to a greater likelihood of early sexual intercourse (OR=2.6, 95% CI=1.4-4.7, p<.002). Greater parental monitoring decreased the likelihood of early sexual intercourse, while violence exposure increased the risk.
conclusionsPCE is related to early sexual intercourse, and externalizing behavior problems mediate PCE effects in female adolescents. Interventions targeting externalizing behavior may reduce early sexual initiation and thereby reduce HIV risk behaviors and early, unplanned pregnancy in girls with PCE.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.